Most people find it incredibly hard to believe that Sweden, supposedly the 'most democratic country in the world', has strong elements of dictatorship in its system. So how could the Kingdom of Sweden, a capitalist country (albeit it with strong socialist elements), possibly be a dictatorship in any sense of the term?
The fact that people vote a lot doesn't make a society democratic. Communists love voting and so do fascists. The difference between communists/fascists and a true liberal democracy is not to be found in how much voting is done - whether in national government, local government or the work place - but in what human rights are guaranteed by a nation's constitution. Communist and and fascist states have few human rights which is why they are rightly viewed as totalitarian systems in spite of the fact that they vote a lot.
Jacob G. Hornberger in his article, How Hitler Became a Dictator, notes that whilst Hitler principally used the liberal democratic system to win political power, the only way that he was able to consolidate his power and destroy German democracy was to manufacture and promote terrorist attacks to suspend civil liberties. With people scared half to death, it was not a difficult matter. The Reichstag fire was his 9/11.
You would have thought that we had learned from being hoodwinked in the past but then if you don't teach the history of such events to children, how will they know that such political machinations ever took place to be aware of the same things happens in their society when they are adults? If you only have one state-controlled curriculum, how can you guard the people against maverick governments who, like the Nazis, use the democratic process to trick their way into power and then consolidate it?
Every dictator, or aspirant dictator, knows that one of the surest ways to maintain an autocratic system is to educate the population to think in only one way, and the best way to do that is by controlling all education. In 2010 the Swedish Government achieved that aim by banning homeschooling and forcing all schools - state and private - to follow one government-sponsored curriculum. Everyone in Sweden is now taught the same thing, or will be as of 1 July 2011.
Emboldened by this move, the government now proposes to make school compulsory from the age of 1½ years of age - all children, while some are still in nappies/diapers, are to be forced into schools to receive the same educational diet! Goodbye families...
Unless this Swedish government is stopped, we can expect something like Hitlerite Germany in Sweden in the future by slow degrees. Once the children have been brainwashed to think in only one way, the next generation will be totally compliant to government wishes. Jacob G. Hornberger noted:
"For their part, the German people quickly accepted the new [nazi] order of things (dictatorship). Keep in mind that the average non-Jewish German was pretty much unaffected by the new laws and decrees. As long as a German citizen kept his head down, worked hard, took care of his family, sent his children to the public schools and Hitler Youth organization, and, most important, didn't involve himself in political dissent against the government, a visit by the Gestapo was very unlikely".
Nazi Germany is officially (and rightly) in disgrace in Sweden and the rest of the world but some of its methods are very much in use still in 'democratic' Germany and Sweden. Those who dissent from the state school system in order to homeschool have experienced visits from the new Gestapo, the Social Services Department or Socialtjänst who have sweeping powers to kidnap children from their parents permanently if the parents do not conform, or even if they are merely suspected of not conforming, and parents are often unable to use their own legal counsel to defend themselves, as has been the horrifying experience of the Domenic Johansson family. Though there are courts of appeal (though not always - they are starting to deny homeschoolers these), they are mostly a sham and decisions are made behind closed doors. The system protects itself and citizens are only allowed to vote on what the systems permits them to vote on.
Social fascism is a way of life in Sweden today as Liberal Democrat Carl Johan Rehbinder is pointing out to a dumbed down public as he seeks to expose the fake Liberals of the Education Minister's own party. Marxists have today found a new way to rob the people without them ever knowing it is happening - wealth is confiscated in other ways to make the ruling élite rich - through the highest taxes in the world. When the Communist Block nations of Europe and the USSR collapsed in the early 1990's it is no secret that those who profited the most from the change in economic system were former communist bosses. Former communists are now in the European Union parliament and the current President, Barosso, is an ex-Maoist! It only goes to prove that Marxism, as I have maintained elsewhere, is not about equality or the redistribution of wealth to the masses, but about the acquisition (by any means) of power of an élite. And those who are genuine socialist idealists (and there are many fine people who are) are merely pawns in the cynical system they are serving.
Uniform state-controlled education is always an important plank in totalitarian systems, even - and especially - in countries that are democratic. Our problem in Sweden is not democracy but a creeping absence of liberty. Homeschooling is surely anathema to all totalitarian-minded people because it encourages the free propagation of ideas, but is a boon to any country that claims to believe in freedom and liberty.
If the Swedish régime is truly a freedom-loving democracy, then what has it to lose by emancipating homeschoolers in the way recommended by the United Nations? Nothing whatsoever! Indeed, genuine liberty-loving governments should welcome homeschooling with open arms for a variety of reasons discussed elsewhere. IN THE ACT OF BANNING HOMESCHOOLING THE GOVERNMENT PROVES WHAT IT IS. And if it has made a genuine mistake, and wants people to know that it is not totalitarian, it has only to emancipate homeschoolers and deregulate education. Then we will give it a pat on the back and maybe even vote for it next time round.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating. The Swedish government can still redeem itself. If it takes no action then it just proves that it is a descendant of the Soviet and Fascist beasts of the 20th century. God help us all if it is! Norwegian and Scandinavian writer, Mr.Fjordman in his article, The Death of Sweden, insists:
"Sweden...is the most totalitarian country in the Western world, and should thus serve as a warning to others...[and] like my own country (Norway) now needs some 'tough love'. Too many Swedes still cling on to the myth of the 'Swedish model' while their country is disintegrating underneath their feet. If Sweden the nation is to be saved - if it still can be saved, I'm not so sure - then Sweden the ideological beacon for mankind must be smashed, because vanity now blocks sanity".
I have to say that I am a little more optimistic than Mr.Fjordman though I do agree the myth has to be shattered. There are lots of really enlightened Swedes in this country who are beginning to see through the lies and propaganda - and yes, the Swedish government has a very effective propaganda machine that draws upon a lot of tax money to fund itself.
Homeschoolers are on the front line against this oppressive totalitarian system but we are not about to bend the knee. We did not to ask to be brought into this fight, we were forced into it. Amazingly and perhaps too late for the government to do anything about, homeschoolers are principled people. Ordinarily we are very quiet people and are content to let politicians get on with their own business but in trying to rob us of our liberty they have awakened the lion in us. The Swedish Government may be a Goliath but it has a David with a deadly aim to reackon with now. We won't have our wealth plundered in crippling fines or our children kidnapped by an out-of-control power-crazed Social Services any more or be put into prison without our shouts being heard loud and clearly in spite of any media blackout. We want our liberty and we'll light our own beacons!
