What is a socialist? Why do some people accuse President Obama of being a socialist?

[Hans olav Sletnes]

Socialism used to mean that the means of production would be in the hands of the workers (workers would run the factories). That's why Lenin dismantled Socialism when he dismantled the worker's councils.

Other than that I pretty much agree with the answer Jess gave. I would just add that a socialist society needs to have powerful (preferably democratic) unions through which workers can make demands on the state. Without organized labour you can't really have Socialism.

The countries that come closest to having this system are probably the Scandinavian countries, although they do have a significant private sector as well.

The word Socialism is used as a scare word because people have been propagandized into associating Socialism with the totalitarianism and brutality of the Soviet Union (and similar autocratic states), which of course had little to do with Socialism as described here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzvStfDHkG8

Edit: Those who think the USA has a free market economy should check out my answer to this question: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...004AAXPbOZ