Its pointless to argue about the definition of Socialism. Socialism has historically been a failure and nearly always tied to horrible human rights violations. Even China (a country with an atrocious human rights record) is moving toward Capitalism. Russia, once poor and depressed now has a booming economy since adopting Capitalism. Academically, if you want to understand why it fails you can look at things like the free rider and collective action problems. These also explain why the success of Socialism is inversely proportional to the size of the group and the groups cohesion. I don't know much about the Government in Scandinavia but they are much smaller Countries with homogeneous populations. They don't have 300 million people with a good number of them being dependent on the state for several generations.
On another note, I'm wondering where people are getting this notion that Capitalism is anything less than a complete success. Is it just because of the current economic crisis which was, by the way, caused by a Socialist style endeavor by Clinton who made radical changes to the CRA that required banks by law to give risky sub-prime loans?
Is it because there are so many poor people? Well, guess what; the poorest people in America have a standard of living that is among the highest in the world. Plus, the poor can and do escape poverty if and when they work hard and stay on the right path; this is only possible do to Capitalism. Socialism on the other hand is the best way to ensure poverty and crush ambition. Just go visit an Indian reservation and you will see what subsidizing people's existence does.
You know, I have been poor nearly all my life. It was not until I learned that the only way to make it was to put my nose to the grind stone and make things happen for myself that I became successful. Along with a friend we started a business on a shoe string budget and we built that business into a thriving corporation. I now sit behind a desk and earn a six figure income. Now do you think its fair to come to a guy like me and tell me you are going to take away what I have worked hard to build and give it to the criminals that broke into my building and stole thousands in tools and equipment from me? Are you telling me that its my fault these people are poor when they wouldn't take a job if I begged them?
And let me tell you, 100K a year might sound like huge money but the fact is the cost of living goes up exponentially with your standard of living. So, even with a significant increase in wage your standard of living only goes up by a small margin. Also, and something people never talk about is that life is more expensive for some than for others. Drive through Detroit and you will see $8,000 homes with $60,000 vehicles in the driveway. Obviously these people could afford health care or a better neighborhood if they chose to do so. Fact is, they have different priorities and they choose to live the way they live.
That is, when you get down to it, the crux of the issue. People are where they are in life largely due to their decisions. The way to change things is to help people make better decisions in life, not to subsidize them and give them incentive to make bad ones. The way to help people make better decisions is to lead by example and to promote Conservative values. The way to ensure they continue to make bad ones is to tell them that life is a deck stacked against them, that they can never make it in America and that they need the Government to take care of them because they can't do it on their own.
Despite what you hear on the Left wing blogs, people are still coming to America for a chance at a better life and becoming successful. I work with these people and see it every day. What Socialist Country has the influx of immigration equal to that of the US?