Crime and Domestic Violence . America has the highest and Iceland among the lowest of nations in total crime rate per capita. America ranks high among nations in intentional homicides. Iceland ranks almost "dead" last.
Law Enforcement . Iceland jails it scofflaw bankers. America bails them out. Iceland abolished capital punishment in 1928 but hasn't executed anyone since 1830. America still uses capital punishment. Icelanders grieved after police shot and killed a suspect for the first time ever in 2014. It's a common occurrence in America, where her police kill citizens over 70 times the rate of other first-world nations.
Military and Foreign Relations . Iceland has no standing army and her military budget is miniscule. America's budget is larger than the next seven countries combined and has over one million uniformed personnel in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air force. Other than the "cod wars" with the UK over fishing rights, Iceland has never been at real war in modern times. America was born in the womb of war and has been addicted to that habit ever since.
Happiness . This may just be the most important dimension of life. Who wants to be unhappy? Iceland is the second happiest nation in the world. Americans are much less happy.
Reasons Why
Those differences aren't happenstance. There are reasons why they exist, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know what they are.
In the Beginning . A good start, which Iceland had, is better than a bad start, which America had. Archaeologists now think, contrary to the mythical Viking warrior landing on shore that Iceland was first inhabited between 770 and 880 AD as a temporary outpost from Scandinavia, Northern Europe or the British Isles, and used by the inhabitants to gather sea life resources. It was a peaceful beginning, in other words. America's first inhabitants were peaceful Indians. They were soon slaughtered and their land confiscated by settlers from countries well accustomed to slaughtering and land grabbing.
The Place . People make the place, but it also makes the people. I'll give you just three examples. Iceland is a small, un-crowded nation. America is large and crowded. Psychologists have shown that crowded rats in an experiment become aggressive and vicious. Secondly, malevolent leaders know how to keep a large crowd divided and conquered. Thirdly, America is a "sociopathic society" claims Charles Derber, a sociology professor at Boston College, not because of its people, he says, but because of America's "values and rules of conduct." I would add that those rules and values were created and promoted by the corpocracy (see below) for its own benefit.
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