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Quoting hal9g:

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Try to pay attention now,  northbloke.

We were talking about Europe! 

Oh right, so you only screw up everywhere else?

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Quoting hal9g:

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I know it's difficult for you to stick to the topic, but give it a try!

I try, but it's difficult when the people you're debating with don't know the difference between social democracy, socialism and communism.
But hey, you're American - I suppose I should make allowances...   

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Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and the creation of an egalitarian society.[1][2] Modern socialism originated in the late nineteenth-century working class political movement. Karl Marx posited that socialism would be achieved via class struggle and a proletarian revolution which represents the transitional stage between capitalism and communism.

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Again, social democracy seems to be much closer to this model than to capitalism..and pay special attention to the last sentence in this definition...."the transition stage between capitalism and communism".  In other words, it is simply a step in a continuing journey to the left ending up in communism.

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Since the 1960s, many social democrats have broadened their objectives beyond the field of economic policy to include aspects of environmentalism, feminism, racial equality and multiculturalism. Another notable development is the tendency since the 1980s for social democratic parties to distance themselves from distinctively left-wing economic policies such as public ownership and a planned economy, adopting instead policies that support a relatively lightly regulated economy and emphasize equality of opportunity rather than equality of outcome as the benchmark for social justice. This trend, known as the Third Way, is controversial among some of the left, many of whom argue that Third Way parties (such as the UK's Labour Party)[6] have moved too far to the centre, or even the centre-right. Others, such as the leadership of the UK Labour Party, reject this critique.[11]

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And just in case you missed this in school, but the U.S is a representative democracy and we'd like to keep it that way.  Kindly keep your social democracy in Britain and Europe, thank you very much!

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I challenge you to show me a single socialist country that you think offers a better opportunity for real success (not just meeting the basic survival needs) for everyone than the U.S.

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Quoting hal9g:

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Quoting lmoelleb:

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Quoting hal9g:

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And just in case you missed this in school, but the U.S is a representative democracy and we'd like to keep it that way.  Kindly keep your social democracy in Britain and Europe, thank you very much!

Yes, we where tought that the US was a representative democracy. Out of curiosity, what makes you think the European nations are not representative democracies? I admit Switzerland is a bit on the fence here, as they do lean towards direct democracy instead of representative democracy.

Please remember not to mistake the democratic choice of a polulation as undemocratic, just because they make another decission than what you would.

Most are representative democracies that have been "sold" on social democracy.

So you accept they are representative democracies just like the US? Then you initial statement does not make sense as you clearly use representative democracy as the differentiater. Yes, there are differences between most Western European countries and the US - and yes, you might brefer one over the other - but the difference is not in being representative democracies or not.

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If you map these philosophies linearly it would look like this:

Communism--<--Socialism--<--(Social democracy)--<--(Liberalism)--<--Capitalism--<--(Conservatism)

In my view, Europe is slipping further and further left, admittedly by their own choice, and the direction they are heading is Socialism.

You are making the assumption that because comminism is bad, the further away you are from communism you get the better. Fair enough, but don't expect this to be a universal truth that render all other oppinions invalid. Some of us beleves the best system is actually somewhere in the middle of that line.

Funnly enough, if you asked me what direction Europe was currently moving in, I would say it is moving right. But it's not to an extreme degree, just the constant adjustment left and right.

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  I challenge you to show me a single socialist country that you think offers a better opportunity for real success (not just meeting the basic survival needs) for everyone than the U.S.

Define "real"? Success (and the value assigned to it compared to other criterias) is cultural determined. I get this suspicion that with your bolded "real" you actually refer to a core American definition of success - and the US priority on being "successful". Why do you consider it a democratic failure of another country that it alligns it's politics to the oppinion of it's citizens instead of alligning them to the US oppinion?