H O W A R D S B E N D

Every four  years, we hear the Republican presidential candidate promise to make America great again and to restore America’s respect around the world. Every four years, the Democratic presidential candidate promises to restore the opportunities for the middle class and to improve the quality of life for all Americans. These vague campaign promises are re-hashed rhetorical pledges from previous campaigns and only present to the voting public an abstract view of what goals and policies the new president might enact.  We are left to speculate on a greater America or on an America with more equal opportunities.

This year the campaign ideas and promises of one candidate are presented in a concrete vivid image presented on the magnificent technicolor wide-screen at your local movie theater.  Coincidently or not so coincidently, Michael Moore and Bernie Sanders have a similar vision for America and Michael Moore’s latest movie “Where to Invade Next” happens to hit the wide-screen as Bernie travels America promoting his vision for America during this current presidential campaign season.

Bernie talks of free tuition for public universities as a right for all Americans.  Moore takes his film crew to Slovenia and them Germany demonstrating that free college is a right in many European countries.  Kids go to college and university in these countries without accumulating the tens of thousands of dollars of debt needed to complete a degree at an American college.  These European universities are beautiful, well-staffed with highly qualified professors and filled with students receiving a top-notch college education.

Bernie talks of raising the minimum wage and treating workers more fairly.  Moore takes us to two European factories, one in Italy and one in Norway, where we see workers in comfortable factory settings getting two hour lunch breaks and receiving anywhere from six to eight weeks of paid vacation not including time for maternity  leave or time for personal leave including time at magnificent spas located in a beautiful countryside for mental health recovery all paid for by the government.  We meet the factory owners who claim that their workers’ well-being is as important to them as bottom line earnings.

Moore again takes us to Italy to see how removing the criminality of drug use and offering well funded government  drug rehabilitation has almost eliminated drug crimes and has led to a country in which drug usage has in fact dropped significantly.  Of course, the incarceration rate in that country is well below the rate of incarceration in our own country.  Moore then takes us on a tour of the Norwegian prisons where we see inmates treated as human beings and working to re-integrate back into society.  This re-integration includes education programs, job training and a level of independence all needed for their return to society.  Of course it is no surprise, but the rate of return to  prison for these prisoners is a fraction of this same rate here in the US.

Moore does not touch on universal healthcare in this movie, but it only takes a minute to find “Sicko” to see the benefits to individuals getting free access to healthcare and to see how the costs of providing healthcare to all have lowered the per capital spending on healthcare for the country as a whole.

Many pundits argue that Bernie’s programs are unrealistic and way too expensive for our society to afford.  We hear that Bernie is a “dreamer” but lacks the the specifics for his programs. We hear roar Bernie’s promises will cost trillions of dollars and bankrupt the country.  Well, I say, go see Michael Moore’s new movie and see Bernie’s vision for America brought to you in beautiful technicolor on a wide screen at you neighborhood theater.