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.

[Moosey Flathead]

Your politicians are obviously smarter than ours. Our guys mess up everything they touch. (And that's on one of their better days.)

[PopeJewish]

simply put, because a lot of idiot conservatives don't understand the difference between socialized capitalism and economic socialism.

They don't realize the US is already a socialized democracy with thinks like public schools, public roads, police, fire departments, public beaches, national parks, and the military all paid for by the government. That's socialism.

They don't realize that Americans pay more per person for health insurance, and our health care quality is ranked 37th in the world. Not first. 37th. We pay more, and get less, than pretty much every single other first world country.

Basically, it comes down to ignorance.

[Billy Blowfly]

Yeah Moosey, our politicians right now aren't that good, but they were in the 60s and 70s. They made some revolutionary changes back then that made a good base for our current crop of dropkicks

By the way, I agree totally with the question. I am doing really well right now. I'm struggling to manage all the work I have coming in and I haven't been this well off, ever. I believe its the reluctance by the US to use some socialist strategies that is killing the country

[Warren T]

THE TROUBLE WITH SOCIALISM IS SOONER OR LATER YOU RUN OUT OF OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY

[Bob B]

The issue here is, quite simply, that prevailing political attitudes in the USA are different to those in Australia. Australia and Europe are both generally more left-leaning than the USA, which is very right-wing by western standards. The liberal/national coalition is considered centre-right in Australia, whereas it would be considered left-wing in the USA (the US democrats are more right-wing than the coalition).

For instance, in Australia, universal healthcare is considered to be a basic essential service that the government should provide (if Medicare was revoked in Australia, there would be an uproar). In the USA, not so much. As a friend of mine once put it: in the USA, universal healthcare is viewed as "you pay for everyone else" whereas to us it's "everyone else pays for you".

Basically, different attitudes. People in Australia have different expectations from the government, and different expectations as to what they should contribute, to those in the USA.

[flower]

Most people grow up in America with the notion that the U.S. must dominate the world in military and economic power and if we spend too much on social programs, not enough is put toward those goals.