None of those European countries are socialist. They have a very large social safety net layered on top of a free market economy that is less restrained than that of the United States, in some ways. IOW, they have more government programs, but pay more taxes to pay for them.
They have been, at multiple times, ruled by Socialists, or governed by socialist policies. Your defense is only that it wasn't "real" socialism. At the moment, even if the governments are explicitly Democratic Socialists, they are effectively Fabian Socialists, supported by many Leftist populists.
The UK is a good example of a country that has been ruled by Fabian Socialists for around a hundred years or so, and has been more and less aggressive with it's Socialism in all but name.
None of those European countries are socialist. They have a very large social safety net layered on top of a free market economy that is less restrained than that of the United States, in some ways. IOW, they have more government programs, but pay more taxes to pay for them.
They have been, at multiple times, ruled by Socialists, or governed by socialist policies. Your defense is only that it wasn't "real" socialism. At the moment, even if the governments are explicitly Democratic Socialists, they are effectively Fabian Socialists, supported by many Leftist populists.
The UK is a good example of a country that has been ruled by Fabian Socialists for around a hundred years or so, and has been more and less aggressive with it's Socialism in all but name.