Is there anything more "socialist" than a fire truck?

After all, having a fire truck means these things:

(1) The government has decided that it, not the private sector, will be in charge of putting out fires.

(2) The government will tax the citizens for the fire truck regardless of their wishes.

(3) The citizens will have no choice in calling upon the government to put out their fires.

And yet, not many people are opposed to having a Fire Department, are they? We generally accept it as a legitimate government function.

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A lot of folks are running around yelling about "socialism" lately. What they actually mean is, "The kind of socialism that we don't like, as opposed to the kind of socialism that we do like."

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As in 1935 and 1965, people who are trying to protect their money, or to make political gain, are throwing around the S-word these days. Their chattering tools on TV have revived it as a household term.

Millions of Americans who themselves have benefited from the intervention of the government are repeating it. The president of the United States can't even tell schoolchildren to study hard and stay in school because, you know, he is promoting a "socialist agenda."

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