Americans Believe The Lies
Jaakko Salmenius
Studied Information Engineering at Helsinki University of Technology · Sep 9
I am a Finn living in the US. For the first time in my life, I don't feel free. There are a ton of things I could do back home, but I cannot do here.
The following are examples of things that I could do in Europe that I cannot do in America:
- Take a few months of vacation in between jobs without losing my health insurance.
- Walk everywhere in the forest, except on private property, as you can roam everywhere except other people's yards in Nordic countries.
- Have my kids go to university for free, and sometimes even get paid to enter.
- Get a passport in less than a week, and in a few hours at Helsinki airport.
- Have automated custom lines at the airport, instead of waiting in line for an hour, or spending lots of time and money to clear Global Entry.
- Get an MRI and operation in a day, as decided by the doctor, not by the insurance company.
- Have safe pedestrian and bicycle paths for my kids to walk or bike on, and safe underpasses to cross streets.
The fact is that people in the US are not even close to being as free as in Europe. According to the Freedom in the World index, USA is ranked 61st, while 7 out of the top 10 are from Europe. The top 3, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, all got maximum points (100).
