I’m not super political, despite what my posts may suggest. Though I
touch on the current state of affairs (no pun intended) rather often my stance
on American politics has always been the long term model: that either in my
lifetime, or the lifetime of my future generations, America will fall as Rome
did or be subsumed into a larger planetary entity, utopian/dystopian or
otherwise, like Star Trek’s Federation of Planets or Warhammer 40,000. There
are basic rights that every government promotes for the electorate, and
regardless of which political spectrum one resides, the ends are achieved one
way or another. The unregulated and anarchistic model of the fiscally
conservative, remarkably similar to Mad Max (only with etiquette and manners in
the slaughter of the innocent), is a favorite among most that already have
wealth. Still, the basic principals of American free-market capitalism are ones deeply rooted in American
traditions of entrepreneurship and free enterprise. There is elevated
importance in the responsibility of the average citizen to “pay attention” and
not “fuck up,” lest they willfully confine themselves to the proletariat strata for a generation or two.
Any other government today seems
to be defined and judged on the merits of the former model, that any other
interpretation of continental Enlightenment ideals and French populism is
somehow an incomplete or misinterpreted execution of the classical models of
Adam Smith. I once heard a Libertarian say “of all the imperfect models,
capitalism is the best possible of all evils.” I wanted to follow up on his
spurious assessment with probing questions like, “Don’t you have NO JOB,
working at a church off the tithes and offerings of others (aka Biblical
Communism)?” or “So have you never taken advantage of paid-vacation, employer
health insurance, 8AM-5PM workdays, or OSHA requirements to ensure
manufacturing procedures are in place to ensure a safe work environment?” I
needed to remind myself in the moment that this particular specimen of
Americana was one that lived in a family of protesters and activists, generally
a class of people that have no firsthand experiences of those they advocate
for.
(All of my friends who advocate for raising the minimum wage to $15 per
hour have never had the privilege of working in a factory or washing dishes in
a corporate kitchen. Now that I make in excess of $15 per hour, I recognize that
a McDonalds employee earning an income within spitting distance of mine is an
insulting proposition, given the bevy of soft skills and advanced tasks that I exercise
on a daily basis. If anything steps should be made to control the artificially
inflated value of real estate, which is often the primary economic drain on a
household income by far.)
Though during the 2016 election, there was a lot of talk about various
aspects of what I would consider “Nordic Socialism” being proposed as new
legislation, deploying such benefits such as paid maternity leave, single payer
healthcare, and the raising of a minimum wage. Having been to Norway, learned
Norwegian and studied social, economic, political, and religious history of the
land, and not simply read or watched a two minute video on the
wonderful-world-of-the-other to inform myself of a complex, yet rich history of
nationalism in Norway (Syttende Mai, for example), I have a close idea of why
the miraculous social systems work so well across the pond. I can also explain, or approximate, the uncomfortable rise in Neo-Nazism, Extreme
Nationalism, and the public awareness and subtle racism implicate in their
multicultural programs and state naturalization bureaus.
Assuming first the fallibility and stereotyping inherent in television
and media, on second reflection the television and film of Norway is very
cognizant of the current issues plaguing Norway, many being existential in
nature. Popular television programs like Lilyhammer
depict Americans (ie outsiders) rigging the naïve and bureaucratic for their
personal gain, employing spirited 1920’s era prohibition imagery to sell an
overtly capitalist establishment operating under the nose of highly regulated
and strictly monitored socialist businesses. A film, Troll Hunter, offers a similar satire of Norway’s turnkey
bureaucracy, as well as the troubling and duplicitous stance the Norwegian
government takes on conservation. (In this context, the trolls being rounded up
and executed represent the bear populations in Norway—it is illegal to hunt
bears (as they are protected) but perfectly legal to exterminate them if they
wander to close to human settlements that are often being built progressively
deeper into the countryside. Troll Hunter
is a more subdued parody obviously. Lilyhammer,
with its breadth of content (canceled after 3 seasons), more can be said of
its self-awareness of the current political climate of Norway, which is schizophrenically
tolerant and intolerant of refugees and immigrants seeking a better life.
According to Lilyhammer’s
depiction of the Nye Arbeids og Velferdsetaten (colloquially known as the
N.A.V.), Norway expends a tremendous amount of energy to invest in migrant
populations, offering retreats, counseling, language courses, and eventual
naturalization upon completion of the coursework. Whether or not this is
fantasy, I have no idea. However the people that I chanced to meet with in
Norway were directly involved with these programs, at least in the local
municipality. To those that are tolerant, there is an expectation to help
support the new arrivals. This attitude, often derided as “multiculturalism” by
conservative Norwegians, indicates that there are non-vocal expectations for
immigrants, namely that they assimilate quickly, and without retaining their
original expressions of culture in favor of their new homeland’s values and
traditions. More so, the popularity of asylum and immigration requests have
created migrant communities that live in reasonably adequate housing projects,
though with the attached stigma of being “the other.”
The unintended sins of socialism then beget racism, ethno-centricity,
neo-naziism (in Norway’s case), nativism, aggressive nationalism, and
homogenization of culture. The irony is that in the United States we exhibit
the same tendencies but out of ignorance and generational gaps in thinking. The
United States is a well blended, cosmopolitan nation with many segregated
communities that in microcosm exhibit the inward focus of Socialist principals.
(Socialism only works if the communities involved are small and
tightly knit, with a common culture that unites the people with traditions and
regional narratives.) We best see the signs of this when one culture
oppresses another, or a dominant culture sequesters themselves inside
self-styled ghettos (suburbs, gated communities, rural-agrarian homesteads).
Yet for all the complexities and difficulties implied in socialism
(which we might as well acknowledge as bureaucracy integrated with society
under the principals of social contracts), the benefits far outweigh the
consequences. In a country so expansive and large, and having agreed reluctantly
in the past to disband the Articles of Confederation, and other “state-centric”
forms of government, the only sensible way forward is with the assistance of
government oversight and regulation. This isn’t for the sake of touting an
egalitarian system from person to person, but for repairing our roads and
making sure our hospitals, residential buildings, and civic structures are
built to code. Or, more importantly, insuring the safety of the food we eat or the air we breathe.
Granted there are instances of bureaucratic complexity and red tape, but the
benefit of being in a democracy is that these rules can be changed with active
government participation. In other words we are without excuse. And if we don’t
like it, then get the fuck out. Every citizen has a responsibility to advocate for
the quality of life of their neighbors and community. That, in essence, is the
spirit of socialism.