Let’s Not Be Provincial About Domestic Policy

Watching last night’s Democratic primary debate in New Hampshire made something very clear to me: the guidelines of our current domestic policies are provincial and, as a result, very limiting.

As Bernie Sanders repeated once again that almost every other major developed country in the world practices single-payer healthcare, and that numerous other countries provide free college tuition, I watched Hillary Clinton rev up the reasons why that simply won’t work in the United States. It is the excuse everyone who opposes Bernie’s very admirable ideas uses to dismiss him.

Sanders reiterates in every speech that this isn’t something radical, and he did so again last night. This is common practice in the very prosperous developed nations of the world.

A new report by the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality judged the United States “dead last on many poverty and inequality outcomes when compared with other well-to-do countries.”

Clinton’s response is to be “pragmatic,” to “progress” incrementally. The question is, towards what? The blogger Atrios mentioned that “Liberal solutions to liberal concerns have been taken off the table, replaced at best with conservative solutions to liberal concerns. Serious people know such compromises can get through Congress with a bunch of bipartisanship, until, as always, Lucy pulls the football away. And even when conservative solutions are proposed (tax credits! insurance exchanges! incentives!), they’re a Rube Goldberg mess that people have to fight for constantly.” This obviously references our healthcare system, but it could just as easily reference our economic policies, our social safety net and our election laws, among others.

The point is, something — our culture of exceptionalism, our xenophobia, whatever — prohibits us from looking at other countries and saying, “Yeah, that’s working, and we should do that, too!” You can just hear the roar of disapproval from the nationalists and plutocrats: “BUT THIS IS AMERICA! WE’RE THE GREATEST NATION ON EARTH!”

Except that we’re not. In fact, we’re pretty much a hot mess right now.

I’m not saying that the country is doing worse than it was 7 years ago, nor am I saying that our economy is in a shambles or that we’re the laughingstock of the international community, blah blah blah. Republican talking points are hyperbolic nationalism. Ignore that. However, do pay attention to how we treat our citizens in terms of equality, the original American value. (You know, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”)

A new report by the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality judged the United States “dead last on many poverty and inequality outcomes when compared with other well-to-do countries.”

“This year’s report, issued today, examines how the U.S. is faring relative to other well- off countries. Written by some of the world’s leading experts on poverty and inequality, the report includes data on poverty, employment, income and wealth inequality, economic mobility, educational outcomes, health inequality and residential segregation.

The research shows that, among the well-off countries for which comprehensive evidence is available, the U.S. has the lowest overall ranking, a result that arises in part because the U.S. brings up the rear in safety net performance, income inequality and wealth inequality. When the comparison set is expanded to include other less well-off countries, America still ranks 18th (out of 21 countries), with only Spain, Estonia and Greece scoring worse.”

When it came to “prime-age employment,” the U.S. ranked 8th out of 10 for women and 9th out of 10 for men. Only Spain fared worse on both measures.

In terms of economic mobility, the U.S. ranked 8th out of 10.

In terms of health equality, states such as Alabama and Kentucky have levels that compare to “post-Soviet-bloc countries like Bulgaria, Estonia and Latvia.”

In terms of college expense and affordability, the Global Higher Education Rankings in 2010 ranked the United States thirteenth out of 15 developed countries, edging out only Japan and Mexico. The percent of median income that education cost students in the U.S. is over 51%. In nations such as Denmark and Germany, that percentage is less than 5% of median income. In other words, the cost of education in the United States is more than half what median workers earn each year. This is not exceptional. This is not great.

These are issues that Bernie Sanders has mentioned over and over, of course. He has raised the example of Denmark as one we should seriously emulate. In response, Hillary Clinton patriotically responded, “We’re not Denmark. We’re the United States of America!” That response was no less nationalistic than the more dismissive craziness of her Republican peers Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and it stifles realistic consideration. I imagine it was meant to.

Greatness adapts to improve the lives of its citizens. Mediocrity repeats slogans and leaves its citizens to suffer.

Adopting a truly global perspective is not un-patriotic. The United States was founded by immigrants seeking refuge from religious and political repression. It was built on the idea that innovation, like electricity, cars, airplanes, and personal computers should be rewarded, no matter who comes up with it. We have adapted ideas from other countries proudly in the past. Our culture, our language, our population is a pastiche of the best from all over the planet. You can’t even get into this country without being exceptional, either by meeting legal visa standards or by heroic and life-risking efforts to infiltrate our borders. (Yes, even our undocumented immigrants show incredible ingenuity and courage.)

So, when it comes to improving our efforts at inequality, we should not be so proud and stubborn that we ignore what obviously works better. It is not un-American. It is not a betrayal of our heritage. Our founding fathers and so many of our leaders through the centuries have been brilliant people. They were not dismissive of change or adaptation. It’s time we realized that being provincial about these issues only worsens the condition of equality in our country. Greatness adapts to improve the lives of its citizens. Mediocrity repeats slogans and leaves its citizens to suffer. We are better, and smarter, than that.