"WE ARE NOT DENMARK", SHE SAID.

“We are not Denmark”

We heard this line from Hillary Clinton last night in the Dem debate…What does that mean…? It came after Bernie Sanders said “we should look to countries like Denmark, Sweden, Norway and see what they’ve accomplished.”

When I heard this retort from Hillary Clinton I remembered why it is so hard to get Americans to think that it is possible that other countries might be doing things that we could learn from….Bernie Sanders didn’t say that we should (become) Denmark and raise their flag above the White House…he just hinted…that we should “look to” those countries to “see what they’ve accomplished”. After all, you could do a lot worse than be Denmark, or Norway, or Sweden…

But, we don’t care to even know what is going on there….we nipped it in the bud. Anderson Cooper dismissed it by saying that Denmark has 5. 6 million people….as if anything that is beneficial in the governance of 5.6 million people can’t have anything at all to do with how we govern 320 million…it is not even worth bringing up….turn your eye away from some of the greatest success stories in modern times…

It sounded so dismissive…she threw it in the garbage with a two second sound bite…”We are not Denmark…” Her mind was closed…that idea got no examination from Hillary Clinton…(next question please).

America isn’t what it used to be …it is still the greatest country in the world if you are a rich industrialist, or a tech CEO, or if you design gaming software, are on the cast of “House of Cards”, or if you are Floyd Mayweather, or Aaron Sorkin…but what if you’re not?…what if you are on the margins...what if you are part of the many millions in this country who are left “holding the sand”….in spite of reading and following the “manual”?

How easy is it, really, to rise out of poverty in this country? It’s brutal, make no mistake.

“We are not Denmark”, thanks to Hillary for stating the obvious….but let’s examine just what Denmark is…it wouldn’t hurt to look…would it? We, as a nation, aren’t too proud to look outside of our borders to see if something good might be happening somewhere else in the world, are we?

The facts are published…Denmark, and all other Scandinavian countries, rate significantly higher than the United States in virtually all criteria that are counted for in the OECD “Quality of Life Index”, and they have been for years. The indicators measured were things like: Education, Leisure and social interaction, Governance and basic rights, Health, General Happiness and well Being, etc..

The United states leads the world in only two categories…% of capita that is incarcerated and defense spending….

And, the “spirit” of America is to aspire to be second to none…God Bless It for that!…….but by confining our search for answers and truth to only the 50 “non” sovereign states…we are pandering to jingoism….and to closed minded “crustiness”

Hillary Clinton, like so many other politicians and ideologues, and status quo merchants, have already ruled out places to look for answers….she, instead, is going to go shuffle the papers a little bit or, even worse, pay lip service to the mounting problems in this country. Being elected President, the first woman ever, may just be enough (for her) to spike the ball in the end zone…but it is too self conscious for me…..give me someone with the lack of “Id” like Bernie Sanders, careful…I didn’t necessarily say “give me Bernie Sanders”…but someone who, recognizing the urgency of our national and social condition, turns his back on his own reflection.

No one is advocating that the United States do anything but “look to” some of the most perennially successful countries to “see what they’ve accomplished”.

Hillary killed that idea before it even got “plated”….and even worse, Anderson Cooper stepped out of his moderator role and told us all that we should dismiss this notion of Sander’s by telling us a thing or two about Denmark…

I have no hope that Hillary Clinton, in spite of her vast qualifications or even her sincere intentions, will do anything to attempt to really change the system of how income is distributed in this country…she will not “take on” Wall Street….she will not attack how money is able to buy elections and power in this country…she will reign over a status quo regime that is different only by gender…women in the White House (as President) is a concept long overdue…but we need, in my opinion, someone who is incorruptible…someone that money can’t buy or influence…someone who is not concerned with legacy.

When you want to improve or be great at anything…you study those who are successful……if you want to play golf like Tiger Woods…you study Tiger Woods…if you want to make the best croissant in the world……you talk to the French…

This is how you “sharpen the spear”. You don’t have to hold onto old paradigms, or look into creaky cupboards for all your answers. Unless we are afraid of change…what are we afraid of?

Hillary Clinton reminds me of Rosa Parks…if Rosa had, instead of refusing to sit at the back of the bus, just (thought) about it….

If that had happened…no one would have ever known who Rosa Parks was…..and that would have been a darn shame.

If you are looking for Rosa Parks....”look at” Bernie Sanders.

My opinions...

Food for Thought...