I completely agree. It seems that there's a (mostly right-wing American) view that socialism somehow equates with communism and / or fascism (and even Nazism!)

I completely agree. It seems that there's a (mostly right-wing American) view that socialism somehow equates with communism and / or fascism (and even Nazism!). Fox News seems to play a part in ensuring that the view propagates, and lives on. Socialism is simply about placing people before profits. Unregulated capitalism isn't something that generally leads to positive outcomes - just look at the (cluster-fk) that was last couple of years for proof. Socialism can provide a useful counter to capitalism because it provides an alternative method of assessing worth. Ideally we need balance - we need both.