text: whats the difference between a liberal and a socialist ?   unlike the the depraved rantings of previous posters, i'm going to try to give you a real answer.  socialists, like in france, sweden, and a lot of other european countries, believe that the government should provide a certain level of basic services for all citizens. this includes universal health care, social security retirement savings, and a host of other programs. they tax heavily to pay or all this. in some nations, the tax rate is 50% or higher.  in the united states, liberals believe that the government has a mandate to help the most unfortunate in our society. while they don't all believe in universal health care, they don't understand why the richest nation on earth cannot provide medical services to any citizen who does not have insurance. they believe that the government should step in and help people who are unemployed or underemployed. us liberals are not socialists, but they are closer to socialism than the conservaives are. conservatives believe that every citizen should look out for themselves, with no support from the government; that america is the land of opportunity, and if you don't take advantage of those opportunities, that's your problem, not the problem of society in general.