"The Mayo Clinic" documentary

Tuned in by accident to documentarian Ken Burns' latest depiction last night and found my heart engaged as no politician -- Republican or Democrat -- can manage. "The Mayo Clinic" was, in my eye, an example of why and how America can be great, despite all political posturing. Bottom line: Watch it. Ads and all, here is what I hope is the link to the film.

Republicans have failed in their promise to "repeal and replace" America's health care system, settling instead for Donald Trump's money-oriented chipping away at "Obamacare." Democrats have waxed enthusiastic about "healthcare for all" but their remarks are always freighted with attempts to claim some high and compassionate and better ground. Both are tiresome. "The Mayo Clinic," whatever its failings, points a way towards what actually makes America great -- decency and kindness and "the patient comes first."

Doctors at the clinic, the documentary asserts, could be making "ten times their current salary" by working elsewhere. But they don't work elsewhere. Instead, they work in a collaborative atmosphere that is repeatedly proven by the looks on patients' faces and by their words. And far from going belly-up, the clinic has done nothing but grow -- providing health care and scientific breakthroughs and a model of what is decent and indeed great about America. A man like Donald Trump will never understand such greatness, but that doesn't mean the rest of us can't.

The two hour presentation may be a bit top-heavy on praise-for-Caesar, but whatever puffery exists is offset by actual-factual results, I think. Yes, it is light on failures and mistakes, but it makes up for it and then some. Despite Republicans, despite Democrats, despite big-name clients like the Dalai Lama and John McCain and Tom Brokaw, it feels good to praise a really-great America.