There are a lot of reasons for this - first, realize that Americans don't actually know what they are talking about when they use the word "Socialist". Realize too that Americans have a very cartoonish and very black and white view of the world. Socialist and/or communist are the same thing in American speak - and what comes to mind immediately when you say the word "Socialist" to the average American is a grim militaristic society in which everyone is desperately poor, wears all gray, and stands in line all day for a loaf of bread while guards on every street corner hold machine guns and glare at people.

I wish I were exaggerating, but I'm not.

Most Americans have no clue what Socialism actually is - just that it's evil and bad. If you want to discredit someone's beliefs, just label them as "Socialist" then the debate gets shifted so they have to deny the charge. Now rather than discussing their ideas, we manage to reduce the discussion to "No I'm Not"/"Yes You Are".

As a result, we have a sub-minimal welfare system, we have a for-profit health-care industry in which any illness can be catastrophic for those without insurance both to their health and to their finances (and they better hope they're healthy before they run out of cash or they're out of luck - if you have no cash then bandages in an emergency room are all the healthcare you can get buddy), and we have continually rising costs of college education.

But the thing is that Americans think we have the best quality of life and the best healthcare system of anyplace in the world - and good luck telling anyone otherwise! It's gospel, it's a basic religion to Americans that our way is the best and that everyone else just wishes they could live here instead of standing in line in their gray coats shivering and waiting for bread.