Happy Constitution Day, all Norwegians!

194 years ago today, a group of pretty brave Norwegian politicians dared to go against nearly 300 years of subjection to Denmark and signed the Constitution they had written. It was inspired by the French adn the American, and was a pretty neat document, even tho' most Norwegians can't quote it the way Americans can theirs. I guess the oratory wasn't equal to Thomas Jefferson's.

Unfortunately, it took another 91 years for the country to gain full independence again, as it was given to Sweden by the allies against Napoleon for not siding with the French in the Napoleonic Wars. But in 1905 we could welcome our democratically elected King Haakon and his family and ever since, Norway's been independent again, after 700 years of shared monarchs, 278 years of them being simply a part of Denmark, and 91 years being a junior kingdom under the Swedish king.

You Americans have lost a lot of your Constitution in fact, but take example from Norway, who had to wait 91 years from signing the Constitution until it became a founding document in a newly independent country. Come November, you are going to take back what is yours, and you will reinstate that wonderful document to its former glory by making it a living part of your society again.

In Norway, we celebrate the 17th of May as our national day. In our peculiar way, we celebrate not with military parades and by focussing on politicians, but by focussing on the children, and ordinary people. We dress up in our finest clothes, national costumes preferred, and let the children walk in parades thru town streets waving flags and shouthing hurra! Afterwards we eat tons of food, but we all gather in the streets to wave flags and congratulate each other with the day first.

I think that is a very good disinfectant against politicians steering our national self-feeling a particular way. We celebrate each other, instead of politicians, or even the nation itself. We are the nation, instead of papers locked up in vaults, and we celebrate our community more than anything else.

So, Happy Constitution Day, everyone. Hurra for Syttende Mai!

If you would like to invade and bring your healthcare system, perhaps something could be arranged.

According to common opinion, the reason why Alfred Nobel handed the responsibility of giving out the Peace Prize to Norway was that we had not been the aggressor to war in many centuries, and we'd even managed to gained our independence without war.

But yeah, I'd like to spread the Norwegian health care system everywhere - with improvements from the other national health care systems, as I know we can do even better.

And, um, if this election doesn't turn out as planned, could someone fill me in on how I might obtain citizenship in Norway?

Norway has closed its borders pretty much - in theory we only allow refugees asylum, and even those are in short numbers according to the UN. We're a population of 4.6 million, so we're a bit xenophobic, unfortunately, not helped by the fact that the refugees we do accept are usually from war-torn countries far away, and therefore some have trouble adjusting to Norwegian society.

In my dreams, that is.

Dunno if there's many hot Norwegian babes free for the taking, tho'. Ordinary women, yes, but hot babes are usually snapped up pretty fast.

And a Google Image Search on "Norwegian women" only reinforces that impression.

I'll take that as a compliment.

travel for his job. He explained that when he was being treated for cancer, he only had a total bill for 300.00. He said that the people see a direct parallel between great government services to the tax base. So because the people receive such affordable medical treatment they have no problem paying their taxes. It is no surprise that the focus of this country is on the well being of their children.

As a single, highly educated, young woman, I do find it exasperating that most of our tax breaks etc go to families with young children. I pay higher taxes, and have a lot of expenses that in couples are met by two incomes rather than one. That makes it more difficult for me to buy my own apartment, for example. But I don't begrudge one øre (the Norwegian cent) from my taxes that goes towards health care, education, welfare, public transit systems etc. I benefit from that as much as all Norwegians.

I paid a bit more for my ankle injury last year, but that was because it was non-fatal. I could probably have gotten refunds for a lot of my expenses as well, mostly connected to physiotherapy before they discovered they had to operate (post-surgery physiotherapy is free), but I could afford it, and many can't. And heck, I got 5 weeks off work with pay altogether, and not a day of vacation time was used. I've never been so happy that I didn't still live in the US!

Wave that flag proudly!

I'm the product of a mixed marriage: my grandfather was Swedish, grandmother was
black Norwegian! Lovely couple.. lotsa fun in the family!

Have you heard Ole and Lena jokes as well?

Ole and Lena got married. On their honeymoon trip they were nearing Minneapolis when Ole put his hand on Lena's knee. Giggling, Lena Said, "Ole, you can go farther if ya vant to"... so Ole drove to Duluth.

Or

One night, a torrential rain soaked northwestern Minnesota. The next morning the resulting floodwaters came up about 6 feet into most of the homes there.

Mrs. Johnson was sitting on her roof with her neighbor, Lena, waiting for help to come. Mrs. Johnson noticed a baseball cap, floating near the house.

Then she saw it float far out into the front yard, then float back to the house; it kept floating away from the house, then back towards the house.

Her curiosity got the best of her, so she asked Lena, "Do you see dat der baseball cap a floatin' away from da house, den back again?"

Lena said, "Oh yeah, dats my husband Ole; I tole dat lazy-such and such he vasgonna cut da grass today, come hell or high water!!!!

But the first time we heard dose yokes, my sister says to me:

"Funny? That's how Aunt Mary and Uncle Gunder act!"

And that's true..

Got room for a disillusioned American?

All disillusioned Americans, no. Fortunately it seems that more and more Americans are opening their eyes to what they've let happen to their country, joining the ranks of the many who've known what bad news the shrub and his coterie was from before he was elected.

I've seen pictures of the Syttende Mai celebration in Oslo, and you're right, the parade is not made up of soldiers but of schoolchildren wearing folk costumes.

I also recall the coverage of the Lillehammer Winter Olympics, in which the U.S. commentators praised the hospitality and sportsmanship of the Norwegian people. They noted that the Norwegian crowds watching the cross-country ski races cheered not just for the winners, not just for the Norwegian competitors, but for everyone who crossed the finish line.

My paternal grandparents came from Norway, and I visited there many years ago. Now one of my cousins, who is interested in genealogy, wants to have all the relatives from everyone in the world go to Norway for a massive family reunion. I'm saving my money. :-)

We do a lot of things wrong, but I do think that most of the important things we do right. The huge drive towards equality is one we do right, and I'm not talking simply of legal equality here. Economic equality is a big part of Norwegian society. The willingness to make sure that everyone has what they need in terms of food, shelter, health care is one part of it. The belief that millionaires aren't more important than the average Joe is another. The reluctance to worshiping money is yet another.

Norway's often dismissed as the most expensive country in the world, and it most probably is, but the salaries are equally high, so the fact that a gallon of gas costs $9 sounds outrageous, but is less than half the minimum hourly salary. And we don't have to pay for health insurance, we get health care thru taxes.