"Getting to Denmark"

We can’t have a society anchored in ethical standards, honesty, and integrity, unless we build it carefully from the ground up.

There is very little a child in our country will see and learn from the media, sports, celebrities, pop culture, Rap music, and certainly politics, that has a chance at letting him or her know that ethics, honesty, and integrity, are characteristics that have any value in our society. We have demonstrated clearly what we (do) value, now more than ever, and that is celebrity, money, power, and physical appearance. Anything that gets us to those places and doesn't involve jail time is fair game. Honesty can’t compete. Virtue and integrity just get in the way. They sell for pennies on the dollar. They aren't coveted enough to make them difficult to part with.

Our society and culture does not reward those who have high ethical standards. We don’t punish (at all) those who are dishonest and who lack integrity and character. Look no further than our last two Presidents. Ideology and politics aside we can all agree that Obama was an amazingly good role model in every way for our youth. He was compassionate, honest, with an incredible temperament and decency. He was a great father and husband. He had integrity. He cared. Our current President is the exact opposite in EVERY way. He has every form of sleaze dripping from his carcass and yet, he is within 10 percentage points as popular as Obama. The character and intergrity differences matter almost nothing to the electorate. If Trump made a few policy changes that were not so offensive people would forget his cruelty and crudeness…and even his total disregard for honesty. We had a chance to compare these two men, side by side, and we (clearly) don’t value the basic character that Obama had over the preposterous crass of Trump. It just doesn’t move the needle. Treason doesn’t even move the needle with a high % of the electorate. Character and ethics are like garnish on a dinner plate. The meat and potatoes are money, low taxes, white man’s privilege, and keeping the foreigners from taking our stuff.

Why does this country put up with incredible amounts of corruption from it’s institutions? It’s a fair and disturbing question. They are virtually all mired in corruption and scandal. Every Congress member (both political parties) is for sale …to the NRA, Big Pharma, the Teachers assoc, Big Oil, Big Tobacco, etc., etc., etc., etc.. Not one of these Congressmen, except for Bernie Sanders (who we tossed by the curb) was willing to demonstrate that he will NOT accept money from corporations. Nada! Bernie raised his money from individual donors. He “walked the walk” before anyone else even talked about it. We didn’t care. Instead, we juggled between two of the most disingenuous, corrupt, and corporate candidates in world history. They were completely mercenary and deceptive in the way they courted voters....it was prostitution, period. Yet, Bernie came in 3rd in that 3 person race.

We went for the celebrities….we went for a celebrity! I feel reasonably certain that if “The Rock” ran for President he would get a dangerous amount of support. He might even get there. If he wears an American flag lapel pin he’s a good bet. It’s not that our existing politicians have any more qualifications (the main qualification for most is ego and power), it’s just that being famous puts you at the front of the line. Arnold Schwarzenegger? The only thing he had in common with other politicians is having had sex with his nanny. If Kim Kardashian has proven anything, it is that America doesn’t care how you got famous or even how you sustain your celebrity…they just care that you are famous. The media will, in turn, put those who are famous (through whatever means) on the cover of every magazine and every paparazzi will be snapping photos of these anointed people. Everyone on TV will be talking about these celebrities without knowing why….it has a snowball effect….the more they are talked about the more they are famous and the more they are famous the more they are talked about.

We have an incredibly long way to go before we can even see "greatness" with a telescope.

The United States leads the world in murders, reported rapes, incarceration rate, obesity, total crime, the number of police officers of any country. We are tied with the U.K. for the most hours of television watched per week. We have more people on pharmaceutical drugs than any other country. The U.S. spends MUCH more on health care as a percentage of GDP than any other country in the world. 89% of all pornography in the world is made in the U.S.. The rest of the world accounts for only 11%. The United States spends 7 times more on the military than does any other nation on the planet. In fact, the U.S. military spending is greater than the miltary spending of China, Russia, Japan, India, and the rest of NATO combined. Of the 35 developed countries the U.S. ranks the 2nd highest in percentage of children living in poverty (23%).

(all numbers from Business Insider magazine July 2011)

We shouldn’t wonder why countries like Denmark and and Sweden, and most socialized democracies in northern Europe have high trust in their governments. They don’t let their leaders be celebrities
or have excessive spotlight. They don’t allow money into politics.
The focus is ALWAYS on the people, as it should be. Children who grow
up in Denmark, for example, learn to value kindness, compassion,
integrity, ethics, at a much higher rate than Americans because
it is taught and EXPECTED in those societies. In America…in our
schools or in our public discourse…where do you ever hear anything about
integrity or honesty…? Do we teach it?…do we put it on bumper
stickers. Well, …our children are only going to value what we,
as a society, show them to value. Today, as previously mentioned, they are taught (from the
start) to value appearance, money, power, sex appeal, etc… they will
learn to value the cover of the book and not it’s content…

What do Americans do when they acquire great wealth…they buy yachts
and mansions and Mazeratis…they don’t help those who are less fortunate…not even
close….we are taught to indulge ourselves with the spoils of our
success, even if that success is made through corruption (as it so often
is). The best countries in the world care about how everyone lives. They are invested in the society as a whole.

American mottos are:

“Just win, baby”

"Survival of the fittest”

“greed is good”

“every man for himself”

Why do you think that slavery and misogyny and the notion of America as the master of the world were (or have been) perpetuated for so long…because our society demonstrated relentlessly that we were accepting of having slaves…we were accepting of degrading and discounting women…we were willing to let our leaders invade Vietnam and Iraq on a total lie…because we were sold from the start that we were always right and just….”What so proudly we hailed at the twilights last gleaming, and the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air”. We were just asked to salute the flag and stand for the anthem…..We celebrate obedience in our country…we don’t celebrate values. We celebrate labels and teams and logos…NOT values and principles……Why should I stand for an anthem when I don’t like what it stands for--when I think it is a white man’s lie? If you stand for ideals and principles then you stand for things that are greater than logos, or stars, or stripes, or countries or people or warriors.

When will we start valuing and rewarding honesty and integrity..? When will we consider teaching ethics and compassion as compulsory in our K – 12 education. Do we (still) think Spanish is more important? Is Spanish going to save the world and our democracy? It’s a fair question. I would argue that Ethics and compassion just might save the world and our democracy. They are infinitely more important, especially in this time and place, than any other subject a grade school student could learn…and yet….Nada. We haven’t changed our school curriculum since the pyramids were built. It is conspicuously absent …we are still adhering to the curriculum from centuries ago that is failing to properly educate our youth. We are genuflecting to ossified and irrelevant dogma.

It’s not going to happen but we need to start paying attention to Denmark….I know as Americans we are taught that we have nothing to learn form any non American country and we are told to chant “USA, USA” whenever possible but, we are getting further and further away from a national consciousness that is sufferable and humane. Corruption and the purchasing of power and influence are antithetical to our founding principles as a country. Institutions like the NRA and Big Pharma and the Fossil Fuel industry should not be able to hijack our national agenda and our policy making. It is fundamentally wrong in every way….yet, we just march on—we parade on.

The path is through “Denmark”….it’s a metaphor.

Food for Thought.