Everything goes better there than it goes here. There is no measure but military might in which they do not surpass the U.S. They've got us beat on the Democracy Index, the Happy Planet Index, the Human Development Index, the World Happiness Report, and the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare. They're even comparable on the Index of Economic Freedom. They have lower rates of crime and poverty and illiteracy and infant mortality. They have better health and longer lifespans. They have nothing to learn from the U.S. -- we should be copying them!
The social democracies of Europe
- Thread starter Politruk
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The social democracies even outperform America on the American Dream: Social mobility. See the Global Social Mobility Index.
This is all social democracy is -- nothing in any way objectionable:
Social democracy is a political ideology that advocates for state intervention to fulfill social, financial, and political security, justice, and equality of opportunity for people and actively reorder society in a way that is conducive to such developments. Such changes should be achieved with respect to the democratic and republican institutions and practices. It is common but not unique to Europe, where social democrats regularly feature as one of the major parties and have governed (or at least participated in governments) in many states, most notably in Northern Europe (up to being nicknamed the "Nordic model", which is effectively a blend of social liberalism and social democracy). Social democrats traditionally regard government intervention as a force for good, regulating markets and engaging in redistributive efforts to benefit disadvantaged groups and consumers to establish a more equitable society. Among the intellectual fathers of the modern social democratic ideology, we can mention the sociologist Anthony Giddens, the couple Gunnarhttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png and Alva Myrdalhttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png (who were respectively laureated with Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and Nobel Peace Prize), politician William Beveridgehttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png, among others.
Somewhat confusingly, social democracy is not the same thing as democratic socialism, nearly identical names notwithstanding. Modern social democrats believe in maintaining a market economy with varying (but, as discussed below, often dwindling) degrees of regulation and with a welfare state — democratic socialists do not (liberal socialists are the only nominally "socialists" who do), as they seek to abolish those goodies.
In American discourse, the leftiness of contemporary social democrats in Europe is often greatly overestimated. European social democratic parties are primarily moderate establishment parties, only and mostly symbolically slightly to the left. They have been marked by over a century of reformism since they split from revolutionary socialism, including a neoliberal turn in the 1980s and 1990s.
However, in social matters (for example, social mobility), the Scandinavian countries tend to outstrip the USA by a good margin. As of 2020, the four Nordic countries are also the top 4 in the Global Social Mobility Index, while the US is not even in the top 25.[3] In terms of the Gini coefficient, which measures the equality of income distribution, the United States does very poorly (even worse than Russia). It is handily beaten by the European states, though, in this particular index, the Nordic countries are also beaten by some countries of the former Eastern Bloc and the former USSR. Human developmenthttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png and World Happiness Report are also indexes on which the Nordic counties perform considerably better. The Nordic countries also score very high on the Where-to-be-born Indexhttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png.
Overall, perhaps the main "rival" of the Nordic countries is not the US, which is beaten in most of the rankings (although in not all of them, like GDP per capita), but Switzerland, a very economically liberal country with far more geographical, cultural and historical similarities with the Scandinavia that can, in fact, beat them in many relevant rankings (but not all of them, like the Gini Index and the Social Mobility Index).
Social democracy is a political ideology that advocates for state intervention to fulfill social, financial, and political security, justice, and equality of opportunity for people and actively reorder society in a way that is conducive to such developments. Such changes should be achieved with respect to the democratic and republican institutions and practices. It is common but not unique to Europe, where social democrats regularly feature as one of the major parties and have governed (or at least participated in governments) in many states, most notably in Northern Europe (up to being nicknamed the "Nordic model", which is effectively a blend of social liberalism and social democracy). Social democrats traditionally regard government intervention as a force for good, regulating markets and engaging in redistributive efforts to benefit disadvantaged groups and consumers to establish a more equitable society. Among the intellectual fathers of the modern social democratic ideology, we can mention the sociologist Anthony Giddens, the couple Gunnarhttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png and Alva Myrdalhttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png (who were respectively laureated with Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and Nobel Peace Prize), politician William Beveridgehttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png, among others.
Somewhat confusingly, social democracy is not the same thing as democratic socialism, nearly identical names notwithstanding. Modern social democrats believe in maintaining a market economy with varying (but, as discussed below, often dwindling) degrees of regulation and with a welfare state — democratic socialists do not (liberal socialists are the only nominally "socialists" who do), as they seek to abolish those goodies.
In American discourse, the leftiness of contemporary social democrats in Europe is often greatly overestimated. European social democratic parties are primarily moderate establishment parties, only and mostly symbolically slightly to the left. They have been marked by over a century of reformism since they split from revolutionary socialism, including a neoliberal turn in the 1980s and 1990s.
Performance[edit]
There is still some debate over how well these policies worked. Social democratic thought and governance have had a lot of influence on post-war Western Europe; the respective parties dominated the political landscape in Scandinavia and introduced the modern European welfare state model in numerous other countries such as France, Germany, and the Netherlands. While economic growth was robust up to the 1970s, the much more market-liberal United States performed better in recent decades, though practically all of these gains in America went to the wealthy, even if the US also saw dramatic growth in its welfare state.[2] Nowadays, only Norway, which has a great deal of oil, has a higher (PPP) GDP per capita than the USA.However, in social matters (for example, social mobility), the Scandinavian countries tend to outstrip the USA by a good margin. As of 2020, the four Nordic countries are also the top 4 in the Global Social Mobility Index, while the US is not even in the top 25.[3] In terms of the Gini coefficient, which measures the equality of income distribution, the United States does very poorly (even worse than Russia). It is handily beaten by the European states, though, in this particular index, the Nordic countries are also beaten by some countries of the former Eastern Bloc and the former USSR. Human developmenthttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png and World Happiness Report are also indexes on which the Nordic counties perform considerably better. The Nordic countries also score very high on the Where-to-be-born Indexhttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png.
Overall, perhaps the main "rival" of the Nordic countries is not the US, which is beaten in most of the rankings (although in not all of them, like GDP per capita), but Switzerland, a very economically liberal country with far more geographical, cultural and historical similarities with the Scandinavia that can, in fact, beat them in many relevant rankings (but not all of them, like the Gini Index and the Social Mobility Index).
All lies.
UltraChad
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The AfD will never rule Germany.
UltraChad
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Germany isn't really a thing anymore so I'm not all that worried about it.
It's as much a country as all the others.
UltraChad
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Nope...more of an EU pseudo territory they're letting the barbarians savage.
They have no borders there is no real law there.
No military. No monetary strength. It's a self destructing, self loathing joke, not a country.
They don't even have a people, they've stopped breeding and cucked out to the Jihadis.
Abdul is gonna breed those losers out of existence and they are PROUD of it!!! LOL
Right?
The right wing surges out of hate and fear of immigrants, not because it offers a more libertarian alternative that would make the average citizen's life better than social democracy does.
Just like the US, except that we don't have social democracy here.
UltraChad
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No.....that's the leftist lie to try and shame people for giving a shit about their communities.
The voters seem to think otherwise.
"social demookracy" was a lie....it totally failed to deliver. Just like socialism.
Good, we weren't supposed to be a socialist shit hole under the thumb of totalitarian democrats.
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No country in Europe west of Belarus fits that description.
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