Bernie Sanders, on a recent visit to Canada, made this point: “…how a country chooses to provide health care… [shows] its core values as a nation.”

Canadians proudly agree; in fact, many Canadians believe they have a constitutional guarantee to government-funded health care. Although no such right is explicit, universal access to health care is treated by the Federal government as essential to the people’s right to “liberty and security of the person.” Canadians overwhelmingly believe in universal health care, perhaps because they value fairness, inclusion, and economic security. Some would add “because it works.”

What, then, of the enshrined American right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?” What if the U.S. health care system similarly protected its people’s rights? Would that not be a practical expression of American values?

I began drafting this through Bernie’s lens:

Grossly unequal access to health care in the U.S. is a violation of core American values.

To support this position, I’d simply define what these values are, then point out the obvious contradictions.

As you’ll see, it didn’t turn out so well.

American values

What are American values? What makes Americans different from people of other nations? While sources abound, I’ll reference The Values Americans Live By, an excellent distillation published in 1984 by the Washington International Center as part of a guide for international visitors. I’ve identified eight key values from a slightly longer original list, paraphrasing their descriptions. Notably, the author points out that Americans see these as very positive, even though in other cultures they might be perceived as undesirable.

• Change over tradition. Change is good, linked to development, improvement, progress, growth.
• Equality. From the list of American values, this is the one baked into the Constitution.
• Individualism. Rugged or not. And the expectation of privacy that follows.
• Self-help. We take credit for what we accomplish, not for the status we inherit.
• Personal control. We can forge current beauty into future power.
• Prioritization of self-interests. Competition over cooperation, free enterprise over socialism.
• An orientation towards individual action; call it the American work ethic.
• Materialism over spirituality. Perhaps “things” are the ultimate manifestation of American values.

Hoping to contrast these values with today’s “pay to play” reality of health care in the U.S., I came up empty-handed.

With the possible exception of equality (while realizing that the definition of equality has many facets), these American values do very little to support my (or Bernie’s) belief in and hope for universal health care. In fact, they can more easily be construed as supporting exactly the opposite – that each individual must earn access to health care or be cast aside as un-American.

Is an American, based on these values, simply a worshipper of the self? Surely there must be more.

Christian values

Values specify not only what you believe, but also show why you believe. Since many Americans claim this is a Christian nation, I thought I’d attempt to align these American values (the “what”) with what could be their underlying Christian values (the “why”).

(I’m admittedly underqualified to define, or interpret, Christian values – but I think I know them when I see them! And I know, or have known, many fully qualified professionals in the field. So I’m not a complete novice.)

I chose this short list of Christian values from Ethos, the Australian Evangelical Alliance Centre for Christianity and Society. These are loosely defined as the “top 8” (most significant) Christian (demonstrated through Christ) biblical (derived from scripture) social values. Again, I’ve paraphrased their descriptions:

• Grace – Giving people more than they deserve irrespective of the cause of their need.
• Hope – a conviction that God is always present, a belief in the future, a preparing to take risks.
• Faith - the means to real depth in relationships, a commitment to love, mercy, justice and compassion.
• Love – means to love the unlovely; it is contrary to all selfish, self-centered attitudes.
• Justice – for all (not ‘just-me’), a concept biased in favor of the disadvantaged.
• Joy – an essential social value derived in part from participating in positive social change.
• Service – meaning is found in service rather than self-centeredness.
• Peace – positive well-being, bringing peace as a social good.

Alignment? Not so much.

It seems abundantly clear that these core Christian values fully support – demand – a more equitable society in general, a more equal health care system in particular; you don’t need to be the Pope to make that claim. At the same time, they also seem diametrically opposed to American values, a contrast I won’t pretend to understand.

So who are we Americans? Or more importantly, given the intersecting values of personal control over, and hope for, the future, who will we become? Do we face a fate of increasingly self-centered individualism? The demise of even a pretense to American exceptionalism? Or do we look for a kind of universal grace, a Christian-like (not Christian-exclusive) social justice and peace?

I’m not suggesting religion in general, or Christianity in particular, is the answer to the health care question; in fact, a significantly smaller percentage of Canadians (67%) identify as Christian than do Americans (83%). I’m just wondering where Americans get their values.