President Harry S. Truman wrote in October of 1952, “Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years." Socialism is what they called public power.
Socialism is what they called Social Security. Socialism is what they called farm price supports. Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance. Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations. Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all of the people.
'Pure Socialism' is terrible as an economic theory. Basically the government owns everything. It stifles growth. It has been shown to be untenable.
However, 'Democratic Socialism' is vastly different. In fact we already have Democratic Socialism in the US. First responders for instance like firefighters, policemen, paramedics, etc., the interstate highway system, public schools, sewer, water, electric power lines, the National Parks system, libraries, the FDA, Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, Worker’s Comp, anything that has the word “public” in front of it.
These are all…say it with me…SOCIALIST. Basically any services that the government provides to the people are Socialist programs. You pay taxes, the government uses some of that money (not enough) to pay for programs that benefit all Americans.