Can someone define these political terms without Political Bias?

[Mitchell]

I'd like to get an idea of what these political parties believe and their ideals, but where i can get a response that's not biased: If it makes it easier i understand capitalism well enough so you can use that to help describe these.
Democrats
Republicans
(I do know they have to do with more control for the left and less with the right)
Socialism (Is it really bad?)
Communism - So many people put it on the same terms with socialism but i get the feeling its a lot worse? or is it ideally good, just doesn't work?
Dictatorship - is it only used in communist countries and when does it turn from absolute monarchy to dictatorship? or are they also the same?
Marxism
Lobbyists (who are they)
Libertarianism
Totalitarianism
Authoritarianism (Is it the same as totalitarianism?)
Leninist

Lastly, I know this isn't a political party but what exactly is the deficit? I have heard that its the debt, but i have also heard that is the amount the debt raises in a year. Did Obama increase or decrease this, I have also heard both. Sorry but it's just hard to find fact from fiction when the two parties in the US are both constantly stretching truths and sometimes just flat out lying about one another.

[Whatever4]

Democrats tend to believe that the role of government is to protect individuals from harm (such as poverty, abuse by others or businesses, lack of resources, bad decisions). Republicans tend to believe that individuals and businesses should be responsible for themselves and the consequences of their own decisions, and the government should have minimal impact.

No economic theory is bad, what's bad is how they function in the real world. Socialism is when the state controls the markets, and there is social ownership and control of production, management of the economy, and institutions. Communism is a subset of socialism where in addition to social ownership of production, there are no classes of people (no poor and no rich), there is no private property, and the community as a whole owns everything. Capitalism is where the private sector (individuals and businesses instead of the state) owns the means of production and competitive markets decide what to produce and consume. There is no central planning of the economy. Making profits, accumulating capital, and investing in new products and services is what drives this system. NONE of these have ever existed in pure forms, these are economic theories. Marxism and Leninism are specific forms of social theory.

Most countries have some degree of socialism and capitalism, and are described as "mixed economies". In the US, most police, fire services, and roads and bridges are socialist programs. Taxes go to pay for these. Some roads and bridges are privately owned, and the owner provides upkeep and sets the rules. Some fire companies won't fight your fire unless you have paid into the fire district: people who haven't paid have lost houses as the fire department watched. Are these "bad"? Depends on your perspective.

Dictators are individuals or small groups that are in complete charge of a country. Absolute monarchs are a subset of dictators where power is transferred by inheritance. Neither is limited to communist states. There have been capitalist countries/societies with dictators.

Authoritarianism is when the central authority is in total control of the political part of life, often through oppression and elimination of rivals. Totalitarianism is a subset of authoritarianism that adds control of all other aspects of life -- education, media, religion, private life, social institutions and economics -- everything.

Libertarianism is complicated as there's many flavors. In general, it's a philosophy of free will, free of government encumbrance, maximum individual rights.

Lobbyists are anyone who tries to influence, educate, or convince a legislator to vote a certain way. I'm lobbying my congressman when I call to express my opinion on how he should vote. Anyone can lobby. (The term comes from people standing around in the lobby of Congress waiting for legislators to come out.) Major lobbyists are paid by corporations, institutions, or groups to try to sway legislation. Lobbyists exist on many sides of issues. Lobbyists are often experts in their fields. Sometimes lobbyists write up what their ideal legislation would look like and give it to congress members, who may include parts in the actual bills they submit.

The deficit/surplus is simply the difference between revenue (taxes and fees) and expenditures. Spend more than you take in and you have a deficit. The debt is the accumulation of every year's deficit/surplus. It sounds simple, but there's political spin on everything. Part of the problem is when do you start counting? If Obama was sworn in in January 2009, the budget he was working with was Bush's budget for 2012, passed the year before and active until October 2012. Do you count that as Obama's deficit or Bush's? What about the stimulus? Or non-budgeted items such as the two wars? Revenues fell dramatically in 2009 due to the recession, who gets dinged for that? Look at this first chart: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonk...-deficits/ Not easy, is it?

[George S]

You can find them all by using a search engine. Yahoo or Google are good ones, or an on-line or book dictionary. I would need to do it for you to answer some of them so why don't you just do it and save the extra trouble?