<i>You&#x27;re thinking in binary of countries as either socialist or not socialist.</i><p>Right-wingers don&#x27;t care about &quot;socialism&quot; (and they certainly don&#x27;t care about the living standards in any of these countries).  It&#x27;s just a bugaboo, and a stand-in for the comparatively more micro-scale issues they do care about -- things like progressive taxes, rent control, or (domestic) business regulation generally; and of course welfare and entitlements (for persons less advantaged than themselves), generally.<p>&quot;If you&#x27;re in favor of, or even not rapidly opposed to (&#x27;financial regulation&#x27;,&#x27;rent control&#x27;,&#x27;zoning&#x27;,...) then to all intents and purposes, you <i>are</i> the walking reincarnation of Mao, Honecker and Chavez rolled together&quot; is what they&#x27;re really trying to say when they bring up this cold war stuff.