Uhhh... I think the Scandos are feeling the Russian menace pretty acutely. They can't match up militarily, but Sweden has produced jet fighters for a long time, and I'm sure Germany is losing their national guilt about WWII, as NATO is undermined and Putin freely divides Europe. (The big risk is if Germany aligns with China in producing high tech weaponry.)
On the Green New Deal, I think this is mostly considered an Apollo-like proposal, to address climate change, which is being ignored & the science even now suppressed here, though it's driving farmers out of Central America and making it so our own farmers can plant yet in their new lakes. The GND is also intended to stimulate new opportunities for good jobs, get the Millennials believing in the American Dream again. I haven't seen any proposals for states or the federal government to own these companies in the socialist mold, provide "jobs for life", etc. Jay Inslee of Washington State is a good ambassador for the GND. AOC is good at tapping into Millennial concerns.
Besides the Apollo program and its various spinoffs, the classic example of government initiated economic growth is how we got out of the Great Depression by economic activity to fight WWII. The construction of the Interstate system is another good example. The Internet itself is another good example - was a federal research project (at the U!) to provide mainframe computing resilience to a Soviet attack. (There are limits to the Keynesian stimulus model, of course. There are limits to any framework - eg, supply side economics. We're racking up insane levels of deficit/debt, in a boom economy.)
The challenges of getting a similar consensus about the role of capitalism and social safety nets ala the Scandinavian countries & Canada is a legit issue. Yet it begs the question of how Canada can take in the same number of legal immigrants we do (incl lots of refugees) yet Canada has good social stability, and my colleague from Sweden tells me they have a lot of immigrants there, too.
In the case of Canada, for a long time they've adopted the mindset of taxes being the price of a civilized society, and just watching the NBA games in Toronto, it's evident its a very diverse city. The Sikh under the right basket with his turban, seeing women wearing Hajibs in public, lots of Chinese, Indians, Afro-Canadians to go with plenty of white Canadians.
I like the Park City / Tooele comparison. Very apt. But the middle ground is maybe SLC can borrow some of Park City's recipe, eg, maybe the emphasis on education. The Canyons School District raised their minimum salary for teachers to $50,000, and teachers in my wife's district are thinking about trying to get jobs there. The Jordan parents I'm sure are terrified, but you have to decide what's important and build upward from there.
(Wow - that was a Waltonesque stream of consciousness. I blame coffee.
)
EDIT: Do you need some help with a new cert, I'd be happy to pitch in. I hate it when mine expire.