Month: October 2019

Some years ago a Canadian sportscaster (hockey, natch) put out a video in which he intended as a paean to Canadianess.  He talked, vehemently, about all the things that were Canadian, and not American.  The one I remember is the use of the term “zed” to describe the letter z.  He was very emphatic about that.   It meant a lot to him.  The video went viral, which is how I heard about it.

To me, everything in it was trivial.  The guy was trying way too hard, to make a big deal out of a distinction that is pretty small.  But a lot of Canadians loved it, so he hit a nerve.  I think there are a lot of western Canadians, especially, who are sick of what the national government has become, and want out.  But I don’t think very many of them want statehood, which would mean becoming Americans.

My previous post was in today’s American Thinker, and I was encouraged by the thoughtful comments, many of them from Canadians.  But I was chastised for saying I never met a Canadian who wanted to be an American.  There are some, I guess.  I just don’t think very many.

I grew up in Richmond, California, and went back to Wilton, Minnesota in the summer.  When I was nine or ten I was taking in money at a booth at the County Fair in Bemidji.  This man handed me a Canadian dollar bill, and I refused to accept it.  He got very upset with me, and told me a Canadian dollar was worth more than an American.  Which, at the time, was true.  I figured he was Canadian, and didn’t like having some kid disrespect his money.

I thought at the time that he was a little overly touchy, and figured it was because he was a Canadian.  Maybe times have changed.  But I doubt it.  A Commonwealth, yes.  Statehood, no.

After Trudeau’s reelection a lot of Albertans and Saskatchewanites want their provinces to leave Canada, but aren’t sure what their options are if they do.  President Trump should offer them membership in a new entity, the Commonwealth of English Speaking Nations.  Australia and New Zealand might join them, if the Commonwealth proves successful.

The prime elements of the CESN are free trade and free travel.  Citizens of Alberta and Saskatchewan would have the same freedom of travel, and freedom to trade, as any resident of any American state.  Travel is one thing.  Immigration is another.  The former Canadians would have no right to become American citizens, and permanently reside here.  And vice versa with Americans going north.

Alberta and Saskatchewan would be free and independent states, with full traditional sovereignty, with their own taxing power and spending power.  On national security, there are no disputes between them and the USA.  They would be asked to contribute to the American military in one way or another.

That would all be subject to the negotiations between the three founding members of the CESN.  They would want some form of monetary union, and would naturally adopt the American dollar as their currency.

Maybe a commonwealth as described above is not the answer.  Some other form of association might be preferred.  But the point is that the relationship between an independent Alberta and Saskatchewan and the United States can be something less than statehood, but something more than a normal relation between nations.

There’s something in a Canadian that doesn’t want to be an American.  But they don’t need to go that far.  To an independent Alberta and Saskatchewan, a lot of options are on the table.

It’s a deal President Trump would love to make.

Fritz Pettyjohn has never met a Canadian who wanted to be an American.

(The foregoing is in today’s American Thinker)

If you want to see communism and capitalism in action, you look at satellite view of the Korean peninsula at night.  A brightly lit south, and stone cold dark north.

If you want to see the progressive left in action, look at a satellite view of California tonight.  There will some bright urban spots, and a whole lot of blackness.

I guess you have to live here to really appreciate just how loony left California is.  The majority of voters in this state are not just sheep, they are blind sheep.  So nothing will change, and the state will go straight to hell.

The exodus of sane people from California will get stronger.  As they move to other states, they can explain to their new neighbors what they left behind.

Liberalism in action.

The Germans have had enough of war.  It’s people are so averse to combat and the military that the once mighty German army is something of a joke.  President Trump tries jawboning them into more military spending, but it’s no use.  The German public won’t put up with it.

This is a good thing.  Just 50 years ago satirist Tom Lehrer wrote:

“Once all the Germans were warlike and mean,

But that couldn’t happen again.

We taught them a lesson in 1918.

And they’ve hardly bothered us since then.”

NATO was formed to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.  But we don’t need to worry about the Germans any more.  They’ve become Swedes.

In the 18th century the Dutch, Swedes, Spanish, Danes and Portuguese all suffered crushing military setbacks.  They all just said to hell with it.  Let someone else fight for empires.  We’ll stick to commerce.  This is the same decision the Germans have come to.  A little late, but better late than never.

So if we have to fight the Russians, we can’t rely on the Germans for help.  While Putin may be stupid enough to get in a fight with us, it won’t be yet another land war, with massive armies and tanks and artillery.  We can break the Russians in other ways.

We could lay an embargo on the whole country.  No ships or planes in, or out.  Bomb their oil fields and pipelines.  Cripple them.

NATO is a dead letter.  But we can deter, or defeat, the Russians without it.

 

 

 

My bad.  American Thinker did post “The Warriors Among Us”.  My apologies to the editors.