Actually, neither fascists nor socialists are fundamentally totalitarian. Such a political system is nowhere prescribed in either philosophy.

Both, by the way, are primarily economic systems -- socialist especially so.

Fascism's underlying principle is that the purpose of government is to support business -- underwrite it if necessary.

Socialism's underlying principle is that the means of production should belong not to corporations and individuals, but to the people collectively.

Both run into trouble because fundamental human nature makes them unworkable. Human greed messes things up. Socialism gets into trouble because equality tends to deny liberty, which stifles ambition and greed. (One is good; the other not so much). Fascism has problems because inevitably, the interests of business diverge from that of individuals, and average people find themselves working for the good of plutocrats and oligarchs who exploit them. Socialism has problems because the society devolves into workers and drones (who often are the bureaucrats) and the workers rather resent the situation.

In both cases, the ruling elite finds that to maintain power, they need to suppress dissent and limit individual freedom. But in neither case is that the original purpose.

What we're in right now is a fascist scenario. The government has taken restraint off of capitalists whose greed has driven the economy into the ditch. Now we, the people, have to bail out these crooks before their malfeasance ruins us all. It's a truly hateful situation.

Neither extreme works. If we stifle liberty, the economy stalls. But if we don't control market forces, people are exploited, the environment suffers, and we spend our lives in an endless cycle of boom/bust.

We need balance between the two.

j