Tuesday, September 7, 2010

The Swedish General Election

sAutumn is here. Initially I planned to summarize some of this summers biggest headlines, but there are more pressing issues at hand. The Swedish general election.

September 19th is election day. I’m happy to say that the Swedish people take their democratic obligation very seriously. Last election (2006), 80,4% of the eligible population voted.

With just a few weeks left until the election, the speculations are running wild. At the moment, the current government are doing really well. According to recent polls the government will continue to be more market friendly, liberal and conservative rather than turning back to its more socialistic traditions. To me, this is all very well.

During the previous elections I’ve been passionately involved in the political debate. I’ve defended personal freedom instead of governmental control. I’ve argued why it would be beneficial to Swedish citizens to cut taxes rather than raise them. I’ve debated why Swedes should embrace private entrepreneurship rather than hanging on to governmental monopolies. And I’m still passionate about these issues. However, this time around my focus lies somewhere else.

The Sweden Democrats. It is a nationalist party that has steadily gained power and influence over the past decade. They’ve been trying to find a legitimate platform for the past two decades, but it’s just recently they’ve become a real threat.

The Sweden Democrats believe it’s detrimental to the Swedish society to embrace multi-culturalism. They don’t believe in integration, they believe in assimilation. Immigrants should leave their heritage, culture and language behind. If they don’t they will create friction in the Swedish society, they will commit crime because they don’t understand the concept of being law abiding citizens. Furthermore, the Sweden Democrats want to reinstate the same immigration policies used before the 1970s. It’s as if Rosa Parks did gave up her seat on the Alabama bus and it’s as if Nelson Mandela never was let out of prison.

But regardless of the abundance of uneducated and false accusations made by the Sweden Democrats many polls show they will get over 4% of the votes which will give them a place in the parliament. It is then we will see the politics of politics. It is not unlikely that the other parties voted into parliament will have to enter into an alliance with the Sweden Democrats in order to get majority of the votes and ultimately get to govern Sweden. They all claim that they would never co-operate with a undemocratic and racist party but are they all really willing to relinquish power?

Politics and politicians have always and will always have to choose between power and principle. Without power there can be no change but without principles the power to change is just an illusion. Maybe that’s why I need to put my trust in those who are not politicians. I need to hope that the Swedish people will vote wisely.

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