[CatoRenasci]

Generalizations? Sure, one can hardly do otherwise here on FR. Sweeping or unjustified generalization? I think not.

I pointedly left Eastern Europe and Russia off my list, as they are rather corrupt societies.

While I agree with you about the corrupting effects of socialism on the soul and the body politic, my experience has been an almost total absense of personal corruption in Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Although few of them are believing Lutherans anymore, the personal rectititude of the Protestant ethic still seems pervasive.

[ventana]

No personal corruption there? Ha, they lead the way in euthanasia, teen suicide, they have had overt acceptance of pornagraphy for years. They have incredibly high divorce rates. When they are not divorcing they are cohabitating and bearing huge numbers of out of wedlock babies. They have virtually no church attendance thus the only social good done on an organzized basis comes through the state, and, well, you know how that goes. Child porn has been a much bigger problem there for years (in Scandinavia). You could hardly call them innovative societies( well, ok there's Nokia). They are big nanny states, yechhh! V's wife.