Still, it's hard to avoid the perception that SOMEBODY in the current administration is driving the bus in that direction!

You may not see it, Thomas Woods. If not, just say so; I believe many people in this topic will provide you examples. And surely, others who side with you will provide counter examples. Open debate, y'know... unless you feel that every Trump supporter is being censored or blocked in this discussion. You know... such as yourself.

But I know you believe it, and I'll stand up to defend your right to say (and post) it, even though I disagree with it.

James WI’m not an expert , so correct me if I am wrong. 
But I think when Trump says we will never be socialist 
he is talking about 

- there is a dictator
- everyone is making the same amount of money
- everyone has the same house, car, etc
- everyone has the same healthcare 
- the media is completely controlled
- no freedom, very little options in life.

------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------

Not one aspect of that is Socialism.

That's not even Communism, or at least it's not any communism that is practised in this world (but then, I truly believe that Communism and fascism meet each other in that aspects of the above apply to both but both result in a mega elite that control the general populace through force and censorship)

What you posted was a Dictatorship, which could start out as either left wing or right wing. The end result is pretty much the same in both cases.

Socialism recognises that there will be differences between different people - you don't expect a fighter pilot to be paid the same as a bin man for example.

What it does have as an underpinning ethos, is that those that have, will assist those that do not, through various means - that might be social welfare, social health care. You may, or may not, have the option of private health care and education (as examples) - personally, I think these options should be kept for example.

As with everything, Socialism can exist to different degrees. Many on the right would say any Socialism is wrong and yet, when things go horribly wrong, would want the collective to assist in setting the ship right, such as with the banks. But I'm pretty sure there are many that would argue that that was a market necessity rather than a Socialist solution. I wouldn't agree.

-Ayn Rand

"The goal of socialism is communism."

-Lenin

A social democracy is not socialism. As long as there is choice, it is ok. If you force someone by threat of violence to participate, then it is not. 

When I was living in China, we went on a field trip to a model Communist village, created by the government to showcase the perfection of socialism. Everyone had the same house, they had equal health care, they each had a bicycle outside their house and everyone had a chicken and a pig. The people living there were not allowed to move so they just sat around and smoked and posed for pictures with the tourists in hopes of a few coins. Good luck going to the media to comment about this. 

China - "Socialism with Chinese Characteristics"

I'd love to see what actual functioning capitalism is like in my lifetime. It's probably better than this for most people!

At the minimum in society, no one is homeless; no one is starving; no one is dying because of their living conditions. So the government would provide the following

Now obviously, not many people would appreciate this level of subsistence (once they were used to not starving or freezing.) And the answer might be socialistic - but if you want more, you do more. Want a better living cubicle? Go work cleaning up parks and sidewalks. If you work in a factory, you get a voucher to go to a better dining hall once in a while. You can have a car if you work in a more important industry.

Obviously, this is a very generalized concept, but it occurs to me that a society where no one starves to death, or perishes from weather extremes, or has to commit crimes just to survive is probably a good idea.

"Who pays for this?" is the same answer as always; taxes and governmental support. I have often heard that reducing homelessness and crime would help balance society's bills... likely it could happen in this scenario.