It is more American than Canadian to sing the praises of our democracy to those from other countries. Yet, the truth is there is no real democracy in North America. Americans continue to support a corrupt republic more reminiscent of Imperial Rome than the idyllic egalitarian society they want to portray. As for Canadians, they have little understanding of how their failed constitutional monarchy oppresses them. And yet we espouse our way of living as democracy to the rest of the world.
Democracy, by definition, is a form of governance by all the people that supposedly ignores hereditary class distinctions and is tolerant of minority views. And the best of luck to you if you think you can find that in North America. The truth is that in both countries more than a third of the possible voters would not know what to do in a voting booth. We consider any views that are not ours to be those of ignorant minorities and are abusively rude to those with other views. And as for class distinctions, the rights of wealthy parents to endow their idiot offspring, is one of the basic tenets of our pathetic social order.
The conundrum for Canadians is that they do not know they are oppressed. It would be frightening to actually take a reliable poll and find out how few of us even know we are ruled by a constitutional monarchy. Choosing our monarch is hardly a democratic exercise. When Elizabeth II passes on, the ascendency of Charles III to the throne of Canada might just wake up a few more of us. It is not that England’s already very wealthy monarchs make many demands on their Canadian subjects but there is much done in their name that needs to be discussed and corrected.
Having both a monarch and the Athabasca oil sands are the two current Canadian possessions that Americans covet the most. They try to cover their need for a monarchy by deifying entertainers and politicians but these upstarts pale beside people actually born to the purple. The oil sands are easily transported south by the barrel and the Canadians take the blame for the pollution that causes.
Canadians, in turn, are jealous of anything American. From outlet malls to Hollywood, Canadians are enthralled by what the American greenback can buy. And it is definitely not true that Canadians are just Americans who know how to make love in a canoe.
Regrettably, life is not long enough to delve into what is wrong with the state of the Excited States of America. Correcting the problems might require a second civil war—hopefully just between the Concorde Minutemen re-enactors and a force from the Texas Tea Party. And if the solutions came from Canada, they would be ignored in any event.
This effort must therefore be directed at the Canadian situation. Canada is a tenth the size and not as steeped in a culture that automatically pits the wealthy and their sycophants against any and all reforms. Reform is possible in Canada. We have done it before. We will do it again.
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