Litmus Tests Again

I observed several posts down that one generally applicable litmus tests between conservatives and liberals is their basic attitude toward the United States. Conservatives, like Rich Galen,for example, think the world is lucky that America is the only superpower in existence. Given America's documented history of providing foreign aid and establishing democracies in countries that it has conquered in war, this seems like an obvious empirical fact. Many liberals seem to believe that on balance the world is worse off for the existence of the United States. They usually have to rely on fanciful hidden conspiracy theories that would make stories of the Illuminati look pale; for example, America's intervention into Afghanistan and Somalia were due to oil.

That makes this counterpoint between Eric Alterman and Glenn Reynolds touching. Alterman opened with the observation that America could take lessons from Sweden. Glenn Reynolds countered with the observation that Sweden is no beacon of light since it is poorer than Mississippi and has a higher crime rate. Alterman then resorted to this plea for factual support for his worldview

Glenn Reynolds says I’m wrong to admire Sweden — though he seems to give Denmark a pass — owing to their crime rate which is allegedly worse than ours and their poverty rate which is worse than Mississippi’s.

I find the first part hard to believe and the second part, for now, impossible. Some sound evidence on this question please. This sounds like a job for Maxspeak, who is already on probation linkwise, or else an intern at Tapped.

Which neatly proves my point about litmus tests. Alterman just knew that Sweden had to be superior to the United States because, well, the United States really can't be superior to the ethically superior Swedes because America has so many things wrong with it. But Reynolds citation to the 2000 Crime Victim Survey points out that Sweden falls into a group of countries where over 24% of the population is victimized by crime. It also contains this observation:

Women in Sweden, Finland, Australia and England and Wales were most at risk of sexual assault. Women in Japan, Northern Ireland, Poland and Portugal were least at risk. Many of the differences in sexual assault risks across country were small. Generally, the relative level of sexual assault in different countries accorded with relative levels of offensive sexual behaviour - though there were a few differences

Recently, several posts have noted the recently emerging phenomena of gang rapes in Sweden and Australia.

I don't know about Sweden's per capita income compared to Mississippi, but a brief google search unearthed this United Nations Statistics Division report which shows that Sweden has a per capita income of $26,968, while the United States per capita income was $32,778, or the United States per capita income is 20% higher than Sweden's, with a much lower tax rate that supports a much larger military commitment that kept Sweden from becoming a pimple on the tail of the Soviet Union. this Mississippi state document shows that Mississippi claims a per capita income of $20,688 in 1999, with a sharp decline for 2000. So, Professor Reynolds may have been overstating the Mississippi comparison as it relates to income, but on balance Sweden does not come off as superior to America, which was Alterman's point.

These statistics are somewhat surprising, but only because it is customary to be skeptical of claims of American exceptionalism.