1. for socialism, I agree there are different levels of this. A fundamental socialist on another forum argued that what conservatives oppose as socialism is not true socialism where the govt LITERALLY owns the business or property and assets; just controlling it from federal govt is NOT LITERALLY socialism by its strict fundamental meaning.
However, in terms of wanting "govt control" YES the Leftwing push to override free market choices in PAYING for health care is "relatively" socialism in CONTRAST with relative free market/capitalism.
The capitalism we have now is NOT LITERALLY free market EITHER because corporations have unequal rights as people but greater freedom and ability to manipulate political regulations giving them unfair advantage. So technically this is NOT LITERALLY FREE ENTERPRISE as the conservatives claim as free market; it is still manipulated through govt.
NEITHER side is "literally" the labels as portrayed, but only "relatively" in RELATION to where the other is coming from.
2. on the left side, the left is equally guilty of namecalling the conservatives as
RACIST instead of addressing or correcting the real problem
Where the problem is excluding people equal free market, free choice, and constitutional equal protections, because of POLITICAL biases, YES you can blame conservatives for that.
But it is because "they are contradicting their own Constitutional principles" by not checking against abuses. Blindly labeling people as "racist" or "against women/poor" is not accurate and not addressing or solving the problem either.
3. so both sides are equally guilty of using political bullying by label, exclusion, division and coercion. we are better off focusing on WHERE we fail to include everyone equally and work on CORRECTIONS, not just abusing labels to justify projecting blame and rejection.
When people on both sides recognize how wasteful and destructive this is, maybe we can do more to work together to fix it since it is a mutual problem due to adversarial politics.
Those on the far right who claim to be conservatives and call all of us who question their ideology "commies", "Marxists", "Socialists" and "Leftists" (among other pejoratives) need to be called exactly what they are: Neo fascists.
From the Encyclopedia Britannica:
"Neo fascism is a political philosophy and movement that arose in Europe in the decades following World War II. Like earlier fascist movements, neo fascism advocated extreme nationalism, opposed liberal individualism, attacked Marxist and other left-wing ideologies, indulged in racist and xenophobic scapegoating, and promoted populist right-wing economic programs. Unlike the fascists, however, neo fascist's placed more blame for their countriesÂ’ problems on non-European immigrants than on leftists and Jews"
Why do they hide behind a misnomer label, they're in no way or manner real conservatives? Neo fascists support economic policies which benefit the Corporate America and the power elite. As corporatist's many who support such policies are not in the same class as the rich and powerful; why they do is an interesting question best left to the psychologists.