Reason Magazine: Ronald Bailey- The Democrats Denmark Fetish

Source:Reason Magazine- Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders & Progressive Hillary Clinton.

Source:The New Democrat

I believe the best argument that Conservatives have against why America shouldn't become a social democracy like Denmark, or anywhere in Scandinavia, or a social democracy in general, is that those countries all have very small populations and all produce a lot of their own energy. And in Norway and Sweden's case they are big in size, small in population and produce a lot of energy. They also all speak English very well, but perhaps that has nothing to do with this. And this is coming from a Liberal who doesn't believe in social democracy, but the liberal democracy federal republic that we have in America instead. Based on constitutional individual rights and having a country where everyone has a quality opportunity to succeed on their own and create their own freedom for themselves.

When you're a country with a small population, but you have a good deal of land and you're not just energy independent, but produce a lot of energy, you can afford to be very socialist. You have more money you have to play with and can afford more mistakes. You're private sector with the high taxes and regulations doesn't have to be as efficient, because you have all of that money coming in from your energy sector. A country like America with roughly three-hundred and twenty-million people that is still importing oil and gas, that is still somewhat underdeveloped with its infrastructure, that has a high level of poverty, there's a limit to what we can expect government to do for us especially if the people aren't willing to do everything for themselves as possible.

America doesn't need to be more like Denmark, but we need to be more like America. We need to expand economic and personal freedom at home. Especially for Americans who don't have those things like the fifty-million Americans or so that live in poverty and the millions of Americans who live just above poverty. Not make millions of Americans more dependent on government at any level to take care of them. But instead empower these Americans to take care of themselves. Which would expand the American economy, produce millions of Americans who pay income and payroll taxes, which would lower our debt and deficits and give the country a lot more money to help the people who truly need and aren't able to take care of themselves.