The One On the Left Is On the Right

Less than a week after the assassination of Anna Lindh, the early results have Sweden voting against adopting the Euro. Two days before the referendum, The Guardian's James Meek filed a perceptive appraisal of the Swedish debate, in which two passages stand out:

…opponents are not divided, and allies not united, along traditional, right-left lines. Something remarkable emerged in Sweden's euro debate, the crystallisation of a new set of political dividing lines, in which right-wing and left-wing activists find themselves in alliance against powerful, cross-border, private-public bureaucracies. On one side, the small, the local, the personal, the individual, the accessible, the familiar, the inherited; on the other, the big, the transnational, the impersonal, the mass, the remote, the alien, the acquired.

And this, quoting the pro-Euro Social Democrat Anders Sundstr?m:

"It's interesting that in the UK and Sweden, where hostility to the euro is greatest, you have completely different situations. The UK has weak unions, low taxes, and a weak welfare system; Sweden has strong unions, high taxes and a strong welfare system. But I think both countries are looking back -- the UK to its empire, and Sweden to its successful welfare system, to its history of being a small country standing apart from the big ones."

Comments

[Kevin Carson]

Little things, like the names of units of currency or measure, are a big part of the texture of ordinary life. That's why Orwell did away with pints and quarts in Oceania, and made the dollar their currency: it was jarring to the reader's sense of normality.

Suddenly calling all the ordinary little things you encounter by different names, makes you feel like a subject of a conquered province. It's almost as bad as the Subgeniuses' "Tribulation Money--One Thousand Indulgences." Something as seemingly small as calling your currency by a new name has the aura of a dystopian sci-fi story.

I think that's one reason the PC Nazis like to periodically change the name for things. "Crippled" was a perfectly good English word; but because it was familiar, it was automatically suspect, and acquired a pejorative connotation. So it was replaced by handicapped, disabled, and a whole series of idiotic euphemisms like "handicapable" and "differently abled." Every time one of the replacement words starts becoming familiar to the public, it acquires that negative connotation again (perhaps because the concept which the word denotes carries unpleasant associations for many, and doing away with the word is symbolic of doing away with the thing).

Of course, the social engineers also probably change the "proper" names for things every time we get comfortable with them because it keeps us in a constant state of low-grade unease that we might be using the wrong term; the result is a psychological dependence on them to reeducate us in the politically correct terms of the moment.

[Anonymous]

After seeing the title of this entry, i thought it'd be an article about Al Franken.

[Jon H]

Hit and Run readers who never thought they'd see UK taxes being described as "low", raise your hands...

[Anonymous]

Compared to Sweden, anyway...

[Jean Bart]

Well, at one time Sweden did have a "tax revolt" when taxation regimes were running at 104% of income for some people. It dropped into the 70% range at the top bracket.

As to Britain, Britons have always liked to view themselves as "unique." The problem was this was always more a matter of myth than reality. Norman Davies goes into this in great detail in his history of Europe. This attitude is partly why historical studies in Britain ossified in the 19th century and only came out of their coma in the last thirty years. Its also why most of the best historical studies of Britain up to 1970s were done by, well, Frenchmen and Germans. 🙂

[Jean Bart]

BTW, Estonia joined the EU going away; that is with a 67% majority.

Jon H.,

Personal income taxes in the UK and France are something like a third or more less than in Sweden; Sweden does have lower capital gains taxes however than France, the UK or Germany however.

[Jean Bart]

One more thing:

Geo-politically Sweden was not always a "small country." In fact, for well over one hundred years Sweden was a "Great Power." From the mid-16th to the first third of the 18th century Sweden was a military force powerful enough to fight Russia, Poland (Poland at the time was itself a major military player) Austria and elements of the Holy Roman Empire single handedly. 1638 also saw Sweden found a colony in the Americas; "New Sweden" (current day Delaware) was eventually lost to the Dutch in 1655, but the ability of Sweden to found such a colony demonstrates Sweden's geo-political stature. As far as I can tell from conversations with Swedes, they have a memory of this past and look upon it fondly.

[Phil]

Kevin, the word "handicapped" first appeared in the English language in the 1750s, and the word "disabled" dates to the 15th century. "Crippled" dates to the 14th century.

Really, what planet do you live on, that there's this secret cabal of men who dictate word usage? Planet France?

[Douglas Fletcher]

I don't suppose "psychic" would want to let us in on which team is going win the World Series this year, would you?

[Jeff Smith]

I never thought I'd be defending the Guardian
but its remarks comparing Sweden and the UK
are quite correct. Private sector unionization
rates in the UK have been dropping since
Thatcher - so much so that Tony Blair can now
battle the unions (as he is doing at present)
without fear for his political future. In
contrast, I believe Sweden is almost completely
unionized, including white collar workers.

The UK welfare state is more generous than
that in the US but far less so than Sweden.
Blair, despite his labour party association
(or maybe because of it, if you are a fan
of the "only Nixon could go to China" line
of reasoning) has made it tougher - introducing
mandatory participation in employment and
training services for the unemployed, for
example.

Jeff

[fyodor]

It's kinda seemed to me like the "Europe" question generally pits the alarmist/principled extremes against the mushy/practical center. But then, maybe that doesn't consistently hold, either....

[psychic]

Prediction: in 30 years U.S. taxes will be as high as in most places in Europe (maybe not as high as in Sweden but certainly as high as in Britain or France).

[Anonymous]

UK has weak unions? Weak welfare system? I guess compared to Sweden, but more than anything, those comments display an insularity in the way that person think.

[Jean Bart]

Jeff Smith,

Well, France has less union members in the aggregate and per capita, and yet the trade unions possess a lot of political muscle there. As to Thatcher "battling" unions, one wonders why here regime, if it was so pro-liberty, clamped down on the freedom to join a union.

[Don]

"Hit and Run readers who never thought they'd see UK taxes being described as "low", raise your hands..."

Hand raised.