The economic aspect of the Western democracies involved the private ownership of capital and market economy. Let us consider constitutional democracy as an ideal that the various countries in the West, as well as India and Japan in the Far East, approximate in different degrees. They are governed with their own consent and have a voice in their own government. Citizens in public office have more political responsibilities to discharge and so have more power than ordinary citizens, but are equal as citizens. The economic counter part of this political ideal is socialism.
Socialism is an ideal, as democracy is, and it is approximated in varying degrees.
As an ideal it is the economic face of political democracy. The ideal is approximated in a society in which all mature citizens are economic as well as political haves . In the same way that all citizens are political haves , they are all economic haves . That is why democracy and socialism are two faces of the same coin. Among the economic haves , some will have more and some less in terms of the contribution they make to the economy.