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The Scandinavian Leftie


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#1 duke_Qa

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Posted 10 October 2007 - 09:56 PM

so yeah, here i am sitting, when i really should be doing some concept for school, procrastrinating a political portfolio so to speak. as MSpencer has made a hell of a post i won't really try to surpass him, but i'll do my best at writing something mildly enlightening and interesting.

so here i am, norwegian computer geek, went the graphic way instead of the computer-science way during higher education. hopefully i won't regret and if i do, i'll prolly study some programming when i get older.

My interest for political business has been given to me from the days of rolling around on the floor. my father was a part-time politician focusing on road planning for a center-right liberal political party, among other things. most of the time i hated it because he spent alot of time away, but in my older days i realize that through those days spent away he really got alot of good things done for my local area.

my personal political views are 'inspired' by my father. he couldnt stand the conservative right-wing, but the utopian left wing with its socialists and communists werent exactly the place you would go if you expect to be part of some change. so he went for the middle, and so have i. naturally what we consider middle in this country is by american and british standards way out to the left, but hey, it works great.


1. i am a believer in the advantages of social democracy and i know that the scandinavian model of welfare is a far bigger success than what we see in practically every other country of the world.

Modern social democracy is unlike socialism in the strict sense which aims to end the predominance of the capitalist system, or in the Marxist sense which aims to to replace it entirely; instead, social democrats aim to reform capitalism democratically through state regulation and the creation of state sponsored programs and organizations which work to ameliorate or remove perceived injustices inflicted by the capitalist market system.

The principle behind the Scandinavian welfare model is a model built on Lutheran values that benefits should be given to all citizens who fulfill the conditions, without regard to employment or family situation. The system covers everyone; it is universal. In addition, the benefits are given to the individual, so that e.g. married women have rights independently of their husbands.


2. i also believe that you cannot have democracy without having economic control. which means i have alot against multinational corporations that have no root with the local populace of the industries that they own. for what is a democracy if you have no power over your own society(and money is as we all know, power)? naturally i am not saying that everyone should own everything, because thats just a beaurocratical nightmare. governments can and should have partial control over important national corporations to make sure that they are doing what they are meant to be doing. and they should also have minor ownership of less important corporations that might not be able to stand on its own without official support.

3. on the topic of drugs and alcohol, i am a bit strange in that manner, but i believe its mostly personal. i can't stand the overuse of alcohol and other substances that people use to make life more fun. sure if you are dependant on a drug you shouldnt be brushed under the rug, but i believe the western culture for gluttony is the cause of alot of pain in our societies. the last ten years alcohol usage among teenagers has practically doubled here, and our culture for drinking is a bit more extreme than in the US(getting arrested for being drunk in public? we wouldnt have room in the prisons... on a monday).
on legalizing, i believe that certain drugs should be distributed by the state, and it should be done in such a way that it would reduce abusers and detect the heavy-abusers, at the same time as it punctures the organized crime that thrives on it.

4. on religion and ethics, i have no respect for the fundamentalists of either religion. but i have to say i applaud the burmese monks that dares to do something for democracy. if every religion had these people, the world would have been a better place. on ethics, i believe that if it can help humanity in a positive direction without causing pain, it is a good thing. at times i also believe that altruism is something that should be observed here, but not in any extreme fashion unless the consequences are more extreme.

5. on culture and immigration, hot potato coming up :p. basically, i don't believe we in the western world use the word integration completely honestly. I think we say 'integration' because its the more positive word, but what we really want is assimilation. Sure we can take parts of the immigrating culture into our own if its positive, and we probably won't stop people from keeping their own culture in our society as long as it doesnt crash. But in the end we don't want to see small societies inside our own countries that live in their own bubble of culture, usually because their culture has something that in our culture is defined as very negative. chinatown and koreatowns are usually not looked down upon as much as muslim districts these days. sure we don't expect people to change during their lifetime, but we do expect their children to become a part of our society and not live in their small bubble.

it is important though to point out that if we don't actively make the situation good for the immigrants, they will coagulate in such bubbles and possibly cause troubles like the ones we are seeing in France. thats why its important that the government makes sure that these people get what they need to become a part of the country they've come to. they don't speak the language? get them language lessons. they don't get jobs because their name is muhammed? make sure that businesses doesnt refuse to hire a doctor with a exotic name to wash their floors, perhaps even get him a job that fits his education better.

6. on the topic of "games that nations play", i probably will be pretty negative at times. my motto at the time being is that humanity is flawed. whatever we do it can easily be tainted by bad intentions. and at times human instinct is reflected in what nations does. hopefully the world has learned since ww2, but you never know. i am not going to say that i hope the western world will perish, because i am a man that have enjoyed my luxuries and hope to continue to do so. my hopes for the world is that more and more people are able to come out from oppression, learn how to avoid being abused by ruthless powers, and work out their differences in peaceful ways, and spread the goods as evenly as possible.

"I give you private information on corporations for free and I'm a villain. Mark Zuckerberg gives your private information to corporations for money and he's 'Man of the Year.'" - Assange


#2 Hostile

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Posted 13 October 2007 - 09:23 PM

Point #2. I agree more constraints would be great on corporations but unfortunately getting the others players to agree is hard. So why should a nation impose self regulation and put it at a disadvantage globally?

Point #5 I don't believe in integration I believe in assimialtion. They come to your country and they should become part of your people. They chose to come to your country.

Point #6 Nations are like people, they make decisions to make sure they come out on top in comparison to thier peers.




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