Why does the United States fear turning into a social democratic nation?

[Robyn]

On twitter, most republicans and conservatives say Obama is not good because he's policies are socialist. I understand the fear of extreme socialism because of the totalitarianism but is a social democratic country a bad thing. I live in Australia and because of our ( well i call it) Social Revolution in the 70s through the Whitlam Government we have:
1. An effective universal health care system ( no one is denied health care because of their income)
2. A good social security system (However the government now is cutting back just because they want the budget to surplus before the election, which they will achieve)
3. Tertiary Education is affordable ( Our system works that after you finish High School and want to pursue tertiary education at University or even things like Tafe (which is the equivalent to community college), the government pays for your education and WHEN you start working, you pay it back, like a loan).
Most European countries are social democratic countries and Australia especially I think thrives on the democratic socialism. We don't have a major right wing party, the furthest MAJOR right wing party is the Liberals and they are only centre right and can only come into power through a coalition.

Not to sound like I'm boasting but our nation tries to create equal opportunity, and that people shouldn't be limited by the income they get. I must admit, our population is pretty small,around 24 million compared to the 300,000,000 Americans, but wouldn't that mean you would get taxed less just because their is so many to tax from. We do pay a high amount of tax, but its not like the money is getting wasted in wars, its on things our community as a whole can benefit from.

I do believe a social democratic state is far off because of the US debt, but why is it that people fear it now and use it as an excuse to not vote for democrats/left wing parties. I know the greater lower class majority would benefit compared to the rich minority in America.