Scared of Sweden?

Socialism.

There exists no other word in the English language that provokes as much irrational fear in the hearts and minds of Americans as fast as this one does.

And yet whenever I attempt to press someone on why, exactly, they are so scared, so absolutely petrified, of socialism, the only response I get is either a blank stare or incredulous anger, always coupled with the inevitable vague reference to the Soviet Union.

After all, don’t I understand what socialism means?!

I’m aware that the geography skills of most Americans are utterly nonexistent, but apparently no one has ever heard of Scandinavia, where socialism – or something very similar to it – has been operating vibrantly and arguably more successfully than capitalism in some of the world’s most affluent countries for decades.

Take Sweden, for example.

Sweden has what many people would call at least a substantially socialist economy. The government covers 97 percent of all health care costs, provides 88 percent of the funds for the cost of all education expenses (which makes education completely free until graduate school, at which point it becomes only mostly paid for by the government), pays 89 percent of the cost of daycare and guarantees more than a year of paternity leave at 80 percent pay, among other clearly communist notions.

According to the American conception of socialism, Sweden should be a desolate wasteland filled with mindless communist zombies, right? After all, they give poor people things after transferring money from people who can afford it (gasp!).

Wrong. 

Sweden tops almost every list of state progress, including being ranked as the least corrupt and the most democratic nation on Earth, not to mention ranking in the top 15 percent for quality of life,  GDP per capita, the Human Development Index (a measure of citizen happiness and personal development) and life expectancy – exactly the sorts of things that Americans might offer as examples of what are supposedly dismally lacking in any given socialist economy. 

Where do they get the money to pay for this?

They have some of the highest taxes in the world. For some this may be a deal breaker. As for me – I’ll take Scandinavian concern for the well-being of all instead of American corporate greed and self-interest any day. 

My grandfather never misses an opportunity to tell me that while I might think I’m a socialist now, I “wouldn’t make it a day in a real socialist economy!”

I’m here to tell him that I’ll take that bet if he’ll buy me a one-way ticket to Stockholm, where there’s free education and an Ikea calling my name.