measure socialism are the level of
             democracy; social services offered; the minimization of social classes; and finally, the
             collective ownership of factories, corporation, and companies.
             According to the conceptual definition given earlier, a socialist country must
             be highly democratic. We must then find data that would help indicate the
             variable of democracy. What makes a country democratic? The representation and
             support of diverse political views as well as a high level of public
             participation in political decisions are two social characteristics that would
             indicate a high level of democracy. To measure the representation and support of
             diverse political views, let's examine the different popular political parties
             in both Canada and the United States of America. According to the network CNN , in the latest US federal election which took place in November 2000, three political parties
             could be said to have garnered enough public support to be considered important.
             After the tally of 99 percent of precincts, the Democratic Party stood at 49
             percent of public support, the Republican Party at 48 percent, and the Green
             Party accumulated enough votes to have 3 percent of all votes. No other party received a single percent of all votes. There is also a federal election being held in Canada this month, and the nation will vote on November 27th. According to the latest Reuters/Zogby Research Canada poll , the Liberal Party holds the lead with an approximate 42 percent of public support, followed by the Canadian Alliance, which polled 29 percent, the Progressive Conservative Party holds 12 percent support, the Neo-Democratic Party has 7 percent and finally, the Bloc Quebecois holds 8 percent of public support.
             Canada therefore has five important political parties, all of which hold more
             public support than the United States' third important party. However, it would be
             incorrect to assume tha...