Matt Yglesias

Land of Rasmussens

Anders Fogh Rasmussen

A friend remarked the other day that the solution to most public policy problems seems to be “be more like Denmark.”

Hopefully, then, Anders Fogh Rasmussen who just stepped down as Prime Minister of Denmark in order to become NATO’s top civilian official will be able to do something useful with the mighty-but-listing military alliance. Interestingly, part of the Danish genius seems to be to only let guys named “Rasmussen” run the country. Poul Nyrup Rasmussen led a center-left coalition from 1993 to 2001, and now heads the Party of European Socialists in the European Parliament. Then led several A.F. Rasmussen-led center-right coalitions, and power was handed off to Lars Løkke Rasmussen.

15 Responses to “Land of Rasmussens”

1. Ben Says:
   August 2nd, 2009 at 1:24 pm

   Let’s not follow their lead on the Rasmussen thing.

2. Ewan Compton Says:
   August 2nd, 2009 at 1:27 pm

   There are a very small number of family names in Denmark, Rasmussen being a more common one, which partially explains the preponderance of important Rasmussens.

3. Why oh why Says:
   August 2nd, 2009 at 1:30 pm

   I personally prefer the Nielsens.

4. aleks Says:
   August 2nd, 2009 at 1:33 pm

   Get a job, Matt.

5. joejoejoe Says:
   August 2nd, 2009 at 2:29 pm

   I played Little League with Rasmussen twins. It must be a plot.

6. fostert Says:
   August 2nd, 2009 at 2:33 pm

   I’ll agree to let a Rasmussen run the country if Rasmussen Reports stops doing biased polling.

7. James Gary Says:
   August 2nd, 2009 at 2:34 pm

   I personally prefer the Nielsens.

   YOY FTW.

   Actually, the country’s infuenced quite a bit by the Rasmussens already, if you include the power-sharing agreement they have with the Gallups, the Zogbys, etc.

8. edawg Says:
   August 2nd, 2009 at 3:44 pm

   And given your NBA enthusiasm, Matt, you really shouldn’t fail to mention Blair Rasmussen. Long will he live in the hearts of Nuggets fans.

9. Max424 Says:
   August 2nd, 2009 at 3:52 pm

   I know a Rasmussen. On the outside, he is a drunk and a ne’er do well. On the inside, though, he is Presidential timber. Let’s give him a shot.

10. gregor Says:
    August 2nd, 2009 at 4:01 pm

    Just as half of the prettiest girls on the planet all come from Scandinavia, and are named Anna.

11. The Lorax Says:
    August 2nd, 2009 at 5:45 pm

    @gregor

    I’m there right now. The name claim isn’t right, but the other half is. It’s kind of crazy, I must say.

12. Steve Sailer Says:
    August 2nd, 2009 at 6:02 pm

    “A friend remarked the other day that the solution to most public policy problems seems to be “be more like Denmark.””

    The theme of about one-quarter of Matt’s posts is that Blue-Eyed Countries Do It Better.

    C’mon, say, something nice for once about a brown-eyed country … How about, “You know, I figured the Greeks would screw it up royally, but they did surprise me and get their Olympic Stadium finished in time for the 2004 Olympics.”

    I’m not asking for much, just some recognition that brown-eyed countries aren’t as beneath notice as they appear on this blog.

13. James Hare Says:
    August 2nd, 2009 at 11:25 pm

    I usually leave trolls alone, but wtf with the “get a job” comment? First of all, it’s Sunday. Most folks aren’t working. Matt may not celebrate Mass on Sunday, but it’s fairly common for Americans. Secondly, he’s making blog posts on Sunday for his employer. Your comment should read “get a different job, Matt.

    On topic, being more like Denmark would really be a good plan for the US. I’d really like to be a Dane, looking at how they have their society organized.

14. Brian Dell Says:
    August 3rd, 2009 at 2:06 am

    1) The Danes are also very close to the most anti-immigration country on the planet. And that is largely due to Rasmussen’s coalition partner, the Dansk Folkeparti (Danish People’s Party). Do American liberals really think their country is missing something by not having a race-baiting party in government?

    2) I lived in Sweden for more than a year and it was pretty clear the Scandinavians would run anything well. Just because they make big government work over there doesn’t mean it would work anywhere. The real driver of Scandinavia’s success may be the world leader for low corruption.

15. Not ADane Says:
    August 3rd, 2009 at 9:01 am

    Brian@14,

    1) Since Matt thinks that suburbs of Stuttgart are in Denmark, what makes you think that he knows much of anything about Denmark?

    You need to realize that when Matt, or any American liberal of his type, talks about a European country as a model, he’s talking about a fantasy version of that country, something that is as exaggerated as “Eurabia.”

    Next thing you know, you’ll be expecting Matt to know that Denmark was part of the “coalition of the willing” that went into Iraq.