There is an irony in the president's wish for choosing people from Norway rather than those "expletive deleted" countries.
First of all, he's safe, in that there isn't the likelihood of their wanting to live here. They’ve got a pretty decent and secure way of life. Universal health care, free education, equal pay for women, low rate of poverty, low crime rate, shelter, subsidized arts, etc.
Now if these people – or any Scandinavians, in fact – were to emigrate here, what would happen? They would be confounded by the touting of the word "freedom" in the face of the absence of any of the above fundamental supports for human existence.
Do they pay high taxes? You betcha! But there's a progressive tax structure that allows them to get all the above, and that's what they want.
"Oh, they have a small country!" Or, "I have an uncle who's poor and he didn't mug anybody!" So much for the Archie Bunker theory of the universe.
Are the social democratic countries in Europe utopias? No, but there is enough good sense there to learn from.
Tom MacDonald, Tallahassee, mactom35@hotmail.com