My name is Henrik Brameus and I’m originally from Sweden. At the moment I’m living in Seattle with my wife and our two dogs and one cat. En route to Seattle I have lived not only in Sweden, but also in Scotland, England and the Netherlands. In other words I have had chances to experience different western cultures with their everyday challenges and solutions to problems.
Politically I would classify myself as close to a social liberal or a humanist. In the USA that puts me into the progressive Democrat area, or as some more conservative would express it, a liberal. Thankfully I don’t see that as an insult, but rather fall back on the words of President John F. Kennedy:
What do our opponents mean when they apply to us the label ‘Liberal’? If by ‘Liberal’ they mean, as they want people to believe, someone who is soft in his policies abroad, who is against local government, and who is unconcerned with the taxpayer’s dollar, then the record of this party and its members demonstrate that we are not that kind of ‘Liberal’. But if by a ‘Liberal’ they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a ‘Liberal’, then I’m proud to say I’m a ‘Liberal’.
Just to make clear. I don’t advocate large government, I advocate effective government. I don’t advocate higher taxes, I advocate fair opportunity through taxation, and spending that goes to the greater good, not only to special interests. I know that makes me unlikely to ever to be elected to public office, and if I were to be elected, unlikely to get re-elected. However, I believe that standing up for your principles and beliefs is more important than being in power.
So why did I start this blog? The main reason was that I wanted to give my opinion on topics where I think that a lot of people in the USA have a limited viewpoint. Not because they are not willing to learn, but because they have limited experience. The USA is a fantastic country with lots of very good things. But that doesn’t mean that the union could be more perfect by implementing ideas tested elsewhere. Having a not-invented-here attitude to policy and public interest is self destructive. I hope I can educate, enlighten or at least entertain some of you fellow Americans.
