Help! I Live In Sweden, and I Am Addicted to Socialism
Hi. My name is Nathan. I am an American living in Sweden. And I am addicted to socialism.
I must admit that I did not come here tonight totally of my own free will, which has been apparently sapped by the Swedish welfare state. For I thought I was quite happy. I thought I did not mind paying high taxes to support the system, both for my benefit and those around me. I thought Sweden was actually not socialist, but, as the CIA World Factbook puts it, "a mixed system of high-tech capitalism and extensive welfare benefits."
But I was wrong. I see that my life has become unmanageable.
Or maybe too manageable.
I was living in the Matrix or on that cruise ship from Wall-E, my mind and spirit dulled by ease. I understand now, I do, even if it took an intervention by Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity to show me (See their wisdom here and here respectively).
I owe them so much. They showed me what a pernicious drug this "socialism" is, draining your life of that low-level anxiety about your family's well-being, easing you into a low level happiness, a stability, a sense that while the winters are soul-killing and life remains hard and unsure, you will be caught if you fall.
What a nightmare. To think I fell prey to "socialism" after all those years as a "liberal."
Though I must confess, I have already slipped. Yes, I did watch the Daily Show segment from Sweden, the one inspired by O'Reilly and his profound truthy truths about America's slippery slope towards Swedishness. I watched Wyatt Cenac trade on outdated and sexist stereotypes to make a deceptively evil, yes, evil, point - that if you give up three of your five blondes in taxes, you get one back in health care savings alone.
Just those 10 or so minutes put me on the road towards relapse, memories of my six months of paid parental leave swirling in my head. I could not stop thinking about how close I got to my daughter, how much I appreciated the chance to stay home without a massive family sacrifice or career suicide.
I could not stop thinking about cheap, high-quality daycare and the comprehensive child health care. I could not stop thinking that Sweden has introduced flexibility into its health care system, that it has some of the most competitive companies in the world, that its government actually refused to bail out a failing car company, Saab. I could not stop ...
Luckily, my bluegrass saviors, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, and Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Kentucky, slapped me across the face. The free market is dying, Bunning said. Don't become "Europeanized," shouted McConnell, waterboarding me for the third time. They reminded me what America stands for, at least for the well-off politician I could be some day - rugged individualism and cheap gas, McMansions and low taxes, conspicuous consumption and the military-industrial complex.
America is not about community, they said. Never was. Not in the colonies, not on wagon trains in the Old West, not during the Depression, not even during World War II. In America, they reminded me, it is every man, woman and child for themselves, a nation of pure individuals.
I made a fearless moral inventory, and I realized the hardest truth of them all. I am scared. One day, I hope to move back to America, if only to see the sun in the wintertime, but also to be near my family. But the thought of navigating health insurance, education for my kids and grinding jobs with no vacation is terrifying, not to mention that when you add up all the little taxes and costs - you know, Social Security, state, local, school, health insurance, to name a few - I get suspiciously near my Swedish tax rate.
But that is letting the socialists win. And we cannot let "them" win.
I am new to these 12 steps. I see I am supposed to make a list of all the people I have harmed. I am confused again. Did I harm my daughter? My wife? Myself? Oh, I am slipping again. I seem to only benefit from the safety net.
I also see that I am to take my message to other sufferers. But Swedes like their safety net. They do, even the conservative ones. Oh my, I need to hear the message again. Why Sweden is socialist. Why it is wrong.
It seems so right ...
Excuse me, I need to call Rush Limbaugh - he is my sponsor - and get my head straight.
I need to go over this in detail, health care, parental leave, the gas tax, all of it.
So see you next meeting.
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Americans would also rather pay the higher taxes, but we don't trust our government to actually work, because it doesn't. It screws up everything it touches.
Nathan, as a compassionate conservative I can help you.
If you'll put a tea bag under your pillow, your socialist tendencies will gradually dissapate.
But be careful, use a regular tea bag.
If you use a decaffeinated one, it won't work. A herbal tea bag will actually make the symptoms more severe.
Please let me know if you need a senior scientists that knows math and other useful things! My health insurance just dropped from 90/10 to 80/20 which means that my next prostate biopsia is going to cost me double. Also, no merit salary raise this year...the economy in the tank...my wife needs dental care and we have no dental plan (it is horribly expensive and they never honor your claims)...and even though I work at a nice university and enjoy long yearly vacations my salary is laughable. Being a professor in the USA has become a joke. So I'm ready to go to Sweden too!!!!!
