But if one wants to live in a diverse nation, where the brightest and best are creating new things, failing and succeeding, living among a more culturally diverse population than in any nation ever on the planet, and wants a much wider choice of lifestyles, where the world's new ideas are formulated...
Let's just say not everyone desires to live the rather bland existence this article tries to describe.
“and wants a much wider choice of lifestyles, where the world’s new ideas are formulated...”
- I agree.
There are a lot of positive things to say about the Scandinavian countries (and I often hear Americans doing so), but I agree Americans have more freedom of choice.
Furthermore, the general standard of living (from a sheer material point of view) in Scandinavia isn’t as high as the(nominal) GDP figures suggests. For instance, Norwegian GDP/capita and salaries might be second only to those of Luxembourg, but a nice car like the Volvo XC90 (it’s made here in Gothenburg where I live, sorry for chosing such an example) actually costs THREE AN A HALF times as much in Norway compared to the US (at least when you look at the pre-tax price in the US).
In Sweden, a lot of people (but far from all) receive a nice car from their employer as part of their salary, but in most cases the employee has to accept a car of a certain make, mostly a SAAB or a Volvo. But what if you’d prefer to drive an Audi?