Volume 1, Number 1: September 2018 | Op-Ed
Many countries are especially famous for certain characteristics. The Japanese are known for being disciplined, America seem to have patented the word freedom and my country, Sweden, is known for its welfare.
There are more than a few unique Swedish expressions that describe the ideas of a welfare society. One example of such a word, is the political term “folkhemmet”, which literally translates to “the people’s home”. It roughly means a society that through political organization gives every citizen a basic safety throughout life. The expression became associated with the Social Democratic Party who already in the 1920s were talking about their vision to make Sweden into a “good home” for swede (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2006), that is characterized by equality and consensus.
This vision became reality during their unbroken 40-year-old reign between 1936 – 1976, and today Sweden is one of the most equal countries in the world as well as a country with extensive safety nets.
From the Swedish perspective, these are absolutely necessary prerequisites for a free society. Because what do we mean by a free society? Per definition, society is “A large group of people who live together in an organized way…All the people in a country, or in several similar countries, can be referred to as a society” (Cambridge University Press, 2018). Furthermore, freedom, by definition, means to have “the condition or right of being able or allowed to do, say, think, etc. whatever you want to, without being controlled or limited” (Cambridge University Press, 2018).
So, a free society is when all the citizens of a country can do/live how they want. But in a world where everything has a monetary price, is the poor man truly free? I would say no. And there within lies the challenge. If a truly free society is something we want to achieve, freedom has to, per definition, be something everyone in that society can enjoy. Even the poor. There are two ways to achieve this. The first is to remove poverty from the equation. The second is to create a world where poverty doesn’t matter (as much).
When we are talking about removing poverty from the equation, we are touching upon the communist ideas. Poverty is relative, if no one is rich, no one is poor and so on. Theoretically a good solution, but historically not so much.
But instead of trying to force away poverty, which arguably restricts freedom for other people in society than the poor, we can go with the other solution. Creating a society where we try to minimize the impact your economic status has on your level of freedom. A welfare society of the Scandinavian model.
You are born, enjoy free daycare and free elementary school. You not only enjoy free gymnasium and higher education in a field of your choosing, but you actually get money to do it. When you are too old to take care of yourself, you get free care at a residential home, and should you get sick or get in trouble along the way, you get healthcare and/or financial aid and accommodation, for free. These are just a few of the examples of what kind of benefits a developed welfare society can offer its citizens.
However, a welfare society comes with a huge price tag, and in Sweden, that money was acquired through taxation. Sweden had the world’s highest taxes 1975 – 1992, and then once again 1996 – 2002. (Carlgren, 2017) Denmark and Finland also had exceptionally high taxes during the same time, but according to the World Happiness Report of 2018 (Helliwell, et al., 2018), the Scandinavian countries are all among the top 10 happiest in the world. The very same report concludes that the Scandinavian countries also have some of the worlds happiest immigrant populations. This speaks volumes, considering that immigrants often are a big part of the lower class in most countries. A happy lower class could indicate that the freedom in the country is not tied to people’s economic situation. Regardless if this is the case, higher taxes in order to give all of your own countrymen a life with dignity and freedom is an easy choice. And who knows, maybe one day even America, the self-proclaimed poster boy for freedom, land of the free, leaders of the free world etc. will follow in the footsteps of little Sweden and offer true freedom to all of its citizens. Even the poor.
Bibliography
Cambridge University Press, 2018. Cambride dictionary. [Online]
Available at: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/society
Cambridge University Press, 2018. Cambridge dictionary. [Online]
Available at: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/freedom
Carlgren, F., 2017. Ekonomifakta. [Online]
Available at: https://www.ekonomifakta.se/Fakta/Skatter/Skattetryck/Skattetryck-i-Sverige-och-internationellt/
Encyclopædia Britannica, 2006. Encyclopædia Britannica. [Online]
Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Per-Albin-Hansson#ref903995
Helliwell, J., Layard, R. & Sachs, J., 2018. World Happiness Report. [Online]
Available at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/happiness-report/2018/WHR_web.pdf