I think we are rapidly drawing closer to the day when this country will experience brain drain. Other countries will start recruiting our best scientists. Our colleges and universities will experience a painful drop in enrollment in the next few years. People do not have the money and many will start viewing the college degree as a bad investment if there are no good jobs available to help must pay off that sizable debt.
I think we have utterly deranged public policies. Big costly Empire abroad and lousy economy at home. Why do we provide the requisite "consent" to this madness?
If the U.S. was only a bit as Sweden you would the world would be a better place. At least here in European counties like Sweden, Holland and Norway we have allmost NO people below the povery line, can the U.S. claim to have that? NO. We all have healthcare, do you in the U.S.? NO again. Do we have more freedom than you in the U.S.? YES! In Holland softdrugs are legal, abortion, euthanasia, same sex marrige are all legal (abortion and euthanasia are closly watched to see if it's not abused). You call your president the leader of the free world. Than way are the people in Holland more free and do we not think of the U.S. as our leader or rolemodel? Because you are not even close to be as free as we are in Europe and b.t.w. we have better health care and all that with our freedom.
We say "leader of the free world" because, last time I checked, we had the largest military in the world, as well as the highest GDP of any country in the world...AND...we provide more aid to other countries than anyone else. But I guess if our country was the size of California and had the population of Manhattan, things might be easier.
I find it interesting that when we help other countries, people tell us to stay out of their business...yet when we don't come to their aid, people ask why we didn't. Frankly, I don't really care whether you like the US or not because I could give two ****s about Sweden.
Why don't you tell about your education system and that in order for the State to pay for your college, you have to choose your occupation when you are still in grade school. Way to go Sweden! Nothing like pigeonholing your workforce.
Here here!
"AND...we provide more aid to other countries than anyone else."
That is not really true:
"Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden score highest while the largest donors in absolute terms, the United States and Japan, rank at or near the bottom." Source: http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/3646/
"All in all, it can be said that while the US is an important contributor to foreign aid, it cannot be justified to say that the US is the most generous donator. When looking at the total amount, the EU donates twice as much as the US ($35,065 millions vs. $17,178 millions) without having a relatively larger population (446.39 million vs. 293.816 million).
When looking at foreign aid as a percentage of GNP (PPP), the US is ranked 17th, and when measured as dollars per capita, the US is ranked 14th." Source: http://kriswager.blogspot.com/2007/03/is-usa-biggest-foreign-aid-donor.html
An emotional reaction to the news that America is "number one" only in things that are killing our nation and that other smaller countries are kicking our butts in things that count. Excuses for American decline full of inaccuracies.
when did we americans get so arrogant that we think our way is ALWAYS the best and ONLY way. It's NOT! I. Sweden may not have as many millionaires but it also doesn't have millions of homeless begging on the streets. It doesn't have an infant mortality rate higher than some 3rd world countries. The Swedes are healthy, active people. You see very little obesity. They have a well educated populace and clean streets and you don't have to be afraid you'll get shot for saying boo to your neighbor. We Americans need to come down off our high horses and realize that many Americans have a much lower standard of living than the average Swede. Now, our politicians do very well. Most of them are fairly well off. They get free healthcare. They don't have to wonder where their next meal is coming from. The same goes for people like Hannity and O'Reilly. Given a choice, I prefer to pay higher taxes and live a happier life!!!
The audience of people like Hannity and O'Reilly is mostly made up of people too dim to think for themselves.
We've been told we're number one in everything and now we discover we aren't number one in things that matter. We know that what makes us number one in military and empire is also what is diminishing us. The Cold War fight has changed us for the worse. It has made us much like the enemies we were trying to contain. We've become an empire, militaristic culture with an oppressive security apparatus. Our education has brainwashed us away from free thinking in the name of fighting communism, so much so that "socialism" has become a bad word instead of a legitimate political viewpoint regardless if you agree with it or disagree. We fight useless wars nominally to make us safer or to bring freedom and democracy abroad but we know this is bullcrap. Unfortunately we aren't able to stop this because we know that our government is no longer representing our interests; it does whatever the elite establishment wants. Too many of us are no longer even capable of thinking freely; much of our thinking is done in a carefully defined space by relentless propaganda - call it a thought reservation. We aren't aware that while we talk about freedom and liberty we are behaving like ordinary subjects and serfs and not like free people. We are a diminished culture, a legend in our own enslaved minds. And yet I remain optimistic we will somehow change and once again rise to our fullest potential. Do we have any choice?
