First: I don't think the question should be, "can we be exactly like Denmark." Obviously, the answer to that is no. And it should be no. Nobody should try to be exactly like anybody else, whether persons or countries. I think the question is: can we be more like Denmark, in ways that we'd like? And there I'm sure the answer is yes. I think more free basic health care in schools is a great example of something wonderful that we can do, that fits well with Bernie's demand of expanding "Medicare for all."
Second, it's far from obvious why the size of Denmark's population is particularly relevant. Third, I think the "homogeneous" thing should be interrogated. When people say we can't be like northern Europe because they're more homogeneous, aren't they saying that we have black people and we're racist so we can't have as much social solidarity as they have? Isn't that just the sort of thing that we want to explode? Fourth: if we're not trying to be exactly like Denmark, at least as a "transitional program," if you will, then we don't have to have their steeply progressive taxation. Not that I'm against it, but we don't have to get to Paradise in one jump. We could start by increasing taxes on the top 1% and top 0.1% of the income distribution. As the New York Times pointed out, that would raise a lot of money with which we could do a lot of things to get rid of poverty and make the people on the bottom 60% of the income distribution a lot better off. Robert Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org [email protected] (202) 448-2898 x1 On Fri, Oct 23, 2015 at 11:39 AM, Anthony D'Costa <[email protected] > wrote: > Denmark is certainly an interesting case. Two things we liked were public > transportation and dental care for kids. All schools in the basement or > somewhere next to the school had dental facilities for all kids in the > school based on your yearly appointments. It was mass service like a > conveyor belt but efficient and effective. Healthcare was universal a real > plus but never tested the system for serious stuff. That said will > Americans be willing to pay 40 plus % average taxes with marginal rates > 70%? And 5 million very homogeneous population may have some bearing on > policy agenda. > > > xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > Anthony P. D'Costa, Chair & Professor of Contemporary Indian Studies > Australia India Institute and School of Social & Political Sciences > University of Melbourne, 147-149 Barry Street, Carlton VIC 3053, AUSTRALIA > Ph: +61 3 9035 6161 <+61%203%209035%206161> > > Visit the Australia India Institute Website http://www.aii.unimelb.edu.au/ > <https://owa.unimelb.edu.au/owa/redir.aspx?C=KGdpeyp6YEyjUaiENKoAtx8nOn9uStAIlCVtCNE3uLxqkGIwkWdEYjJXILfPlddrM0Q1713syQQ.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.aii.unimelb.edu.au%2f> > > *New: *After-Development Dynamics (on South Korea) > http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780198729433.do > > *Forthcoming Book: **http://www.tandf.net/books/details/9780415564953/ > <http://www.tandf.net/books/details/9780415564953/>* > *New Book Series (Dynamics of Asian Development)* > > *http://www.springer.com/series/13342 > <http://www.springer.com/series/13342>* > xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > > > > Sent from my iPad > > On Oct 23, 2015, at 10:06, Robert Naiman <[email protected]> > wrote: > > I'm not sure that I agree with the critique though, as a practical matter, > even though I think the dialogue is intrinsically very positive, and it's a > wonderful thing for people like Foner to take advantage of any opportunity > to talk about US radical history and insist that others do so. > > I think talking about Denmark might actually be more relevant to the > matter at hand than what happened in the US in the 1890s. > > It's more relevant, arguably, to talking about health care for all. It's > more relevant, arguably, to talking about family and medical leave. > > Western Europe made a choice after World War II to have capitalism without > having poverty. The United States made a different choice. We can revisit > that choice. The fact that Western Europe made that choice and lived to > tell the tale is a key fact that we should compel people in the US to > grapple with. > > > > > > Robert Naiman > Policy Director > Just Foreign Policy > www.justforeignpolicy.org > [email protected] > (202) 448-2898 x1 > > On Thu, Oct 22, 2015 at 4:26 PM, Robert Naiman < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> I love this. I hope it inspires a thousand more pieces like it. >> >> >> >> Robert Naiman >> Policy Director >> Just Foreign Policy >> www.justforeignpolicy.org >> [email protected] >> (202) 448-2898 x1 >> >> On Thu, Oct 22, 2015 at 4:18 PM, Marv Gandall <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> >>> http://www.thenation.com/article/how-bernie-sanders-should-talk-about-democratic-socialism/ >>> _______________________________________________ >>> pen-l mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l >>> >> >> > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > >
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