Bernie needs Americans to trust each other, and this is how to do it
Bernie Sanders began his campaign for President by boldly declaring himself a socialist and saying that the United States should learn lessons from Scandinavia. More recently, he’s focused his praise, pulling examples from a single country: Denmark.
This shouldn’t be surprising. The Danes have a strong social safety net and low levels of inequality. They’re frequently ranked the happiest people in the world, a fact researchers attribute to the country’s high levels of social trust. An anecdote frequently used to illustrate this is that Danish parents will leave their babies outside cafés to sleep in their strollers, even in the winter. This is rather common in Nordic countries, but it does beg the question: where does this high degree of trust come from, and is it something that can be promoted through public policy?
A look at the rankings of most trusting countries shows that where societies are richer and more equal, social trust is higher. This helps explain the trusting nature of Danes, as it makes sense that when people have more economic security, they’re more likely to trust those around them. The same goes for people who feel they can more easily relate to their fellow citizens. Denmark’s generous social programmes and large middle class are beneficial to the promotion of social trust, which may help explain why the United States ranks much lower. The American poor and middle-class are the victims of economic stagnation, if not decline, while the wealth of the rich is soaring; and social programmes are under constant attack, branded as “entitlements”, and their recipients as “moochers”.
Research out of Sweden shows that trust is the foundation of a strong welfare state, which helps to explain why the Nordic countries have some of the most comprehensive social programmes in the world. The citizens of those countries had to really care about their fellow men and women to support the building and expansion of such a system, and this could help explain why the American welfare state remains largely incomplete. The Danes were able to take the welfare state further because their people trusted one another to a higher degree. Due to their lower levels of inequality, they didn’t see the poor as moochers or the rich as being taxed at punitive levels. They all paid their fair share, and built a society that benefited everyone.
While the research might show trust as a prerequesite to the welfare state, it’s hard to argue that the welfare state doesn’t also promote further trust between citizens. Considering this, the design of social programmes can also play a role in building trust or fomenting division. Doug Henwood expanded on this in a piece for The New York Times.
Social benefits in the Scandinavian countries are generally universal, which makes them more expensive, but also almost universally popular. Targeted programs, however, make it easy to pit one segment of the population against others — takers vs. makers. It’s easy for working- and middle-class taxpayers to resent public spending on those poorer than themselves, since they don’t feel much benefit from it.
The universal nature of social programmes in countries like Denmark promote solidarity among all levels of society. Since everyone can take advantage of the public services, the welfare state has broad support. However, in places like the United States, programmes are more likely to benefit small segments of the population, and those who can access few, if any, state benefits are more likely to feel exploited. It doesn’t help that the people who benefit least (and are taxed most) are more likely to have a voice, and can use the media to attack such programmes and draw hard lines that divide the population.
It will be hard for Bernie to build a social safety net like that of Denmark without first promoting trust between Americans. This will be crucial to getting them to support the higher costs that will come with a larger public sector, at least until they can start to share in the benefits of universal social programmes. There is a policy that could be pursued to build this trust, which has been gaining momentum in the public conversation in recent years: a universal basic income.
Bernie should get behind a basic income for all Americans, which would build the conditions for greater social trust.
As a social policy, the basic income is uniquely positioned not only to gain the necessary support to transcend the left-right divide, but also to build the conditions for greater social trust. This policy would guarantee every American an unconditional income, free of work requirement, that would cover the necessities of life. Its goal is to pull everyone out of poverty, freeing society from the worst effects of financial insecurity, and giving people more power over the direction of their lives.
Support from the left for a basic income comes from its redistributive nature and its potential to significantly reduce poverty, while it’s attractive to those on the right because it can lead to less bureaucracy as existing social programmes are reduced or eliminated, and more freedom for the individual since they get cash with no restrictions on how it should be spent. While it would take some compromise on both sides, a basic income could easily gain wide support not only among politicians, but by the American people.
The effects of a basic income would also promote greater social trust, as with fewer people begging on the streets or having to worry about putting foot on the table, the more likely they’ll be to participate in their communities and engage with those around them. Scott Santens recently reviewed a number of basic income experiments for their impacts on social cohesion, and found profoundly positive effects on local communities and economies.
When people are given additional income without conditions, we repeatedly observe gains in social and community relations. Personality traits improve. People begin to work together more. They set mutual goals. They help each other more. A belief that a breakdown in social cohesion is somehow the cause of our economic woes and not the result of it is just plain wrong. It’s demonstrably false.
Considering those effects, it should come as no surprise that a more trusting society is willing to pay high taxes to support broad social support programmes. Where there’s trust, people are able to transcend social divisions to feel compassion toward the larger society, instead of just for their small social circle.
A basic income could be the key to building greater trust between Americans, and leading them to support a welfare state more like those of Nordic countries. It has the potential to gain wider political support than more traditional social programmes, and would play a significant role in the elimination of poverty. If Bernie wants Americans to support his version of democratic socialism, he should become a vocal supporter of a basic income to build social trust and a renewed sense of solidarity among all levels of American society.
Paris Marx writes about the growing divide within the capitalist system, the movements for alternative forms of economic organization, and ways of living that challenge traditional narratives. He occasionally makes videos on YouTube, and is very active in sharing news and opinions on Twitter.
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