American exceptionalism, the belief that the U.S. stands unique among all the world's nations,

a shining city on the hill, as Ronald Reagan put it, and while someone the left might be tempted to

poo-poo that notion, in some ways it is indisputably true. Take maternal mortality, for instance.

Between 1991 and 2014, bucking just about every international trend,

the maternal mortality rate in the United States more than doubled.

The US has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world.

In fact, we rank lower than countries like Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, and Saudi Arabia.

And if we break that down by ethnicity,

the numbers are even starker.

According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention, African American, Native American, and Alaska

Native women are about three times more likely to die from pregnancy related

complications than white women. In Louisiana, 72 black women will die for every 100,000 live

birds. According to World Bank rankings, that puts us right between Syria, a

country in the midst of a devastating civil war,

in Kyrgyzstan, which has a GDP per capita of about $1,200.

America, sweetie, we can do better.

This is here.

This is here the burn a podcast about the people ideas and politics that are

driving the Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign

and the movement to secure a dignified life

for everyone living in this country.

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