I think at least some politicians respect or at least will not break the democratic norms, but we are seeing various leaders and parties trying to break them to keep power. That has to be challenged.
I didn't have to pay for my education, but now universities do charge. That does not always have to be paid back, but it is more pressure on students.
It makes me laugh when they talk about socialists and even communists in the US as the left there are not generally too extreme and they have elements of socialism anyway. Rich countries should take care of those who struggle to get by, but the distribution of wealth is skewed. We have that in the UK too with people sleeping on the streets, but you see that almost everywhere.
Yeah, I think it's more like fantasizing about socialism and communism in the US, where they haven't experienced it. Socialism sounds so good on paper... Not as good in reality, unfortunately.
Extremes of anything tend to be bad and have been seen to fail when tried. Mild socialism with state funded schools, healthcare and other essentials is not so scary really.
Ah, ok... That's experiencing a bit of everything, a combination. Like China is only a communism in doctrine, but has (partially) opened up to the open markets and individual wealth. In the socialism we experienced in our country, everything was owned by the state, and the only people who were doing very well were the ones that were "tolerated", from the high ranks of the communist party or the equivalents of CIA and NSA (more or less). Plus those who could travel easily abroad (yep, that was a big issue!) or at a lower scale, who was in charge of distributing or selling resources (i.e. food, which was often rationalized, as was electricity, heat, hot water, or TV). Yes, we had free education and healthcare, but we were practically in the stone age when it comes to equipment.
The guy New Yorkers elected seems to be of the "extreme" socialism kind, although I don't care enough to look more into this.