"Socialism" is any system of government which gives any of the hard-earned tax dollars of conservatives to lazy poor people.
The political right, particularly in the U.S.A., displays a great suspicion of 'big government' and of various social programs, like welfare and medicare. These conservatives accuse their political opponents on the left of liberalism, or even worse of socialism, as if either were evil. They also frequently use the rhetoric of the Christian right to justify their opposition to these policies. I will try to address two issues which I think important --- government and charity.
Firstly, government today is a very different thing than government in biblical times. At the time of Jesus, and for a long time both before and after, government was vested for the most part in the hands of a single person, or at most a family, and decision making was autocratic and dictatorial. Greece did experiment with the idea of democracy and Rome experimented with the concept of republicanism but for most of history the average person had no participation in government. There was no possibility of the government paying any attention at all to the needs of the common people since they existed solely to meet the needs of the king.
Secondly, conservatives will frequently point out that the charitable acts so strongly encouraged in the bible on behalf of the poor and marginalized are acts that are both private and free will. And yet, these biblical injunctions are addressed corporately not individually. The words are being spoken or written to assemblages of people be they nations, crowds or churches.
Both then and today, in the western democratic democratic tradition, most people have very little problem with governments making decisions or establishing programs on their behalf. Such programs are education, military defence, infrastructure, civil law, criminal law, trade regulations and the like. These government actions are funded by taxation on all people regardless of whether the individuals involved approve of these actions or not. There are those who oppose government actions like public education, military spending (including war) and even some laws like the criminalizing of drug use or the legalization of abortion. I can see no compelling reason whatsoever why a government cannot act corporately to establish a 'social safety net'. Such a safety net is actually a form of insurance.
As an example I will use my own experience in the Canadian system of universal medicare. Since the age of 21 in 1964 I have paid a 'tax' based on my income to support that system. For most of those years I had no need of medical insurance at all except for periodic check ups. However I have funded through my medicare insurance the birth of two daughters. I have also had ten operations, three extended hospital stays and numerous procedures and tests. I have not had to pay a doctor or a hospital a cent for any of this and I have recieved the finest in medical care. Compare this to the U.S.A. where it is said that 75% of the population lives just three months away from total financial ruin in the event of catastrophic illness or accident and consequent loss of income. I do not begrudge at all any of those medicare insurance taxes paid, or that my tax rate is higher than in the U.S.A., or that a portion of my taxes might have been used to pay for an operation for a bag lady or a disabled person unable to work. I think that this exactly what Jesus would have us do in this modern context.
I also think that the political right has set up a "straw man" image of both liberals and socialists. As a liberal I have been castigated by people who suggest that I would rather lay around idle and collect welfare or unemployment insurance. In my entire life I have never once collected on either program but I have also been glad that those programs were in existence both for my own possible need but also the very real problems of friends and relatives who were in real need. There will always exist those who will attempt to exploit the system --- any system. There are the poor who are welfare bums and the rich who are corporate welfare bums. Both need to be weeded out.