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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

SJC wrote:
 Since then, just a year or so ago, I saw
> the results of a survey that purported to measure both personal 
> happiness and personal contentment, by country of residence.  The 4 
> countries having the highest marks were Norway, Sweden, Finland, and
>  Denmark.
I'm not sure about Denmark and Finland social programs if they have
them.  I know Sweden does and I think Norway does as well.  There is
socialism and Socialism and a dizzying meld of in betweens..A Socialist
country may call itself Democratic, and a Republic may have socialist
programs, etc. etc.  But I'll assume they are all socialist for the time
being.
I've read all the comments so far on this thread-many good points.
I'm of Finnish heritage, Ron is of Swedish heritage.  Our son in law is
Norwegian.  The book you read certainly verifies by my own experiences
and familial observations, that personal faith and being part of a
subgroup relates directly to happiness. I think the subgroup thing is
very important...it is more than just family, it's a sense of heritage
and culture.
Both my family and Ron's people lived well into their 80's, 90's, and
100's.  I can't think of any one of them that was depressed or suicidal,
but a number of them did drink excessively(my opinion).  They were all
very happy, jovial people, who stayed active into old age.  They were
all very active in the church, too, both in the old country and in this
one.  For the most part, in those frozen countries, life is a bit slower
than the rest of Europe, and there is time to think, to unwind, to read
to family, tell stories, sleep, drink, and have fun.  Whether you are
talking about people 100 years ago or today, not a whole lot about life
has changed-perhaps there is more Wii and less reading, or more
snowmobiling and less milking, but I'd bet that the actual amount of
church and family time has remained constant.  Even today, they don't
live a soccer mom existence.  They often walk where they need to go, or
ride a bike...they get exercise, which is important to mental health and
well being. Ron's Grandma died at age 101.
His Grandfather died at 95? after slipping on ice..hit his head on a
curb and never woke up. His great grandfather died at 97 when he fell
off a roof. One relative died in a biking accident in his 90's.  My aunt
played 18 holes of golf once a week at age 88..died of bone cancer two
weeks after diagnosis.  The youngest age at death was my father, who was
86.

I'm not trying to be antagonistic, but I really don't think socialism
has anything to do with being contented, it may however, be associated
with malcontent.  I base that on the number of immigrants to the US from
 say, Finland, vs. the number of immigrants from say, Cuba.
Look at this Wiki article on Immigration to the US...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_the_United_States
Check out the spreadsheet chart on the top 10 countries a little ways
down the page....Cuba sends 14,800 per year.  Finland sends less than
1000 people a year according to Infoplease.

Socialist programs don't scare me. We already have them in this
country..Many countries have socialist programs and policies, but not
Socialism with a capital S.  It is a spectrum of socialistic
values...North Korea, Vietnam and Cuba may be a 10 and or 9, the US may
be a 2, Sweden a 5,,,,you get my idea.  I am not saying that the US will
become a Socialist country-I'm saying we are moving towards the 10...and
no one really knows where this will end because we really don't know the
full agenda of the Leftist Democratic Party that has evolved.  Obama's
tendencies towards the high end of the scale, based on what he has said
and his various 'plans' and promises, lead me to believe that his idea
of a perfect America is maybe a 7 or 8, with many programs for the
common worker.  Most countries with Socialist programs, like Sweden, are
moving more towards capitalism and moving away from socialism.  They are
trying to move down the scale. You can go from capitalism to socialism
in one day, but it takes generations to revert back to capitalism, that
is why we must be very careful and guarded as we introduce new programs,
and not just pass things willy nilly like they did with the
Bailout...gotta a problem? we got a fix for ya..you'll pay for it for 3
generations,,,,  that is what scares me-that I see no brakes on the
runaway train I call the Democratic Party and there is no telling how
far down the Socialist scale we will travel before the braking begins.
I agree with Lynda that the Bailout proposal was written well in
advance.  I'm not sure how much of the economic problems we see were
intentionally staged, but I do feel that they were caused by at best,
gross negligence by people like Barney Frank who did nothing to stop it,
but helped write the bailout bill. Anyway, The truly bad thing is that
the further down the scale you go, the more rights you lose, the less
money you will make because as time goes on, industrial growth is
thwarted, and suddenly you have a large population who are used to
handouts, who have perhaps only one specialized skill from their factory
job.  People become like chickens, so busy pecking away at the ground,
looking for all that free grain being thrown about, that they can no
longer see the fence that holds them in captivity.  They still sleep,
eat, screw, and get on with life, but they sure don't get a chance to
stretch their wings or bask in the sun or really enjoy life.  There is
wire over their heads to keep them from flying out, but they are told,
that the real danger is from the hawks that prey on chickens..In that
situation, you can dream all you want, but that is as close as you will
get, because in Socialist countries, there is no American dream where
one can work their way to a better life, and one of the first freedoms
that is eroded is freedom of speech, because there can be no viral
discontent in a Socialist country.

Bev





--
“Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to
hate. Hate leads to suffering.”        Yoda