Posted on 08/22/2023 3:46:06 PM PDT by 11th_VA
For many years, progressives and self-avowed socialists have touted a small group of countries as models for the cushy welfare state they hope to create in the US: the Nordic states.
Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland offer extensive welfare benefits to their citizens, and many on the American left have taken this as evidence that socialism works...
However, there is a reality that has received less attention in this debate: despite being modern in many ways, the Nordic countries have retained much of their traditional cultures, elements of which are repugnant to the worldview of American progressives. These nations have also been willing to preserve, protect, and defend their cultures in ways that would shock and offend the exquisite sensibilities of globalists.
Though Nordic people have, sadly, become rather secular in terms of personal beliefs, Christian habits of mind and conduct continue to undergird their way of life. Scandinavian people are characterized by the same diligence, orderliness, cleanliness, honesty, and punctuality that animate many cultures influenced by centuries of Protestantism. It would be news to a Dane to hear from a “diversity and inclusion” consultant that it is racist to expect an employee to be on time.
Despite their robust safety nets, the Nordics have some of the highest labor force participation rates in the world... the same Protestant work ethic that progressives might deride elsewhere as a facet of white supremacy.
...they have lower rates of multiple-partner childbearing and form fewer of the single-parent families in which the US leads the world. Given the greater tendency of single-parent families to raise children in poverty who become disproportionately involved in crime and social dysfunction, Nordic welfare systems have comparatively less heavy lifting to attempt.
Like several countries in Europe, the Nordic countries restrict immigration in ways unthinkable to American Democrats. Applicants for Danish citizenship are required to have lived in Denmark for at least nine years. At the time of application, they are also required to have been employed full-time for three and half of the previous four years. Denmark bans anyone who has been sentenced for a crime from ever earning Danish citizenship and requires people who have been fined for minor crimes to wait six years before applying for citizenship. Even after becoming eligible for citizenship in all those ways, applicants must prove they can speak decent Danish, pass a rigorous citizenship test, and have their applications for citizenship sorted by nationality of origin and approved by the Danish Parliament...
...The Nordic lands have lax gun laws compared to much of the world, and this is not a controversial issue for them. Though outgunned by the American citizenry, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland still have some of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world. They nevertheless have low homicide rates. These two data points, taken together, should confound the belief commonly held by gun control junkies that gun ownership leads to violent crime...
The key to Nordic success
Social scientists often use the concept of social trust as a yardstick when comparing countries. Social trust refers to how much confidence people have that their neighbors, police, politicians, and media will not lie, cheat, steal, or otherwise do harm. Trust makes transactions easier, and generally, more trusting countries are wealthier, safer, and more stable.
It's no accident that Protestant-majority countries tend to have some of the highest levels of social trust. Trusting is easier when others are trustworthy, so it is no surprise that trust abounds wherever the values of personal accountability, honesty, integrity, and civility cluster together. Thus, it makes sense that the smaller, more closely-knit Nordic nations who retain culturally Christian habits in lockstep would have higher levels of trust than the US, where values, beliefs, lifestyles, and behaviors have diverged widely since the 1960s.
Ultimately, the Nordic countries prove more than their fanboys want them to; they vindicate the primacy of Judeo-Christian values in creating some of the freest, most prosperous, most sought-after nations. Though it sometimes fails to live up to them, the United States has the advantage of having been self-consciously built on these values. Progressives should take note, and conservatives should soldier on defending the beliefs, culture, and traditions that crafted the wealthiest, most powerful republic the world has ever seen.
Indeed.
diversity = death and disorder
It’s not complicated.
North Korea is too conservative for democrats.
I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Sweden. Beautiful country with really fine people.
I would live there in a heartbeat.
Ditto - made my first trip last year
Will it stay that way or be overrun with Muslims?
Sweden has 100% School vouchers for K-12
Sweden has a private account for part of their Social Security system
Sweden has no Estate Tax
Talk about driving the Left nuts
I visited Norway in 1986
Went out to a club in Oslo
Half the women were 5’8” or taller
One of our big ships (aircraft carrier) was just in Oslo. They made a pretty big deal out of it. Somewhere in town there was a big, official sign welcoming them. Went something like:
Welcome USA sailors!
Enjoy your liberty stay.
We’ll see you in 9 months!
I worked a ton in Stockholm at the turn of the century. I don’t know if the refugee problem has changed things there or not, but when I was there it was safe, immaculate, friendly and it was good working with people there. It seemed that the size of homes were much smaller than America and consumerism wasn’t as great either. Not that those things are problems. Taxes were high, but government seemed to work, at least in my limited encounters to get work visas and one time I needed one in a real hurry. I was able to get it. Compare that to getting just a passport here in the U.S. That takes forever.
They have fewer people in those countries. There’s only 5.5 million people in Norway and Denmark each. We have 330 million and a government that lies all the time.
The lack of “diversity” makes it workable there. You have a common people who realize they’re in it together. In the U.S. we have multiple groups who will do absolutely everything they can to get someone else to pay their way through life and our politicians accommodate them in order to win their votes. Ironically, as the Nordic countries flood their shores with immigrants they’ll end up like us.
They understand that multiculturalism is a weakness so all citizens must understand their culture and speak their language. It’s so simple, even a progressive woketard can understand it. Probably wouldn’t agree with it but they should be able to understand it.
I see this as a shining example of what America should strive for.
Biden’s border policy was the deathknell of all that admiration for Scandinavia. If progressives really wanted us to be more like Scandinavia, they wouldn’t be importing millions of illegals. Maybe the response is that Sweden is doing it too, but that’s because Sweden (or the Swedish government) may also not want to be Scandinavian anymore.
Spot on.
They’ve stepped back from the brink of fascism. Democrats ar doubling down on it.
Norway's Barnevernet: They took our four children… then the baby
Should your kid be taken away if they don't like fish-balls? Norway says so
Finnish MP Päivi Räsänen facing second trial over biblical beliefs 1 year after acquittal
Those Nordic systems started breaking down when they started importing Third Worlders, who don’t share their work ethic.
For the same reason that socialism here will be a disaster, the population is too diverse.
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