Yes. I believe yes.

Bush is more fascist. Obama is more socialist. And McCain should just be looking for a place to retire.

no, not in a monetary-based society

politics don't work in an end to end chart - political terms need to be looked at as each occupying a place on a circle

the closer one gets in a socialist atmosphere, the closer one also gets to a fascist system

if there was (and i'm not saying with absolute certainty that there is) a polar opposite to both of these systems, it would be a free-market libertarian society with no transactional controls set forth by the [lack of] government

I somewhat agree with Sydneyc, and with you, Asker. The people throwing these insults around don't appear to know what they're talking about and just want a semi-political way to say, "Mine is bigger than yours, and yours is bad no matter how big it is."

However, let's get real about the US system of government and the "boogey-men" of socialism and communism. The USofA is a Democratic Republic. The American economic system is Capitalism: rules and laws that allow private ownership of the way we produce and deliver goods (or pretend goods for those who gamble on Wall Street). Individual people do not matter, which is why in the so-called richest nation in the world we have more poverty, more prison inmates, homeless people, unemployed people, untreated sick folk and an infant mortality rate that rivals many a second and third world country in the world (look it up on the UN website, or even the World Health Organization's web sites). If you don't work or can't work, or get sick without insurance, you don't get paid and you die or beg, get sick and die.

Socialism and communism are economic systems, NOT governmental systems. The main difference is that socialism still allows the private ownrship of manufacturing, jobs and therefore a "ruling class" and "working class" as there is in the US.

AND - COMMUNISM HAS NEVER EXISTED IN THE WORLD. The "com" in communism is from the same lingual roots as "company", "communal" and communication". It infers that the people (as in "We the People) work for common goals, together. It means the end of the class system in that no on person, or group of people is more entitled to own the necessities of living (work, food, healthcare), everyone has the right to live a quality life. You could have your "individual agenda" under communism. It is possible to have a Democratic government with a socialist or communist economic system. Many European countries use different forms of this model right now. Communism DOES NOT mean the end of individualism, or that you would have to give up your "stuff" if you work harder or better than others. That would never work, because most people like their comforts and their jobs. It means that the laws would be aligned so the poverty of the least of us could be eased. The government would represent the good of the majority of it's people, not in bed with the above-mentioned ruling classes giving them free money for nothing, which is WORSE than socialism. AGAIN: COMMUNISM HAS NEVER EXISTED IN THE WORLD - NO COMPARISON TO THE FORMER USSR, CHINA OR CUBA - they were forcing people into a communal means of living without being able to provide for it's citizens.

Under a democratic government, a republic, a democratic republic like the US, a dictatorship or a royal rule you can have fascism. Fascism is when the state apparati or state operatives (police, legal system, etc.) enforces the will and values of those in power on everybody else. In light of the current US administration's erosion of the Constitution, the legislation giving the executive branch broader power over individual freedoms, and the breeches of our freedoms in the name of "Homeland Security" - Bush, continuance of a war of lies in Iraq so the corporate "ruling class" can get rich, torture of illegal prisoners of war, (water boarding) and illegal prisons run by the US inside and outside of America, there could be an argument made that Bush, Cheney, that horrid little strategist toad Rove, Condasleeza; old Sherrif Joe of Arizona (bread & water for inmates) and his ilk around the country are straight-up fascists!

Yes I believe they are. The problem is that a lot of people who don't know what the terms mean just use them as random insults.

yes, basically!
are they adding fascisim to the bs now?

i kinda know what a socialist means but i dont know what a fascist is....if you say bush is a fascist well i know what he is