If you want to see why libs and Chuds on Reddit are having “tankie” derangement syndrome, look at the glorious comments dunking on OP.
If you want to see why libs and Chuds on Reddit are having “tankie” derangement syndrome, look at the glorious comments dunking on OP.
Scandinavia is not democratic socialism, as much as Bernie Sanders sold many young, naive millennials with that talking point. This was something that was rebuked by Denmark's PM himself. In the Scandinavian countries the means of production are primarily owned by private individuals, not the community or the government, and resources are allocated to their respective uses by the market, not government or community planning. Scandinavian countries are highly capitalist, and incredibly high on the Economic Freedom Index. Entrepreneurship and free markets are fervently embraced, Sweden adopted a universal school choice system in the 1990s that is nearly identical to the system proposed by libertarian economist Milton Friedman, and there are no minimum wage laws in Sweden or Norway or Denmark. What Nordic countries practice is the Nordic Model, something that is possible there because of their tiny homogenous populations and high natural resources to support the taxation need for the welfare programs.
I'm going to expand on this point slightly. Denmark, Norway and Sweden do not have the functional welfare system becausse we have tiny and homogenous populations. We have an expansive welfare system because our unions used to have fucking teeth and we were located geographically close enough to the Soviet Union that it scared the shit out of our ruling class. Sweden in particular has a long and storied history of anti-imperialism to the point where they were the only european country to offer supplies to the Viet Cong. Denmark began a massive cooperative wave with its aggricultural sector in the mid 1800s, where most of the workforce was engaged.
Norway is honestly the odd one out historically, and that is mostly because Norway used to be one of the poorest countries in Europe, with a miniscule population until they received a massive injection of cash through their oil fields. Norway then did the smart thing and used those funds to speed up the development of the country.
Yes all three countries are solidly capitalist, albeit with a funcational welfare state despite our SocDems best attempts at neutering it, but most of Scandinavia also has an extremely radical labour history and I think it does a massive disservice to us all if the gains of the working class are simply described as "high natural ressources, tiny populations and homogenity".
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I'm not saying it doesn't have advantages to have a homogenous population, i'm saying that the union efforts and millitancy had a way bigger impact than our demographics. Also I just hate that argument because it's used way too much by racist Americans who think that a welfare state can't coexist along with black/brown people.
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Thanks… Tucker Carlson?
:jesse-wtf:
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If we were to be charitable to the guy, and not just dunk on him, you could argue that the urban/rural divide has been made much more pronounced since the Neoliberal brainrot of the 1990s and 2000s set in. From what I gather, Denmark used to have significantly more manufacturing jobs as well as aggricultural jobs prior to 1980, which would have provided a way for people to make a living without needing to go to university. . So while the urban/rural divide certainly exist, it's been made much more pronounced since the introduction of the welfare state as a single concept in the popular conscience.
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"Ethnostates are good because there can be no racism without minorities!" :very-intelligent:
-you