Socialism is a very dirty word in the USA - so much so that few will call those elements that we do have of socialism by that name.   

I have worked for a number of years in public mental health (which is now being disastrously privatized).   Somewhere in the neighborhood of 80% of the adults we serve have no insurance, Medicaid or Medicare.   Daily I observe the effects of lack of medical care, and/or the catastrophic financial impact of huge medical bills.    I used to think language such as "decadent capitalism," was a bit over the top. I can bear witness to what has happened over the past 25 to 30 years as wealth and power have become ever more concentrated and more and more "average Joes" come to see themselves as disempowered and disenfranchised. They figure -"Why vote?" Even if the guy I vote for wins, he's not going to look after me, He is going to look after the Big Money interests.   Naw, I been burned too many times. Why bother." Sadly, that Average Joe is largely right. We have reached the sad state of affairs in terms of our National government where money is the only thing that talks. And the Big Guys are good at it. They do a great job of manipulating public opinion. Divide and Conquer strategies are working really well.

I wonder if it would be quite so if we had a parliamentary system.