>I don't see how socialism is any different. It is still the state taking from one person to give to another.
Socialism is when workplaces are owned and managed by the people who work there, rather than private investors. It has nothing to do with taxes, or welfare, or "the state" doing one thing or another -- that is a uniquely American conflation.
How is anyone in the same boat with Socialism? Unless your metaphor is that some paddle and some don't, but everyone goes the same speed