The Nordic countries of Europe always take the gold medal every year when the United Nations’ World Happiness Report is released. The countries collectively boast a superior quality of life as their social-democratic governments provide citizens with free healthcare, free education, and so on.
Recent years of the report rank Finland as the #1 Happiest Country in the world.
The Finnish government is able to provide these resources — which to many Americans may be considered luxuries — through taxes as high as 50%. The majority of Finnish citizens agree with this system and are content with paying the high taxes.
Similar values lead to similar interests. Social democracies usually work in countries with smaller populations and a more hom*ogeneous, less culturally diverse demographic of people. This is not necessarily diversity based on race, but on a common set of values. Assuming that all — or at least the majority — of the Finnish people value education, the government is able to better provide it as there is less controversy in regards to the allocation of funding.
Not only is attending university in Finland free, but students are also provided a monthly stipend of roughly 500 euros. The government literally pays its next generation to learn. Sounds heavenly when compared to American private universities that cost up to 70,000 per year.
There is something to be noted about the need for such an incentive. The superior quality of life provided by the Finnish system essentially guarantees all citizens that they will be provided the basic necessities for a comfortable life. Because the government assures these basic needs to every individual, there is less immense pressure to achieve and accomplish.
The United States, by contrast, is a nation founded on the principle of the American Dream. The productive, capitalist machine instills in its students values of individualism in all aspects of life — a competitive hunger for growth and power.
Albeit a potentially extreme scenario, the American idea is that if you don’t work hard, you might not have healthcare.
It is with this pressure — if not threat — that the United States grew its industries and infrastructure to its superpower status. The capitalist obsession for economic growth and expansion is what put the country onto the main stage that is the global political economy.
Finland is a comfortable home, its citizens are amongst the happiest in the world, and the government will pay students to attend its already free universities.
Finland is not, however, a global superpower.
The American mentality instills in people the kind of individualistic drive and self-motivation that creates future-thinking innovation and industry expansion.
This is not to criticize the collectivist values by which Finland functions, as it is does seem to be functioning successfully. The country is most definitely an ideal, stable place to raise a family.
The fact of the matter is that the average American is not the innovative founder of Uber, Airbnb, and the like. The average American is likely a family man trying to save money for his children to go to college.
So then, the question remains: why do the American people still buy into — and comply with — the notion that they must work very, very hard in order to have healthcare?
