I am a Scandinavian and I'm sure I don't need to tell you about the rampant anti-Americanism here. I haven't been to France but I'd say there is an equal amount recentment emerging from debates whenever America is the topic.
I used to be be left of center, as most kids are growing up. But I've increasingly been disenchanted by it all since it's blatantly obvious all this European counter-American-exceptionalism stems from jealousy.
The argument is always about attitude and the oh-so arrogant American. Surely most people are aware how other non-European countries are when it comes to their country. Religious national-romanticism. Not just kvasi-democracies like China but pretty much any country in the world, including Eastern Europe to some degree.
So American nationalism shouldn't bother us if we didn't feel like this exceptionalism had some truth to it. So with this inferiority complex "we" tries to explain away every vice America has by tierd socialist exploitation rhetoric.
No people hates socialism more than a people who just had a good dose of it. When the socialist block fell Eastern Europe and the 90's the people there have cherished the idea of free enterprize and a passive government more than perhaps anywhere else and some countries relied on it to pull them out of poverty. Just as socialist struck East Asia now hungers more for Freidman than more Marx or Mao.
Similarly a big government Sweden looks on without enthusiasm, to say the least, as America installs populist programs like new healthcare system. Swedish economist worried about the prospects for Sweden now, since systems like ours has long been provided with medical innovation from America. A government healthcare system has been called a parasitic one by political scientists and economists, not just on the right side of the political spectrum.
And now Obama has worsened the ability for companies who do the reasearch that could lead to breakthroughs, can't require the patents they used to so they could make their money back with premium when their research bared fruit. This is a large part of why the Pharmaceutical industy lobbied against these bills. I've been selfish because I, like many Europeans, have been for government healthcare for us, but open healthcare for America, so we get the "best of both worlds".
It's funny to a Swede to see clips of American media warn of turning America into Sweden, and get laughed at as they where mental. "the most successful model of a social economy"
- The highest unemployment rate in Europe for young people especially, due to a regulated market with no labour freedom and a strong union. Denmark our relaxed and flexible neighbour, who stands closer to America, enjoys THE best European labour market. The contrast is high, many Swedes work in Denmark instead.
- Swedes are among the poorest people in Europe, only in the mediterranean do people generally have less purchasing power. The difference is, Swedes have an irresponsibly high tax-burden, which is why they cannot lead their own lives but are more effected by government decisions, because they have the money.
- Don't get me started on the healthcare system. Swedes are moving towards private alternatives, that should give you an idea of what the most successful example of public care is like
Does anyone wonder why most economist think America will pull out of this recession quicker than Europe, when we have this old unflexible socialist system of governing?
And the dailyshow wanted to promote this country the other day by showing that "our biggest pop-stars" lived in crappy apartments and not in excess like American once. I do not care how bad productive people have it in lefties countries, it won't help me one bit that they don't like the government either.
I got to go but I could rant about this all day. But when Bill O'Reilly warns of Sweden, there is wisdom there that probably go way over his little conservative head, I'm amazed at how the media picked that up, most Swedes don't even know that it's not normal to have a 25% unemployment rate for people who enter the workforce. It's like a tiny Norh Korea, if you will.
Sorry, this got way too long, and its funny because no one will read this probably and it's terribly off topic.
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