To be clear as to what socialism is, it is the collective ownership by all the people of the factories, mills, mines, railroads, land and all other instruments of production. Socialism means production to satisfy human needs, not as under capitalism, for sale and profit. Under socialism, all authority originates from the workers, integrally united in Socialist Industrial Unions. In each workplace, the rank and file will elect whatever committees or representatives are needed to facilitate production. Within each shop or office division of a plant, the rank and file will participate directly in formulating and implementing all plans necessary for efficient operations.
The five debaters go into brief detail as to whether or not the United States should incorporate more of Denmark’s social policies. Although, I agree that the United States is too different compared to Denmark as a whole, I still believe that the United States could still learn from the way Denmark regulates its country. To sum up Henwood's argument, Denmark does substantially better than the United States, by virtually every meaningful measure of collective well-being because of its social policies. For example, Denmark has lower suicide rates, higher national happiness, and more adults employed.
The United States is not Denmark, but be that as it may, I do not think that the United States could follow in their exact footsteps. I believe this because the value of individualism is deeply seeded here in the United States. A lot of our values as Americans is the fact that we are different and individualized. Most Americans do not believe in classes but rather only individuals. In American culture it is believed that the individual has only themselves to blame for their suffering, and that their success is based on their merits and effort. Likewise, along this individualized mentality, individuals tend to group based on their culture. Even when one debunks the ideology of individualism, the effectual attachment remains strong and perhaps unshakable. Acting politically for the common good in the face of such hardened non-rational resistance is a complicated task indeed.
The Scandinavian governments are routinely judged to be the least corrupt and they are proud of that achievement. They also have very, very high union participation at the same time that they have workforces that are among the most flexible and business friendly. In Finland teachers are very well paid and teaching is one of the most honorable and sought after careers. All of which is to say that becoming more like the Scandinavians would be revolutionary for the United States. Denmark and the other Scandinavian countries have a lot to offer that the United States could learn from and adapt to. This does not mean to copy Switzerland blindly, but rather see what is working and adapt our policies to a more socialist approach as the United States deems necessary.