George Will disagrees with Friedman's conclusion about France and the EU but agrees they are a bunch of welfare-statist loungeabouts.    From Wordnik.com.  [Archive 2005-06-01] Reference

But the biggest dilemma is that most parties on the left have not figured out how to adapt their old welfare-statist ideologies to modern economic realities — while appealing to voters who see modern reform as a betrayal of their parties 'traditional socialist ideals, and who often have more-extreme left-wing parties to turn to.    From Wordnik.com.  [The New Low Lights On The Left] Reference

Hmm. But the biggest dilemma is that most parties on the left have not figured out how to adapt their old welfare-statist ideologies to modern economic realities-while appealing to voters who see modern reform as a betrayal of their parties 'traditional socialist ideals, and who often have more-extreme left-wing parties to turn to.    From Wordnik.com.  [A Fistful Of Euros » A Fistful Of Euros] Reference

People point to Scandinavian countries, which aren’t so much socialist as welfare-statist, and these are relatively small, homogeneous societies that aren’t squandering their wealth trying to maintain military hegemony over the wholeworld.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Volokh Conspiracy » Democracy and the Appeal of Socialism] Reference

People point to Scandinavian countries, which aren’t so much socialist as welfare-statist, and these are relatively small, homogeneous societies that aren’t squandering their wealth trying to maintain military hegemony over the whole world.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Volokh Conspiracy » Democracy and the Appeal of Socialism] Reference