“We are not Denmark,” Hillary Clinton famously declared at the first Democratic primary debate on Oct. 13. But while the remark elicited a combination of laughter and applause from the debate audience, it also raised an interesting question for many Americans: Should we be Denmark?

During the Democratic debate we witnessed repeated calls for universal health care, paid maternity leave, and affordable college education. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, railed at Republicans for demonizing big government: “We should not be paralyzed by the Republicans and their constant refrain, ‘big government this, big government that,’ except for what they want to impose on the American people.” The US can afford government programs, Clinton insisted. “I know we can afford [paid leave] because we’re going to make the wealthy pay for it.”

You mean, like Denmark? While the “victor” of the debates continues to be a hotly debated question, it appears that the real winner may have been socialism ITSELF.

A 2011 Pew Research survey found that, among voters under the age of thirty, 49% have a positive view of socialism. And Sanders seems to think more voters will take this view once they understand what socialism really is.

This call to action is what sets Sanders apart most noticeably from the other candidates. They talk about how they will lead and create change; he calls on Americans to be the change themselves through the sheer force of participation. It’s a call that carries an unmistakably ethical edge. Participation in this sense is the ethical obligation of democratic citizens; apathy, a kind of moral degeneracy.