In fairness to America, I can think of at least one other nation that also has some arrogant and intolerant voices eager to silence those who oppose their vision of society…
Fine (eyeroll), for “muzzles”, substitute “ignores”, though “muzzles” is fine in the sense of reducing their metaphorical political bite.
Well, no, why would we want to? It’s not that I have anything against the USA, but it’s a different country, and things have worked very well for a couple of centuries this way.
Well, except of course for the fact that Canada is still so tragically Canadian.
I recall the (probably apocryphal) story of how Maclean’s ran a contest to complete the phrase “As Canadian as . . .” and the winner was, “As Canadian as possible under the circumstances.”
There’s a long tradition in the US of assuming that everybody wants to be a part of it, and it’s just their misfortune that they’re not.
And immigration-pressure reinforces that.
Banking is entirely a matter of federal jurisdiction in Canada, not a mixture of state regulation with a federal overlay. The federal government has consistently taken a strong regulatory approach. Banks in Canada don’t fail.
Will you please annex us?! Under the Canadian Constitution, forget that 1789 thing.
And this is a problem how?
Forget health care and French and the metric system; I would suggest that one of the ways we differ from you is in fear. We don’t fear our neighbours, so we don’t need guns. We don’t fear our banks collapsing; we have put safeguards in place so they don’t. We don’t fear terrorism, so we don’t make you take your shoes off at the airport checkpoint. (And yes, we have suffered terrorism at the hands of the FLQ in 1970, long before the US ever did.)
But look at the US. Parents fear that their children will become the prey of pedophiles–hence, helicopter parenting. Travellers fear that they will end up in a plane piloted by suicidal Muslims–hence the TSA. Security guards fear that the homes in their care are under attack–hence the Zimmerman killing of Martin. Hell, you make the citizens of your oldest friend and longtime ally show passports at your border, though you went through a hundred years of never needing such things–because suddenly and without reason, you are afraid that Canadians might be terrorists. In short, you are afraid of everything, and all the lip service you pay to concepts such as “liberty” and “freedom” are subservient to “security.” The liberties and freedoms granted by your own Fourth Amendment to your Constitution are violated daily by the TSA, but that’s okay, because it makes you “secure.” :rolleyes:
Give your head a shake, America. At this point, you are no better than the old Soviet Union was: let’s tell our populace that they are constantly under attack from people who will do them harm. Let’s throw up walls, and tell our population that the walls are for their protection. Let’s tell the population that any non-domestic news source is questionable. Let’s play up the patriotism aspect, fly flags, and denigrate those who do not.
Seriously, you think any Canadian province, or Canadians themselves, would willingly sign on for that? As I said, America, give your head a shake. Unlike you, Canadians don’t fear.
Well said Spoons… 100% spot-on. I am American but have lived overseas for 10 years. I see this every time I return to the US. The “land of the free” has become the “land of the paranoid”.
That actually did happen, but it was a contest on a CBC radio show in the early 70s.
Another nit-pick of the OP:
I grew up on the border to New Brunswick; I assure you you would get thousands and thousands of new citizens who have never spoken anything but French their entire life. Northern New Brunswick is essentially Quebec-East.
Perhaps NB, Maine, Vermont, etc. could all apply to join the EU.
Yes, this might get a bit awkward. The US is already discontinuous on land (some areas are inaccessible from the rest of the country except by air, sea, or Canada). Imagine the mess if NS and PEI suddenly find themselves cut off. I don’t even think there is a land connection between NS and PEI, only a ferry, so travel between them is now a hassle. So you’d have an awkward situation where if J. Random Haligonian needs to get to Charlottetown for a meeting, he has to choose between flying, taking the ferry, or driving into the USA in order to make it to the only bridge to PEI.
+1
Yeah, some of my fellow citizens are a bunch of raving fucking loons, but somebody has to stay here and try to make them see reason. But would I still have a nice, Canadian heart if I moved there and wanted a pistol so I could take up target shooting, without my neighbors being afraid of me?
IIRC, you did. You signed on for the Cold War just like everybody else in NATO. Was it really any different for you? Serious question. Was there never any Red-Scare paranoia in Canada all those years?
Because, among other things, it leaves you so insecure you can’t take a bit of joking.
To the best of my knowledge, not to the extent there was in the United States. There was no McCarthyism, with blacklists and unfounded allegations. There was no fear of those who had simply joined a political party whose policies they liked–Communist Party members have been elected to Parliament; though admittedly, they did so under the name of a different party (see, e.g. Fred Rose, who was elected as a member of the Labour Progressives, but was a Communist). There was a Royal Commission in the wake of the Gouzenko affair; and arrests of suspected Soviet spies (and some subsequent convictions; among them, Fred Rose); but overall, life went on as normal.
If there was a fear, it was in being collateral damage if the Soviets launched a nuclear strike at the United States. With the majority of Canadians living close to the border (then as now), worries about fallout and misguided bombs were real. Or, perhaps the Soviets had also targeted us, as members of NATO.
Either way, nobody worried or cared much about what political loyalties anybody else had. Heck, even today, the Communist Party of Canada and the Marxist-Leninists run candidates in federal elections, as both parties have for years; and nobody worries about the government falling to a Communist takeover.