I went back through the thread and I couldn't find a post where you directly compared socialise as exclusive to democracy. But take a look at your last post, equating socialism with North Korea. I haven't spent a lot of time in Korea, but my understanding is that it's driven mostly by the syndicates (There's a word I'm looking for but I've lost it). Frankly, at a local level China is incredibly democratic and non-socialist. Libertarian to the core. If anything, they are struggling for something more socialist. It's a country of capitalists.
Countries such as Australia would be considered Socialist by your standard. I assure you, it's still a Democracy. Your views and perspective are clear.
Sorry Jen, but it looks as if your reading comprehension needs work. I specifically didn't and don't in any way compare socialism to democracy. They're two completely different ideas. There's even a thing called "democratic socialism," which is a consistent, if ridiculous, political philosophy.
North Korea is socialist. The state owns the means of production. That's the definition of socialism. Yes, North Korea also is a dictatorship, but there's no contradiction in that. Socialist propaganda always has pictured Naziism as right-wing, but Nazi is a contraction of "Nationalsozialismus," which translates as "national socialism," which is exactly what it was.
I specifically didn't include China in my list of socialist countries. It's a dictatorship, but from my experience, and I'll bet your experience, I don't think it will ever be possible to confine Chinese means of production to the state. In every Asian country I've been in, except Japan, the entrepreneurs were either Indian or Chinese. With his guns, Mao was able to capture his people for a generation, but it didn't last and never will.
With your statement on Australia you've again confused socialism and democracy as somehow antagonistic. Australia and Canada both are democracies, and like Canada, Australia has been in and out of socialism. At the moment, Australia seems to be in and Canada, thank the Lord, seems to be out.
The most illuminating comparison between socialism and capitalism, by the way, is in north and south Korea. Both halves are populated by the same race of intelligent, productive people. The results are on display for anyone with eyes to see.