Quote:
Originally Posted by desertgrandma
How long has your system been in place?
|
Good question.
Not being a scholar of history - just my impression. The ideas and philosophy behind the welfare state has roots in the humanism of the mid 19th century, in the conditions of the large, poor working classes (many of whom at that time emigrated). Socialism has its roots here as well.
As for Denmark, I belive this guy,
N.F.S. Grundtvig, pastor, political philospher, and hymn composer has had a much greater influence on my way of life than Marx.
In the early 20th century, the poorer classes gained knowledge and the political left gained power. After the war, there were focus on re-building a state and an economy that would support more people, thus effectively meshing the classes into a great middle class. There are still very rich people and very poor people, but it's levelled out some. After all, you can't eat money, how much do you need for a comfortable life.
During the criris of the seventies and early eighties we had a right-wing government cutting down and cleaning up the excesses of the sixties. Which was good. Now, after another left-wing government, and then a right-wing (the current) things work quite well. Denmark is a rich as we have ever been. So many more people have a life-style that would not have been imagined 100 years ago.
With the words from a hymn by N.F.S. Grundtvig: 'Then we in richness have made it well - when few has too much, and fewer too little'.