If you think about why the former are taboo and the latter aren't (at least in your mind), something obvious should happen.

And as a european, I can tell you with high degree of certainty that absolutely zero of your friends or workmates are actually socialists or communists. It's possible they embrace socialist ideals, as Sanders does, but Sanders is at best a moderate left-wing here in europe.

You folks in the US developed a weird hatred of the word "socialism", equating it with the ridiculous dictatorial ideals of Stalin, Castro etc. But although socialism has a hard time working, that doesn't mean some of its ideas don't work in a democracy.

Here in europe, "free health care" is not socialism. It's a human right. Human rights are fun, you should try them.