Socialism is a matter of perspective. If somebody from the 19th century had seen the modern United States (or Europe or other countries), he would probably have thought that the country had become socialist.

"The government now has programs to help unemployed people when they lose their jobs. It pays for the education of millions. Poor people get something called Medicare. There are laws that restrict how people can invest money, buy and sell stock, carry out banking operations and how the financial system operates. There are laws that restrict how businesses operate so that workers and consumers are protected. Unions are legal and protected by law. There are laws that protect the environment. There are government agencies that enforce laws in just about every aspect of life. What happened to your country? You modern Americans have most of the things that communists and socialists preached back in my 19th century!"

Modern governments might think of themselves as anything but socialist, but in practice half of what they do came out of socialist and communist thinking.