There’s also some benefit to us being stuck right next to you. On a purely commercial level, you could overwhelm our native TV stations. Having the CBC not being entirely dependent on advertising revenue allows us to have a purely Canadian voice that’s not subject to the whims of the market.
These days, the CBC does have some serious detractors, but in previous decades, there was a broad consensus that having something the US couldn’t just overwhelm was of benefit to the nation.
You joke, but Hockey Night in Canada was one of the CBCs biggest shows, that literally brought people together from all over the country to watch the same games at the same time. You could almost use its theme song as an alternative national anthem, and most people wouldn’t mind.
Joke’s on you - I’m a Millennial. My generation can’t afford to own land.
Donald Trump’s paranoid fantasies notwithstanding, voter fraud is pretty much nonexistent with voting by mail. Every ballot is unique and accountable for, so it’s not like you can just go to the library and print off a bunch of them, and your signature on the ballot is checked against your signature on file when the ballot is received to ensure that it’s your mark. (I once had to fill out some paperwork because the way I sign my name had changed since I registered and my signature on my ballot that year didn’t look like the one on file.)
Interesting. The summaries I could find quickly did not explain why two justices reversed themselves from their own previous opinions; my presumption is that the two cases were judged differently based on hair-splitting technicalities rather than the broader issue of the Pledge of Allegiance. More detailed info would be appreciated.
Introduce a bill authorizing the federal government to outbid all the major networks for the Super Bowl, then air the game ad-free. Natural breaks in the game would instead be filled with fun videos covering basic civics lessons most Americans seem to have forgotten, and you wouldn’t be able to fast-forward through them.
Well there is an institution over in the Old Dart called the BBC which has it’s Royal BBC Charter and is as independent as the Bank of England. They sink the boot into the guys who fund them as deemed appropriate and dominate the UK media market.
On this side of the puddle is the ABC, which also has statutory independence, but is not as dominant, though over 70% of Australians watch, read or listen to the ABC each week.
I seriously had no idea state-funded networks were still so popular these days with all the competition on TV and the web. Our Big 3 networks used to reach 90% or more Americans, but their reach and influence has been crushed this century.
Do you think Canada is better in this regard. We used to have two independent English language newspapers in Montreal. Now we have one and it is run from Toronto and filled with all the Conservative Trudeau-bashing that they can find. Not that Trudeau doesn’t deserve a lot of it but can Rabbitskin (Poilievre) be an improvement?
Of course it is, absolutely no comparison! The problems with your examples are twofold.
They’re coloured by some of the unique aspects of living in Quebec, which includes a lot of nonsense stemming from French cultural paranoia, like anti-English legislation and a certain amount of anti-Muslim bullshit that crops up once in a while. Surprisingly, it also includes some strong conservative sentiment despite being at heart a rather social province. Remember the ill-fated Sun News Network I mentioned earlier? That was at under the ownership of Quebecor, which at the time owned Sun Media, and was run by the right-wing lunatic and sovereignist Pierre Karl Péladeau. But …
In the large scheme of things, the stuff you mention is just small potatoes. Canada has nothing like Trump and JD Vance and I trust we never will. We have nothing like the divisiveness and violence of the US. We have a Supreme Court that actually rules on the basis of law and has never been viewed as political.
If I may junior-mod a bit, the thread isn’t about Canadian media; it’s about what people would do if they could get any American policies/laws passed of their choice. Although I definitely see how America imitating Canada’s media laws would be an improvement.
Yes, that last bit was a digression. But the reason that media came up – specifically, the importance of well-funded public broadcasting, and the importance of responsible journalism in all media – public, private, broadcast, cable, print, or electronic – is that an informed populace is essential to democracy. Further, the quality of a democracy (that is, how well it serves the people) is directly proportional to how well-informed the populace is.
Poorly informed voters are a direct threat to democracy, and lead to it potentially being weakened and eventually obliterated, replaced by a plutocracy of commercial interests or the tyranny of authoritarianism or both. The US is well on its way. Such a system may preserve the illusion of democracy by maintaining a voting system, but at that point it’s largely symbolic. Trump is already plotting numerous different schemes to “win” the election even if he loses. It’s been going on for the last four years.
And add a 53rd “state” for Electoral College purposes for everyone not in a state or DC and PR.
I would work towards Federalism. Any Federal law that does not clearly fall under Congress’ enumerated rights or protecting people’s rights in the Amendments are repealed.
