About the book

A Wake-Up Call from Norway to America — and a Blueprint for Change and resistance

The book I’ll Be Back, delivers a heartfelt message to the American people, warning of the growing threat of authoritarianism and societal decline in the United States. Drawing from the strengths of the Nordic model — where democracy, press freedom, and social welfare thrive — the book offers an inspiring vision of what a more balanced, ethical, and compassionate society can look like.

This powerful call to action explores:

• How the U.S. has strayed from democratic ideals

• The dangers of populism and inequality

• What the Nordic countries do differently — and better

• The vital role of women and ethical leadership

• Civil resistance strategies from 12 public figures

• Case Studies of Successful Civil Resistance

• How a critical mass of 3.5% makes a regime fall

• A path toward a soulful, inclusive, and stable future

Created with the help of ChatGPT, I’ll Be Back is not just a critique — it’s a roadmap for those ready to resist division and rebuild a society based on empathy, justice, and shared responsibility.

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Introduction

To my fellow American, we stand with you!

We see your struggle and your fear from the outside. I my case from Norway.

We can hardly believe what we are seeing, that the United States, which has been a country we have looked up to, is now moving dangerously fast towards dictatorship.

American influence has spread throughout the world, for better or worse. Lately, it has been for the worse.

We are all affected by the decisions you Americans do. Actually, we are all affecting each other, regardless of where we live. We are all in this together. That’s why your problems are our problems.

We in Norway have our freedom and democracy intact. In fact, we are ranked number one in democratic development. Not only that, but we are also number one when it comes to freedom of the press. Above all, we take care of our citizen, when in the states you are more or less left for yourselves when challenges arise.

Hopefully we can inspire you and give you some ideas on how to move forward in these challenging times.

The Nordic countries are regarded as having one of the best systems in the world. We have a social democracy with a mixed economy as its basis, i.e. a mixture of capitalism and socialism. Even though it is not perfect, we have reason to be proud.

The most prominent ideologies here in the West have been communism and capitalism. The biggest problem is not the ideologies themselves, but rather that power-hungry, greedy, and selfish people are in charge. Neither power nor money should be the driving force. Today profit comes before people and the planet, which is extremely short-sighted.

To be the leader of a country, one should possess high ethical standards. This is where the real problem lies. Far too many leaders are simply not mature enough. This applies to both socialist and capitalist countries, as well as countries with other ideologies.

In difficult times, people tend to seek a “Strongman” who offer simple solutions. The problem is that this type of populist often plays on fear, anger and the lower aspects of humanity. They pursue an agenda that prefers to place the blame on others, such as foreigners, even though they are a tremendous resource when properly integrated.

We need wise, mature leaders who show empathy, respect, and tolerance. We need leaders who demonstrate compassion and ensure that people are seen and understood. Sadly, your president Trump demonstrates the opposite, and now even early in 2025 you are seeing the consequence, and it will be much worse if you do not resist.

In addition, we need an enlightened population that thinks for itself, which requires upbringing and education that teaches our children fundamental human values. They also need to learn to respect other cultures and opinions because that prevents polarization and bullying. We need to unite people, not divide them.

When I visited the states in 1990, I saw fences around luxury houses in Miami, some with barbed wire. What! It looked like fortresses.

Since then, things have been getting worse. Parts of the US today look like developing countries.

This extreme inequality makes your country sick and is an important reason for the state of your country and the rise of authoritarian forces. This is something this book will address.

Rudolf Steiner (founder of Waldorf schools) believed that there were three areas of society that should be equally emphasized for society to be well-developed and harmonious: economy, politics, and culture/ religion.

He argued that these three areas should be given equal importance and independence; otherwise, it could lead to human suffering — and as we have now also experienced — environmental destruction never seen before. Only then can we achieve a civilized society. None of these three areas should dominate the others. The problem is that this is exactly what has happened in large parts of the world.

In the United States, the economic sphere dominates both the cultural and political spheres. Many members of Congress and the Senate receive large sums from corporations, which results in a highly unhealthy influence on their politics. This has led to an undignified imbalance and the breakdown of society.

In Russia, politics dominates the cultural and economic spheres. Russia, under the leadership of Putin, now governs the country with an iron fist and fear. It has become a dictatorship. His distorted, outdated ideology and cynicism have led to the indoctrination of the population and a horrific war of aggression against Ukraine.

In Afghanistan, culture (in the form of religion) dominates the economic and political spheres. The country should never have been ruled by the religious Taliban, under whom women in particular are oppressed and harmed.

When it comes to women by the way, we in the Nordics have a history with Vikings and strong women that has an influence our society to this day.

For instance, the women in Iceland and other countries have fought for their rights, where those in power, men, didn’t easily want to let go of their privileges. One day in October 1974, 90 % of the women on Iceland went on strike and paralyzed the country completely. One of the reasons for the strike, was the fact that they were lesser paid than men, just because they were women. They refused to do domestic chores, left their homes and their jobs, and made men realize their importance. Six years later, Iceland had the first democratically elected female president in the world.

We need more women in politics and leadership, which is why I have included a chapter on that topic.

This book is made possible in a short time thanks to ChatGPT. All text has been generated by it, except for this Introduction and the end of the book. It’s not simply a matter of asking ChatGPT a question—you need to ask the right question. I am very satisfied with the answers it has provided. None of the text generated by ChatGPT has been altered.

The title of the book is inspired by the Terminator movies, played by actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the movie he is joining the resistance movement against Skynet (a synthetic intelligence). He is also in the resistance against the current administration.

The people of America have to resist too. I have therefore included what we can learn from civil resistance against authoritarianism around the world. I have also included resistance strategies from 10 public figures (Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of them).

Harvard University has resisted, and I have included a chapter from Harvard Kennedy School which says that no government has survived a challenge in which at least 3.5% of the population mobilized in sustained protest.

I have included comparison of the Nordic Model vs the United States and Norway’s top ranking in the democracy index compared with the USA.

The last big chapter is about transforming a soulless society into a soulful one. My hope is that it can inspire you to organize your society into a friendlier and more inclusive and stable society that takes care of each other and where empathy and love is the guiding force.

That should be the goal for any society.

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