This pro-business stance leads to criticisms of New Deal reforms, government regulation of business, and attempts to reduce income inequality. There is a faith that the private sector, including charities, can meet social needs better than can government. Socialism has traditionally centered on belief that public ownership of the means of production, often involving nationalization of industry, government guarantees of employment, sharp reductions in income and wealth inequalities, and reduced military spending. In America, socialism is often equated with communism, which was rejected in the 1990s by Russia and Eastern Europe. However, democratic socialism is still a common ideology throughout much of the world, part of a continuum which blends into the Social Democratic parties of Europe, which have been staunchly anti-communist.
Libertarianism is a political philosophy which focuses on individual freedom.
Libertarians can carry conservatism to an extreme, substituting private enterprise for government services even in traditionally public areas such as education, the environment, and even state and national parks. Libertarians favor massive cuts in federal spending and elimination of all welfare and subsidy benefits. Naturally, not all libertarians favor all these policies, but libertarianism carries a strong presumption that government activity is an unnecessary evil and that individuals acting in a free economy and free society will arrive at better solutions through their cooperation and conflict. Ideology and the American People Ideologies are not distributed evenly across American public opinion. Almost half of all Americans reported that they were moderates or did not know what to label their beliefs.