When I was in graduate school, I took a political theory course from Mark Kann, one of the best teachers I ever encountered. One day, somebody in the class argued that we needed a real socialist as president, because then we could have socialism in the US. Kann responded by asking, rhetorically, what the student thought would happen if a president and congress started enacting European-style social democratic policies in the US. Kann said that the stock market would crash, and that's why nobody would try it. Looking at today's Dow Jones average--plummeting another 300 points or so and plunging well into the 6000s--I think maybe Mark Kann was half right: that's what happens, but somebody is trying it anyway.