Socialism is the gateway between capitalism and communism. The US is not capitalist because taxes are spent on the poor. Nor is it communist, of course, because people can still mamme money.
Social Democracy and Democratic Socialism are actually two different things. The first is actually a capitalist system rather than a socialist system and the second is actually a form of socialism.
Yes they are two different systems of government, but most people do not know that. Which is why asked Colonel if he was referring to Democratic Socialism. I wanted to see if he would push back.