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To: miltonbradleyfriedman

“I assume that most Republicans and Conservatives haven’t read that much about the Swedish system. It’s actually a system that might work here”

- I’m Swedish. I also happen to know a little bit about American society.

On the surface, our nations display many similarities, but most well educated people who know something about both cultures probably would agree that there also exists major differences.

Sweden, still, is a society very much founded on the traditional values of the Viking/Lutheran unit of the “by”; the village consisting of free, self-governing men (feudalism never haunted Sweden unlike many other parts of Europe), but also by the ways in which they were dependent on each other and agreed to cooperate in daily matters and defend themselves in times of war.

The US, on the other hand, is a culture based on the idea of the melting pot and the ideal of independence (not wishing to say there’s no team spirit among Americans, there sure is).

Sweden and USA have much to offer each other and among other things, we should support each other as we are brothers in arms in the WOT.

BUT, what works well in Sweden might end up a fiasco on American soil and the other way around..


7 posted on 09/03/2009 9:54:42 AM PDT by WesternCulture
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To: WesternCulture
No feudalism in Sweden ?
My great grandfather left precisely to get away from the sharecropper/indentured servitude system that he was trapped in at the turn of the 19th century. After working for himself and saving every cent for three years in the US, he was able to send for his wife and daughter in 1905, essentially 'buying' their way out of Sweden. More than a few Swedes from that era did the same. They wanted independence, private property and to get away from the 'communitarianism' which was, in fact, Nordic classism.
8 posted on 09/03/2009 10:19:58 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
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