Why do Americans keep insisting that any sort of collective social action is communism?

Because their society is screwed in the head. Everywhere else I go there is some kind of public health system. but I talk to my brother in law in Indiana and he thinks it's SOCIALISM!!! And if the health care system goes to gov't we're all on the way to the gulag. He's typical, and he's an idiot. I would think he's a singularity, but I've met his neighbours and they are all of the same view.

It's as sad as it is pathetic, and is one of the reasons I left. I just got sick of the stupidity. There's plenty of stupidity elsewhere, but at least I'm away from that particular variety of wilful ignorance combined with wishful thinking and obdurant adherence to superstition and narrowminded idiocy.

Because people have been trained that way. Collective action is the only chance for survival for a species as physically weak as human beings. But the drive for individual survival (which is abetted by the power of hydrocarbon energy) has allowed "the leadership" to proclaim, for a few years that anything other than individual aggrandizement is "wrong." Those people have mis-appropriated a perfectly good word "socialism" and converted it into a punching bag for their own sinister purposes.

Why do Americans keep insisting that any sort of collective social action is commmunism? Because Rush Limbaugh told them so.

Why do they keep listening to that creep? That is a question I would like answered.

"we will slide into Socialism. Everybody will be equally miserable."
Why do Americans keep insisting that any sort of collective social action is communism?

Because by the definition Communism is when such collective social action is forcend upon everyone without individual way to opt out.

Hi Tony (and Suart, et al.)

"Why do Americans keep insisting that any sort of collective social action is communism?"

I tried to resist replying to your rhetorical question, I really did, but since I actually know the answer it seemed dishonest to remain silent.

But first, the disclaimer: I am in no way a conspiracy theorist and have no faith in the efficacy of tin foil hats (although a full scale Farraday Cage might be prudent.... joke). Here's the deal. To live is to conspire. Wherever two or more creatures are gathered in the name of mutual self-interest, there is conspiracy. A football huddle is conspiracy. A closed door Board Meeting is conspiracy. Have I made the point?

Americans keep insisting that 'any sort of collective social action is communism' because dedicated professional propagandists have worked very diligently for many years to make that prejudicial assumption a core belief of as many people as possible.

It's not difficult, just expensive. All ya gotta do is say it often enough from as many sources as you can hire using as many channels of communication as you can afford.

Chief among the conduits for the specific bullshit you asked about were Time/Life Publishing under the direction of Claire Booth Luce and the then U.S. Office of Special Services (later to become CIA) for whom similar patriotic services were performed as part of the defense effort of the Second World War. The company pretty well bracketed the readership spectrum, with TIME mag for the upper-middle, LIFE mag for the mainstream, Readers Digest for the unwashed masses, and My Weekly Reader for innocent tykes in schools across the nation.

(So if reading any of those has ever left you feeling intellectually soiled, now you have a hint about why)

Basically all of this grew out of the coordinated intelligence efforts between England, Canada and the United States starting with the run-up to World War II. After knocking out the Nazi's and Nips by the middle of 1945 they turned their sights to the next target looming on the horizon: Joe Stalin's Russia.

Because the OSS (later CIA) were staffed up originally from the ranks of Industry and the Ivy League the 'flavor' lingered, so anything that did not please these elites that was even remotely similar to Communism got a severe dose of what we gave Hitler and Iron Joe (socialism, trade unions, liberals, etc.)

The non-fiction book "A Man Called Intrepid" , by William Stevenson is an excellent read if that sort of thing interests you, But be forewarned, the book itself is a smoothly presented piece of propaganda, and as such is likely to leave you not nearly as well informed as you will feel it does.

So, to make a long answer too short: we've been brain washed and it weren't no accident.

The rich are socialist because socialism works.

Yes,

May I add, the rich probably do not have problem with socialism, because they do not have problem with stealing. Many of them, benefited from it in the past, some even became rich that way.

And socialism or tax and wealth redistribution sound much nicer than theft<?B>.

And remember, every time you take from some, before you give it to another,something sticks under the fingernails. And the recipients of the leftover benefit may even praise you!