A crash course in social democracy: After I Lived in Norway, America Felt Backward.
After I Lived in Norway, America Felt Backward. Heres Why.
A crash course in social democracy.
By Ann JonesJANUARY 28, 2016
Some years ago, I faced up to the futility of reporting truths about Americas disastrous wars, and so I left Afghanistan for another mountainous country far away. It was the polar opposite of Afghanistan: a peaceful, prosperous land where nearly everybody seemed to enjoy a good life, on the job and in the family.
Its true that they didnt work muchnot by American standards, anyway. In the United States, full-time salaried workers supposedly laboring 40 hours a week actually average 49, with almost 20 percent clocking more than 60. These people, on the other hand, worked only about 37 hours a week, when they werent away on long paid vacations. At the end of the workday, about four in the afternoon (perhaps three during the summer), they had time to enjoy a hike in the forest, a swim with the kids, or a beer with friendswhich helps explain why, unlike so many Americans, they are pleased with their jobs.
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What is it, though, that makes the Scandinavians so different? Since the Democrats cant tell you and the Republicans wouldnt want you to know, let me offer you a quick introduction. What Scandinavians call the Nordic model is a smart and simple system that starts with a deep commitment to equality and democracy. Thats two concepts combined in a single goal because, as far as theyre concerned, you cant have one without the other.
Right there, they part company with capitalist America, now the most unequal of all the developed nations, and consequently a democracy no more. Political scientists say it has become an oligarchy, run at the expense of its citizenry by and for the superrich. Perhaps youve noticed that.
In the last century, Scandinavians, aiming for their egalitarian goal, refused to settle solely for any of the ideologies competing for powernot capitalism or fascism, not Marxist socialism or communism....
http://www.thenation.com/article/after-i-lived-in-norway-america-felt-backward-heres-why/
See also:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511162609