Send to the states an amendment to establish the Supreme Court as 9 justices with staggered 18 year terms (no reappointment) with an appointment every 2 years. President gets a bonus appointment upon death, resignation &c. A Justice appointed to Chief Justice fills out their term, not the former CJ’s. Senate must vote on the appointment within 60 days to reject.
Amnesty most undocumented residents. Increase immigration quotas so farmers and lawn mowing companies and other employers with labor shortages can hire needed staff without resorting to undocumented workers. Without any job prospects, unauthorized immigration attempts would become much less common, but I would somewhat increase enforcement at that time.
Overhaul taxation to reduce both deficits and intergenerational wealth transfer AKA starting on third base. (Purple Tax Plan.)
Enact universal health care with competing insurers — go with a system like Germany or the Netherlands, not Canada or Britain.
Adopt a somewhat more hawkish Ukraine policy:
I’m not sure what to do about climate — but more then now.
Education reforms to improve schooling for the poor.
All above I like more than monkeying with the system of government. Changing it will have unpredictable results.
I can see all of those but “Prohibit employers from firing employees for off-the-job drug use.”. For certain professions- Law enforcement, Air Traffic controllers, etc, I dont want to see them coming to work high.
Nope. The USA is not Western Europe. We never have been and never will be.
IF Puerto Rico votes to become a state.
Yes, Moscow Mitch already got rid of the Filibuster for SCOTUS nominees.
Yep.
Nope, 70%.
And Capital gains is ordinary income (offset by losses). Social Security and Unemployment become tax free.
Yes.
No- that would mean those with self employment or gambling income or any income not reported becomes tax free.
Never. Never will the USA be “paper please”. In the USA police can not demand your papers or ID.
the arts need government subsidies.
Yes, but real medicare for all. Start it at age 50, then get lower and lower. Just increase the medicare taxes. if people want private insurance, why not?
It will result in less people voting, not to mention the minimum wage crowd dont get paid holidays at all. In fact, there really are not national holidays- except for banks, government workers and the like. Each state makes their own holidays more or less.
Right.
So, corporations can no longer be sued or charged with criminal offenses?
We do, they have been safe for decades.
Of only 18 of nearly 200 nations. And again, the top of that list is Western Europe.
Also I am pretty sure that even with the Supermajority in Congress, Congress can not pass amendments. "Once an amendment is proposed, it must be ratified by three-fourths of state legislatures or three-fourths of state ratifying conventions. "
So all these crazy ideas of messing with SCOTUS or the 2nd ad, or any other constitutional changes are right out per the OP.
Right! The USA is not Western Europe, it’s not Canada, it’s not Australia, it is not, in fact, like any other country on the planet. It is, shall we say, “Exceptional”! American Exceptionalism is a big part of the kind of thinking that got the US into the mess it’s currently in, the mythical belief that everything that’s true in the rest of the world doesn’t apply to the US. That’s why you still don’t have the most basic social necessity of universal health care, while everyone else does.
This is exactly the same absurd argument you used to advance in the ridiculous gun debates that, thankfully, we don’t bother with any more. Any rational examination of policies that the US can improve, on ways it can do better, must necessarily involve comparisons with countries that are economically and culturally similar. Observing that the US spends more on public broadcasting than Lower Slobovia, which doesn’t even have electricity, is not instructive and not useful.
A good Medicare for all system would cover all medically indicated treatments. I’m not sure what room there would be in such a system for private insurance. I’d still allow private payment on a fee for service basis, but increasing the budget for Medicare without raising taxes would have to come from somewhere, and money that is currently going to private insurance companies is the easiest place to get that money. If there’s any room for medical insurance, it would be for things that wouldn’t be covered. Things like cosmetic surgery or other treatments being requested by a patient that have no medical indication, like someone wanting a whole body MRI “just to be sure there’s nothing wrong”. But I’m pretty sure offering insurance for those kinds of things would turn out to be financially non-viable.
The USA is not Western Europe, it’s not Canada, it’s not Australia, it is not, in fact, like any other country on the planet. It is, shall we say, “Exceptional”! American Exceptionalism is a big part of the kind of thinking that got the US into the mess it’s currently in, the mythical belief that everything that’s true in the rest of the world doesn’t apply to the US. That’s why you still don’t have the most basic social necessity of universal health care, while everyone else does.