Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
be' reserved...we don't promise too much.” Noticing several young men with
shaved heads and the i nest headphones listening to iPods as they made
clockwork connections on their commute to work, I thought that Denmark
seemed so minimalistic and ei cient...and so well-ordered.
On another train ride, I was i lming a segment for a public television
show. I'd look into the camera and say, “A fun part of exploring Denmark is
enjoying the ei ciency of the great train system.” As usual, I needed about
six or eight “takes” to get it right. My Danish friend was chuckling the whole
time. He i nally explained that our train was running eight minutes late, and
each time I said my line, all the Danes on the train around me would mutter,
“No, no, no.” Clearly, it's all relative. While only two trains a day serve my
town back home, these trains go six times an hour. And while many Danes
go through life without ever getting around to buying a car, they still grouse
about things like public transit. My friend said, “We Danes are spoiled. We
love to complain.”
Danish “Social-ism” and the Free Rider Problem
Of course, there's much more to Danish contentedness than being quaint and
orderly. It's all built upon a i rm cultural foundation. Danish society seems
to be a i nely tuned social internal-combustion engine in a glass box: highly
taxed, highly connected, and highly regulated, with all the gears properly
engaged. h eir system is a hybrid that, it seems, has evolved as far as social-
ism can go without violating the necessary fundamentals of capitalism and
democracy. It's socialistic...but, with its unique emphasis on society, it's also
social-istic.
What happens when
a tune-up is needed? My
Danish friends tell me
they rely on their govern-
ment. Rather than doing
what's best for corpora-
tions, the Danish govern-
ment clearly looks out for
the people's interests. h e
Danes say, “If our govern-
ment lets us down, we let
ourselves down.”
