Be like Vike

It's never fair to make an apples-to-apples comparison of the United States and other countries. Whether we are comparing our fiscal situation to Greece's or using the Netherlands as a blueprint for legalizing marijuana, we are doing ourselves a disservice. We are neither Greece nor the Netherlands, nor any other country. There are many things that make America unique and great that are exclusively American.

Having said that, we should not shy away from learning from other countries and taking their best practices. For all of the problems we face in America, we're still America, but we should not be arrogant and assume that all of our practices and institutions are perfect by virtue of the fact that we conceived of them. Many of our models need reworking or overhaul, and it behooves us to find models which we can attempt to emulate.

Right now, it seems the Viking Model is a pretty good template. It's not that the Scandinavians are necessarily breaking new ground - many of the things they are doing I have mentioned repeatedly in my blogs and are part of the national political conversation - it's the fact that the Scandinavians are actually doing these things and getting results. The model is to the right on taxing and spending, to the left on benefits and welfare, proving that it is possible to be fiscally responsible and humane while fostering the conditions for economic growth. Easier, certainly, in a homogenous country of 9.5 million like Sweden than in sprawling, diverse America, home to 320 million, but doable nonetheless.

From the Scandinavian model we can draw certain lessons. Smaller government is not necessarily better, but more efficient government is. The two are not synonymous although we do need to shrink the government. The Vikings have actually figured out to make government larger and more efficient, which seems paradoxical, but is nevertheless working. What we can really take away from the Scandinavian model is the idea that the public and private sectors can and should work together to foster growth for everyone. Economic growth, equal opportunity, and a healthy degree of welfare are not mutually exclusive. We can have all three!

The Nordic model is not perfect, nor is it necessarily replicable for America. But it combines smart ideas from the right and left side of the political spectrum in an attempt to fix the same sorts of problems we are facing. Replicable? Maybe, maybe not, but we know there is a more centrist route that incorporates economically sound ideas from the political left and right. We have chosen to completely ignore this path in America, but the Scandinavians are trying to show us, and the rest of the world, that such a path is preferable to either of the alternatives currently being debated: taxing and spending in an unsustainable manner or wantonly cutting spending thereby diminishing future growth and hurting the neediest. Let's give the Viking model a shot, Vikings are cool, oh, and they're doing this.