A romanticized belief in violence renders people irrational to the point of hurting ourselves, over and over again.
It鈥檚 not just that Norway has universal single-payer health care. Norwegians know that they depend on each other, and they trust their government to get it right.
The U.S. economic system contributes to ongoing crises of addiction and mental health. The Scandinavians figured out the solutions decades ago.
It鈥檚 bold, it鈥檚 inclusive. And Ocasio-Cortez and the young generation behind it understand that economic power needs to be met by people power.
The Scandinavian success comes from focusing on economic justice and making immigrant success stories more visible.
Movement-building approaches from the civil rights era get a 2017 update.
Instead of falling to the Nazi party, Norway broke through to a social democracy. Their history shows us polarization is nothing to despair over.
The first step? Recognize that we represent the majority.
There鈥檚 something even better than electoral politics and one-off protests when mobilizing citizen power.
Look to Norway and Sweden, where cooperative, socially democratic countries emerged after a frightening period of extreme polarization and social fracturing.