Bernie Sanders. The Associated Press

Sen. Bernie Sanders’ model for his utopian vision for America is in Scandinavia. The only problem is those nations – Denmark, Sweden and Norway – are having none of it.

“We know what democratic socialism is, and if we know that in countries in Scandinavia, like Denmark and Norway and Sweden, they are very democratic countries,” Sanders said. “In those countries, health care is the right of all people. In those countries, college education, graduate school is free. In those countries retirement benefits, child care are stronger than the United States of America. And in those countries, by and large, government works for ordinary people in the middle class rather than as, is the case in our country, for the billionaire class.”

Does such a paradise actually exist on Earth? Well, no.

First, the Scandinavian economic model works because of Scandinavians, not economics. The Scandinavian culture is well-documented and borne out by history. Scandinavians work hard and practice self-denial and self-restraint. They value education, independence and entrepreneurship.

Scandinavians who leave Scandinavia retain this culture; Americans of Scandinavian descent earn about 20 percent more than the U.S. average.

Swedish economist Nima Sanandaji wrote recently that these traits, along with social cohesion, existed prior to – and in fact allowed – the welfare state expansion.

“The desirable aspects of Scandinavian societies, such as low income inequality, low levels of poverty and high economic growth predated the development of a generous welfare state and the explosion of taxation over the 30 years from 1960 had a damaging effect on business and job creation,” he wrote in June.

In fact, he wrote, evidence shows that “high taxes and extensive spending on welfare then stunted economic progress and eroded the region’s previously strong work ethic.”

As Phillip Booth of the Institute of Economic Affairs notes, “It is very clear that Scandinavia is not an exception to the general rules of economics. Culture is very important in determining economic success but the welfare state has undermined cultural norms and economic prosperity.”

That’s why in recent years the Scandinavian countries have moved away from the social democratic model, and toward free markets and more limited government.

As TheWall Street Journal reported in 2011, for example, “unemployment benefits, sick leave and early retirement plans have all been streamlined to encourage work. The number of people receiving such welfare – which soared during the socialist decades – has fallen by 150,000 since 2006, a main reason for Sweden’s remarkably sound public finances. Stockholm has also introduced a law that empowers Swedes to choose their providers for health care and other public services. This has led to a robust surge in entrepreneurship within the health-care sector.”

Finally, there’s something about the Scandinavian model that someone really ought to tell Sanders: It’s funded by fossil fuels.

As Investors Business Daily reported, “the Norwegian government, which owns a staggering 67 percent of Statoil ASA, the largest oil company in Norway, is producing oil and natural gas on government land – and lots of it. Norway is the largest oil producer in Western Europe and the seventh largest oil exporter in the world.”

Sanders’ socialist utopia doesn’t exist.