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Indeed if you look at the happiest countries list that seems to be true. Finland and Switzerland are near the top and kind of lefty and conservative respectively but both very low corruption.

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Yeah, the debate between the left and right in the US [1] is basically irrelevant to the well-being of the average person. Though, I think the distinction between authoritarian and libertarian definitely does matter. Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Finland and Switzerland are both rigorously democratic: Nordic countries have strong labour unions and worker co-determination [2] to keep big businesses honest, while Switzerland has direct democracy [3].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_war

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co-determination

[3] https://www.eda.admin.ch/aboutswitzerland/en/home/politik/ue...

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