And how many (dollar) millionaires are there in Sweden? Thought so. Only 0.5% of the population, it turns out, as opposed to 1% for neighboring Norway and ~3.3% for the US. While socialism may create the comforting illusion of free goodies for all - it always comes at a high price, namely heinous taxes on the most creative, entrepreneurial and productive citizens. The fact that any millionaires exist at all in Sweden is amazing, as it takes both incredible personal drive AND incredible feats of offshore accounting legerdemain for someone to manage to actually keep a good portion of what they've earned peacefully and honestly. If you don't have ambitions of ever becoming wealthy by way of your own efforts, I'm sure Sweden is the way to go - just so you remember you will probably take during your life more out of the system than you will ever pay into it your entire working career - someone with superior ability is paying the rest of your tab for you. This is why the only Swedes today that stand out from the pack is the family running IKEA and the guys from Pirate Bay.
They may not be millionaires, but if you are merely a millionaire in this country(which most people are not...are you?), you too could be one bad diagnosis away from selling your house and living in cardboard box to pay off those medical bills after you max out your insurance. Is that comforting?
If you can avert your eyes from the homeless on every street corner and under every bridge, and in tent cities around the country, good for you. I'd rather have one overcoat than two, and know that my neighbours are not starving. I would sleep much better at night.
BTW I paid about the same taxes in Europe that I pay here. Get a grip.
I "don't have ambitions of ever becoming wealthy by way of your own efforts."
I have no interest in being wealthy.
Why do you?
Ah the american dream, maybe you will win the lottery!
This is why the only Swedes today that stand out from the pack is the family running IKEA and the guys from Pirate Bay.
Really?
And What about Ericsson (40% share of global telecoms market) , Scania (the world's leading heavy truck manufacturer), Volvo, Skandia, H&M, Nordea, SHB, Electrolux, SCA, Atlas Copco, etc etc etc?
Dont flaunt your ignorance - try to hide it.
Also how many homeless/broke are there in America? How many in Sweden?
Sweden is wonderful, too bad about the weather.
Sweden also has more billionaires per capita than any other country, including the USA.
They are the most productive people I have ever met.
Stay in Sweden, you obviously do not have the drive nor the desire to think for yourself and take full responsiblity for your family any longer. Remember, what the gov't gives, it can just as easily take away. Not my ideal of living, but those of simpler minds obviously find it satisfying.
Why do we always need to diminish the one we may disagree with? This sounds to me like an emotional response to something you don't like hearing. Nobody is saying you must love Sweden and all it stands for.
You are implying that Swedes are less free than Americans because their government's greater involvement in their society but I disagree. Sweden is a more democratic country than the US and its government represents better the wishes of their people than our represents the wishes of Americans. They have better legal protection when it comes to privacy than we do. While we may not wish our country to become Sweden we can certainly learn from Swedes and others from their social experiments. Americans used to be much more practical, more pragmatic and would not hesitate to learn form others. We have become a nationalistic and militaristic culture which is preventing us from thinking clearly, let alone learning from others. This is our loss.
Thank you.
We have a lot to learn from Sweden.
America would be better off if we adopted the policies of the countries that have a higher standard of living than ours.
Bravo!
Brilliant. I lived in Europe for seven years for my work (the employment was better in Europe than America) and I cannot understand what people are so afraid of--except maybe of not being afraid all the time! I was never worried, had my six weeks of mandatory vacation to look forward to, had even the tiniest medical problems taken care of by a truly competent doctor at no charge, and I had a happy workplace (because no-one worried about taking off if they or their child were sick, or if they just needed a day once in a while to do stuff, about losing their jobs), I loved the working conditions because my employer actually cared about their employees, and I never had to work overtime. I had extremely reasonable rent, and I could have happily spent the rest of my life there. University was $200/semester, and so nobody was stressed about saving for higher education, either.
Unfortunately that was not to be: all but three members of my family, including my younger brother, died from poor nutrition and poorer healthcare, and there's no-one left to take care of my parents except me. Until that's resolved, here I must stay.
May I suggest, Nathan, that you move to the south of France? The food, the wine, and the weather are much better, and you'll get pretty much the same benefits. You'll see plenty of sunny days, I promise!
People like you, who have experienced life the European way, need to keep speaking out. Really, Americans are so dumb. I watched that Daily Show special and I longed to live in Sweden. I would fit in. I work well and I'm not crazy materialistic like so many Americans.
Do you have any extra space there for a family of four? ;)
there´s some extra space in our basement if you don´t mind the mice. they´re very friendly.
Umm... so like, are you guys hiring?? I'm smart and hard working, plus the sight of Sean Hannity makes me punch walls.
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