Maybe. I'm honestly surprised that socialism has any real support at all, but evidently Rasmussen (Rasmussen!) has a poll that shows that 47% of Americans either support "socialism" or aren't sure if it's better than capitalism. I wonder how much of this is really just a reaction to present circumstances (people hate business because of the damn bailouts) or if America really is in for a dramatic shift politically in the next few decades. Young folks seem to be the most left-friendly, which gives some confirmation to the letter that one of Andrew Sullivan's readers wrote a while back. Then again, so were the boomers, right? Maybe? Who knows.
Now, as a liberal I'm for "socialism" but not for socialism. Do I support state ownership of the means of production? Not really. I don't think government should be making cars or blue jeans, because they tend to be bad at it and it's difficult to forecast how many will be needed. But since the right tends to define "socialism" as moderate liberalism--building up public infrastructure, an Obama-style healthcare plan, nationalizing certain public utilities (at least ones that nobody is in a position to compete with), strict new financial regulation that will make another financial collapse like this one impossible, moderately higher taxes for the rich--I suppose I'd answer "yes" to this Rasmussen question. But I don't want the Democrats to embark on an Atlee-style program of reform anytime soon.
