We're watching the results come in for the national election in Norway. As an American abroad, here's what strikes me as funny:
The Labor party is neck-in-neck with the conservative Right party. The Labor party is doing very well on their platform of "higher taxes". Yes, they are promising to raise taxes, and Norwegians are rallying behind them. Awesome huh? The Right party is promising to lower taxes by privatizing parts of government... sound familiar my fellow Americans? But Norwegians know that privatizing services like nursing homes, construction and kindergartens will end up costing folks more in the long run... a LOT more. Norwegians would rather pay high taxes and reap the benefits of excellent government services.
It will be exciting to see how this plays out!
By the way, there are 21 political parties in Norway. 8 parties are in the national government. The Labor party and the Right are the largest, with about 25-30% each. In order to pass legislation, the parties have to build coalitions in order to get a majority.