It is Election Time in Sweden

People tell me that voting is mostly for what will be done in the future, a vision, and not as a payment for achieved results. I'm going to watch this phenomenon. It is the first time I follow an election in a politically prepared fashion. However, if 'Alliansen', the four right of center parties, is not getting a new mandate I will begin wondering whether politics works at all any longer. They took us passed the financial crisis excellently and this should be rewarded.

Alliansen's vision is apparently that people should be able to work. I worry a lot about one thing concerning work in Sweden. 'Svenskt Näringsliv' said the other day on DN.se that there has not been any additional jobs created in the civil society for the last fifty years. It is the same absolute amount. Since they pay for the lot and have paid with increased productivity for the expansion of the public sector, this is very alarming. Is it possible to change this trend? David Cameron thinks this is possible in the UK and launched his campaign on the so called "Big Society".

With this in mind, and with my experience, I wish there will be no more expansion "under the surface". There should not be any money for this. I sincerely hope this is not the "job-line" politicians speak about. The mere thought that the so called 'outsideship' is going to be removed in this fashion makes me very concerned. If all new jobs in the world will be absorbed by China and India, maybe it is best to realize that this might mean setting up a citizen wage for the 'outsideship'. I have severe problems understanding what a "motprestation" might mean when there are no jobs that people will pay for around. Who would supervise this? My fear is that a slave society within the society will form instead. I have already seen examples of this.

Angela Merkel hardly campaigned during the last election. Does she have a point? Do we need to engage people not normally interested in politics? Does campaigning demonstrate an ability to govern? Obama's campaign might be a negative example of this. Party program information is available on the Internet all through the mandate. It is an important question since polling information is also available during the mandate and has shown that the Red-Greens have been most popular for most of the time since 2006.

In Sweden they don't talk as much about a small state and a large state as they do in the US. The state is supposed to contain more of altruistic people. I don't know how significant this difference is and if it is the cause of the stagnant private sector. The population of Sweden might lack civic society minded people for expanding this vital sector. Perhaps it is our education system where talented adventurous and entrepreneurial individuals don't get enough attention which is something Jan Björklund, the education minister, is trying to change right now. Sweden might paradoxically be a little too altruistic for its future health?

Found this article from June 2010. The outsideship, utanförskapet, was 1.1m 2005.