Sweden hates America. But why? Because Sweden regards itself as the most advanced and civilized society in the world. From a Swedish point of view, every country should pass through the same development Sweden has. Of course, that's bullshit. Swedes recognize that when they shift their view to America, the wealthiest nation on the planet, whose political and economic culture is radically different from the Swedish model. Here is a handful of ways in which America's culture pisses Sweden off:

• Two-party system: Sweden, like most of Europe, is based upon a multi-party system. We have the same range between Left and Right, but in contrast to America, these two political ends are less ideologically conservative and tend to share many policies. Yet, as Brett Steven notes, there is no evidence that America would suffer from more mob-related problems compared to any given multi-party system in Europe. The result: Sweden lacks real democratic alternatives, while America offers a limited but faithful range of political options to vote for.
• Muscle flexing: America is constantly doing what Sweden regards as a foreign policy fallacy, namely actually daring to enforce international standards abroad. Sweden believes it's a part of those standards, but resembles a handicapped activist, in that it considers belief in ideas more important than acting upon those ideas. Sweden wants peace and democracy in Iraq, yet it regards Bush's war as the most evil thing since Hitler.
• Anti-socialism: The Swedish model is basically a combination of liberal democracy and socialism. America, in contrast, is a republic constructed to limit the power of both the government and the mob. Yet, despite Sweden's socialist attempts of achieving equality and wealth, America is still doing much better than us, even during a severe recession.
• Strong private sector: Sweden has focused on building a huge public sector funded by high income taxes, while America still regards private business and free markets as keys to prosperity. I don't think I need to tell you what is most viable in the long run. During the current recession, Sweden is forced to do exactly what Sarah Palin said would happen: declining social and health services combined with a business sector slowly being eroded or exported to the East.
• True multiculturalism: Sweden consciously lies about its history in order to pretend it's always been multicultural, when the truth is that it's one of the most homogeneous nations on the planet. America, on the other hand, has a long history of different ethnic groups and cultures. And yet, despite not choosing to enforce multiculturalism by government lobbying like in Sweden, America is in general doing better at integrating its immigrants into society than what Sweden is doing with a handful of people from Somalia and Iraq.
• Patriotism: Americans are proud of their nation. Swedes are proud of their nation, but don't dare to show it in public, lest they in some mysterious way might be interpreted as racist. When Americans walk around and wave American flags on TV, Swedes regard them as fanatic nationalists with guns. When Americans see Swedish flags wave at some government-sponsored event on their TV, they become curious of their cultural roots. An America, despite being patriotic, able to embrace other cultures?
• Pop culture: Lots of polls show that Swedes regard their country as the most Americanized in all of Europe. Yet a quick glance on what's being played at clubs, televisions and radio stations reveal hard facts: Swedes embrace American Hollywood and pop culture. We like Americanization, we're just too goddamn weak to admit it to a super power.
• Conservatism: Obama may appear softly socialist in America, but in Sweden he'd be a radical capitalist extremist. Americans embrace religion, creationism, family values, guns, death penalties, tough international laws and local communities. Swedes worship science, liberal humanism, feminism, guns & drugs ban, soft kindergarten prison methods, soft "neutral" foreign policy making and huge suburbs without local culture. In short, America has managed to both become a leading nation and yet conserve traditions, something Sweden never learned to do.
• Greenist skepticism: The Bush Admin. famously declined joining the climate movement in Europe to meet green emission goals. This infuriates a greenist-crazy Sweden that believes we're all going to melt away unless we cap & trade everything in sight. Al Gore is our hero. In America, to many Americans, he's somewhat of a nut job trying to make money on something else other than party politics. America believes in the environment, but has more belief in capitalism. Sweden has a lot of nature, but not much belief in capitalism.
• Beauty: On American television you can still see beautiful women on news programs showing themselves off because they are beautiful and successful. On Swedish television you see bitter old middle aged women complaining about the obsession around the female body. Swedes are, like everyone else, interested in fashion, beauty and wealth. They're just held back by a Social Democratic moral that says you shouldn't think you're prettier, smarter or richer than everyone else.

Americans and Swedes, do you recognize yourselves? If so, please shake hands and make up for lost times. We need a united West.