Few ideological causes ever united Bernie Sanders, an American politician so left-wing he could run for office as a European centrist, and Charlie Kirk, a Trumpian firebrand.(很少有意识形态事业能让桑德斯和柯克站到一起。) A rare point of agreement among them, oddly, was the appeal of Sweden. To the gruff(粗鲁的，生硬的) senator the Scandinavian country is a wellhead(源头，源泉) of socialist good sense that America should emulate(效仿，模仿). For the conservative stalwart(坚定支持者，骨干), who was murdered a year ago while preaching his right-wing credo(信条，教义) at a university, the home of IKEA and Spotify was equally worthy of admiration. Yet to him Sweden thrived not because of its large state but in spite of(尽管) it—it was all down to(归因于) an innate don’t-tread-on-me(别惹我（个人主义口号）) individualism a Texan might recognise.
很少有意识形态事业能让伯尼·桑德斯和查理·柯克站到一起。桑德斯是美国政客，左倾到可以在欧洲作为中间派参选；柯克则是特朗普式的煽动者。奇怪的是，他们之间罕见的共识竟是瑞典的魅力。在这位粗鲁的参议员看来，这个斯堪的纳维亚国家是社会主义良知的源泉，美国应当效仿。而对于那位保守派干将——一年前在大学宣扬右翼信条时遇害——宜家和 Spotify 的故乡同样值得钦佩。但在他看来，瑞典的繁荣并非因为其庞大的政府，而是尽管有庞大的政府——这一切都归结为一种得克萨斯人也能认出的、天生的“别惹我”个人主义。
That two opposing sides of the political spectrum credit their own ideas for the success of one of the world’s better-run places is not surprising.(政治对立双方都将瑞典的成功归功于自己的理念，这并不意外。) What might be is that both have a fair claim(有合理的说法): Sweden is the paradoxical(矛盾的，悖论的) home of individualism done collectively.
政治光谱上对立的两方都将世界上治理得最好的地方之一的成功归功于自己的理念，这并不令人意外。令人意外的可能是，双方都有一定的道理：瑞典是集体化个人主义的矛盾家园。
The case for Sweden being a socialist Utopia(乌托邦，理想国) is as traditional as its cinnamon buns. This is a country that soaks the rich—the top rate of income tax is a wealth-clobbering 52%—to fund a government whose spending amounts to nearly half of GDP, among the highest in the world.(这个国家向富人征收重税，以资助支出占GDP近一半的政府。) The welfare state in Sweden is as famous as its flat-pack furniture. The mollycoddling(娇惯，溺爱) literally starts in the cradle; new parents are showered with up to 480 days of paid leave. Other lefty shibboleths(口号，陈词滥调) include free universities, low income inequality and the rich world’s most sweeping(全面的，广泛的) rent controls. Two-thirds of working Swedes belong to a trade union, the most of any country bar tiny Iceland(除了小小的冰岛). All this brotherhood-of-man(人类皆兄弟) stuff is reflected in politics: next month the centre-left Social Democrats will come top(名列第一) for the 33rd straight parliamentary election, a streak going back over a century (though the party has spent time out of power as rivals have formed ruling coalitions).
将瑞典视为社会主义乌托邦的说法，就像它的肉桂卷一样传统。这个国家狠狠压榨富人——最高所得税率高达 52%，令人财富缩水——以资助一个支出占 GDP 近一半的政府，这一比例位居世界前列。瑞典的福利国家与其平板包装家具一样闻名。这种娇惯确实从摇篮就开始了；新父母可享受长达 480 天的带薪假。其他左翼口号包括免费大学、较低的收入不平等，以及富裕世界中最全面的租金管制。三分之二的瑞典在职员工属于工会，这一比例除冰岛外全球最高。所有这些“人类皆兄弟”的东西都反映在政治上：下个月，中左翼的社会民主党将在连续第 33 次议会选举中位居第一，这一连胜可追溯到一个多世纪前（尽管该党曾因对手组建执政联盟而一度下野）。
The elusive Swedish model
难以捉摸的瑞典模式