WHERE TO INVADE NEXT IGNORES HAWAIʽI, WHICH WAS INVADED BY THE USA IN 1893
Michael Moore decided to shame the United States by going across the Atlantic to find where life is better, but in most instances he discovered what already exists in the Aloha State. He begins by praising Italy’s paid leave policy, though in Hawaiʽi there is twelve weeks of leave for serious health conditions, bonding with a new child, or preparation for a family member’s military service; more leave is available for employees who need to care for a family member. Similar to his former Sicko (2007), he celebrates free health care in some European countries, whereas universal health care started in 1974 in the Fiftieth State, with employers matching contributions by employees until retirement. In Iceland, he learns that a bank run by women survives while the other two banks, run by men, failed during the Great Recession of 2008/09, and a woman was elected prime minister. Yet no bank in the Aloha State then failed, though when “thrift” institutions collapsed during the savings & loan crisis of 1983, the Hawaiʽi legislature bailed out the investors, not the “thrifts.” And besides, a woman was named premier of the kingdom in 1818. In Germany, Moore notes that young people are taught about the Holocaust, whereas American children learn very little about slavery or what happened to the native peoples of North America. But in the Aloha State, the American military overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaiʽi in 1893 (contrary to international law according to the American president at the time) is well known to everyone, and the kingdom’s flag still flies over ʽIolani Palace. In Norway, Moore finds that there is no death penalty, and he notes that Michigan did so in 1846; but Norway abolished the death penalty in 1979, and Hawaiʽi was the first country to do so in 1830. In France, Moore finds gourmet meals served at elementary schools, whereas the Fiftieth State is famous for the “mixed plate,” in which three different cuisines are placed on a single plate. Portugal does not conduct a “war against drugs” and has little crime, whereas local enforcement of anti-drug laws in the Islands is minimal, and there is little violent crime. Women have equal rights in the new Tunisia, but Hawaiʽi adopted an equal pay law (1957), allowed legal abortion (1970), and a constitutional amendment guaranteeing equal rights for women (1971)—all before the rest of the United States and without a women’s rights movement. Nevertheless, Moore scores a lot of points where Hawaiʽi and the other forty-nine states could improve—free college tuition (Slovenia), no standardized tests or long sessions for school children (Finland), humane prison conditions and short sentences for incarceration (Norway), and less than a 40-hour work week (Germany). On several occasions, throughout Moore’s film, interviewers are asked where they got such progressive ideas, and they respond “the United States.” The ban on “cruel and unusual punishment,” after all, was first stated in the Constitution of the United States, and Norway’s interpretation of the law provides for condo-quality unlocked single prison cells, believing that good treatment in confinement hastens the process of rehabilitation. But why did Moore cross the Atlantic when he could have crossed the Pacific? Obviously, he was trying to shame the fifty states into realizing that the American political system has fallen far behind other industrial democracies. Some reviewers believe that he engaged in cardstacking, selecting individuals to provide more facts rather than authoritative officials. Next time, he might find advances in Asia, especially in regard to educational attainments. But why has he neglected Hawaiʽi? He can still make a documentary to shame the other forty-nine states. However, he must first overcome the prejudice within the continental United States toward the non-White people that make up more than half of the population. Maybe that would be a part of his next documentary. MH