A common critique of socialist ideas is that a market-based economy is more efficient.
This is used to criticize many in the USA who propose socialist reforms.
But obviously everyone knows that not everything can/should be market-based. Even those on the right support the idea of, say, a police-force. That's government controlled. You don't hire police officers on the free market. That would be idiotic.
So why do so many liberal US politicians use propaganda against themselves by using words like "socialism", when really they don't want socialism, they just want some social reforms, much like that of a police force, a fire department, an army, etc? Why not just talk specifically about what you want, rather than make a blanket statement that makes it easier for your political opponents to use that very blanket statement against you?
To give an analogy, imagine if you want to eat some chicken or cow, so rather than just say you want to eat chicken and cow, you go out and make a blanket statement saying "i want to eat living organisms"... and yes, cows and chickens are living organisms, but by making a blanket statement like that, it's pretty easy to make it seem as if you're a blood-thirsty cannibal.
