The History of the Land of Volvo Ain't What It Seems

Socialists, including the Democratic party in the U.S. (in fact, why don't they just rename themselves the Social Democratic Party?), love to point to Sweden and the Scandinavian countries as exemplars of what socialism can do if done right. Unfortunately for them, when you peer behind the talking points, history shows differently, as a new study by a Swedish scholar, Nima Sanandaji, shows:

Sweden was a poor nation for most of the 19th century (which helps explain the great wave of Swedish emigration to the United States in the 1800s). That began to change as Stockholm, starting around 1870, turned to free-enterprise reforms... The result was an environment in which Swedes experienced "an unprecedented period of sustained and rapid economic development." In fact, between 1870 and 1936 Sweden had the highest growth rate in the industrialized world.

Scandinavia's hard-left turn didn't come about until much later. It was in the late 1960s and early 1970s that taxes soared, welfare payments expanded, and entrepreneurship was discouraged...

Sweden's world-beating growth rate dried up. In 1975, it had been the 4th-wealthiest nation on earth (as measured by GDP per capita); by 1993, it had dropped to 14th. By then, Swedes had begun to regard their experiment with socialism as ... "a colossal failure."

The real key to Scandinavia's unique successes isn't socialism, it's culture. Social trust and cohesion, a broad egalitarian ethic, a strong emphasis on work and responsibility, commitment to the rule of law — these are healthy attributes of a Nordic culture that was ingrained over centuries.

These are the attributes of a healthy society for any nation regardless of ethnic background or geographic location. The sooner we re-learn this again as Americans and quit drinking the Kool Aid of socialism, the better off we are going to be - all of us, red and yellow, black and white. 

townhall.com/columnists/jeffjacoby/2015/10/18/no-bernie-sanders-scandinavia-is-not-a-socialist-utopia-n2067623