When I accepted a Fulbright Postgraduate Scholarship to study in Australia, I did not know exactly what to expect, having no experience with the land of kangaroos and koalas, nor any graduate-level training in history. The wonderful experience has brought many surprises, on which I will perhaps write more someday, but two of the most unanticipated and stark came so closely on each other’s heels that I felt compelled to reflect a bit. On Sunday and Wednesday I attended events on Indian culture and democracy, organized by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and the Indian High Commission, respectively. Over the course of Monday and Tuesday I watched Michael Moore’s film Fahrenheit 11/9.[1]

The contrast between the tones of these two experiences was as sharp as the unexpected parallels in their topic. The reason for the Indian celebration was Republic Day, a commemoration of the creation of the Indian Constitution. While I (and my Australian hosts) expected an extensive presentation of Indian culture – exemplified by food and dancing – we also received several speeches focused on the institutions that currently order the sub-continent.

His Excellency, the High Commissioner from India to Australia, Dr. A.M. Gondane set the tone for the event with his extemporaneous call for the Indians in the crowd to “Claim your inheritance!” The High Commissioner encouraged his audience that the previous generations had worked and achieved meaningful progress in democracy and capitalism that had opened new horizons for achievement and well-being. As a result, the opportunities for Indians were portrayed as greater than ever before, growing, and calling forth the best efforts in the people of India, both at home and abroad.

This perspective was reinforced in the more academic atmosphere of Wednesday’s conference, hosted by the Crawford School at the Australian National University. The recent accomplishments in Indian national development, including increasing access to electricity and banking, anti-corruption measures and statistics, and increasing public sector cooperation led one scholar to remark that, in India, “there is no party, governance is only governance.” As a result, India has seen a 15% reduction in the poverty rate from 2001 to 2011, bringing the population to 73% confidence in the government, an internationally outstanding result.

* Fahrenheit 11/9 Spoiler Alert *

By contrast, Fahrenheit 11/9 pictures an America gone disastrously wrong. The publicly immoral figure of Donald Trump has achieved sole leadership of the nation only because of a cancerous rotting of institutions. The media fails to present the incontrovertible fact that America is, at heart, a joyously progressive country beaten down by elites. The leaders of the Democratic Party would prefer to lose elections and therefore actively work to remove the promising young idealists from electoral ballots and defeat Bernie Sanders through super-delegates. The state and local officials of American democracy, such as Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, are in the pocket of big corporations, intentionally choosing to poison citizens while preserving cronies’ car-parts. The federal government offers bullets instead of backing.

Worse, these problems with America are largely institutional, not temporary. The ability of America’s Constitution to promote human flourishing and prevent abominable tyrannies is depicted as a worn-out deception. Rather, the machinery of the Electoral College prevents the voice of the people from being heard. The Second Amendment and the current system of campaign finance create an environment where schoolchildren are massacred. These problems are portrayed by Michael Moore as failures of democracy, easily remediable if only the virtuous, left-leaning masses could have their way. To the historian in the audience tempted to respond that the American founders knew what they were doing and enacted restrictions on democracy for a reason, Moore simply disagrees, intoning severely that “The America I want to save is the America we never had.”

Of course, the sharp contrast between this perspective and that of the Indian officials and scholars is clear. The High Commissioner stated that “for us in India, democracy has actually delivered,” arguing that India was uniquely successful due to its system built by remarkably wise founders, followed by statesmen who “developed according to our own genius” India’s democratic framework. The conclusion for Indians was that “Inheritors of this legacy have all the obligations and duty to protect, preserve, sustain, and further develop and enhance democracy.” As Indian democracy is still in progress, focusing on flaws would be like a man who cannot see beyond his own nose, missing the strong, growing sinews of muscle under skin-deep imperfections, in the High Commissioner’s perspective.

Naturally, as a researcher, I followed up these divergent experiences with a bit of quick investigator in the CIA World Factbook, which provided the statistics summarized here.

These basic facts about India and the United States are puzzling in light of the sharply contrasting messages presented by Michael Moore in Fahrenheit 11/9 and the Indian scholars and officials at the events I attended. Americans live longer, make more money, and spend much more of it on themselves today than Indians. India also lags behind on providing access to numerous types of digital and health infrastructure compared to America. Now, this is not to criticize India in any way – the eminent scholars I listened to made a clear and persuasive argument that India’s rapid and recent improvement across many of these categories indicates the rise of a sleeping giant. As one speaker said of India’s achievements, “when you put a music box next to a sleeper, they won’t immediately start to dance. They have to rise and stretch first.”

Nevertheless, the apocalyptic tone of Fahrenheit 11/9 appears quite short-sighted in this context. While Michael Moore may not be contented with saving the America that we have, no doubt the over 1 billion citizens of India are eagerly seeking to achieve such conditions of prosperity and progress – and they are already happy with what they have accomplished.

Now, I don’t intend to indict Michael Moore alone on this count. Indeed, in Fahrenheit 11/9, there are some scenes including clearly conservative individuals noting the impending need for a revolution given the disasters in American political economy. This sentiment, while one familiar to me from across the political spectrum in the United States, simply appears pessimistic at best and uninformed at worst.

The Indian leaders and academics, only 70 years removed from the establishment of their nation, reminded me of the thinkers in early 19^th century America, such as Daniel Webster. A man who made his reputation through speaking at 4^th of July celebrations, Webster evinced a deep respect for American traditions and institutions throughout his career, to the point of even resisting annexation of territory gained in the Mexican-American War for fear that it would warp the republic instituted by the wisdom of the Founders. The hope and passion that flowed through the words of the Indian High Commissioner mirrored Webster’s natural joy in the nation of his birth.

As seen, this willingness to appreciate one’s political and economic surroundings is not mainly tied to facts. If, then, it is primarily an orientation of the heart, I can only hope that more Americans adopt the combination of beliefs and attitudes the Indian citizens demonstrated. The initial celebration I attended was a wonderful expression of authentic, unspoiled, unrestrained national enthusiasm that I deeply enjoyed, despite my lacking much of the knowledge and cultural background that would have been helpful in understanding the nuances of each song, speech, and dance. It would be ideal if I didn’t have to travel across the Pacific Ocean for such an experience. But I’m probably just being senselessly dissatisfied.

[1] This piece should not be taken as a review of Fahrenheit 11/9. That would require much more focused and in-depth treatment. Overall, I should make clear that I found parts of it shocking and informative, with other sections disagreeable and confusing. In the first category falls, for example, the sections on the incredible trials experienced by the people of Flint Michigan. In the latter category, for instance, comes Moore’s enthusiastic promotion of radical, revolutionary actions and statements by teachers unions and Parkland students alongside his emphatic use of history as a valuable source of guidance for restrained political action, interpreting Trump as a parallel of or ideological descendant from Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party.

[2] Subtracting the Capital Account Balance, approximately +3% of GDP in both countries according to Current Account estimates.