CANADA PREPARES FOR FLOODS OF US IMMIGRANTS
Tomorrow could be a big day for Canada. If Führer Donald Trump wins the Presidency in tomorrow’s US election untold numbers of U.S. citizens will have to make good on their promises to pack up and move north of the border. Fortunately for them, Justin Trudeau has not announced any plans to build a wall on the southern border of his country… and make the Americans pay for it.
The final episode of the long running reality TV show called the U.S. Presidential Election will play out tomorrow across the United States and the world. Most of us non-Americans are hoping that it will be the end of the absurdity that the U.S. has inflicted upon us, but in truth I suspect it might merely be a transition into a new season of ridiculousness.
My hope is that the Reality TV twerp, Donald Trump, will not emerge the victor, and that once beaten, he will graciously step aside and allow the only marginally less acrid character of Hilary Clinton to begin her term as the next President of the United States of America.
Trump supporters will, of course, cry foul. They’ve been trained to rattle on about voter fraud and election rigging, and facts to the contrary will only strengthen their resolve about the so-called ‘liberal media’ being part of a grand scheme.
I’ll agree with Trump on one point; The political system is a mess. But he’s not part of the solution. In fact, he’s actually a product of the problem. Trump was born into wealth and as such he is part of an elite section of society that enjoy the spoils of a growing state of inequality that is beginning to look reminiscent of pre-revolutionary France.
In his 2014 TED talk, billionaire Nick Hanauer warns his fellow plutocrats that “the pitchforks are coming.” Though there seems little evidence that anyone of them are paying attention.
Efforts to “Make America Great Again” will require more than just a tag-line and a ring master who can whip-up a crowd like a travelling faith healer. But then again, “Hope and Change” haven’t exactly worked wonders either.
The word we hear a lot these days is “broken,” and after months of unavoidable political mud-wrestling thrust upon us, few would disagree that the system is indeed dysfunctional to say the least. The pity is that despite the rallies, the promises and the slogans, tomorrow won’t fix anything.
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Wrote the following comment on Nov 8, 2016 at 5:19 pm
There is a worrying lurch to the right in global politics, an over correction like when you’re distracted while driving and you realise something is veering into your lane, but you overreact and nearly crash the car in the process.
I think Obama is a good and intelligent man but he’s been unable to achieve very little in 8 years due to the Republicans announcing that from Day 1, their aim was to block everything he tried to do and make him a 1 term president. Surely elected members of congresses primary aim should be making things better for the American people!
I find American thinking odd, they seem to be obsessed with gun ownership but recoil in horror in regards to a state funded healthcare system. They would claim to be a Christian nation but then seem to have a ‘why should I pay for you’ attitude. Obviously Europe has a different approach, one that realises that looking after your citizens makes sense in the long run.
If Trump is elected, it will be a disasterous 4 years, the economy will tank and my fear is, rather than admit he was wrong, more scapegoats will be needed.
Wrote the following comment on Nov 8, 2016 at 11:54 pm
@ Wilvo – I’m not picking an argument here, but do you have a citation you can point to where republicans “announced” their intention to block everything and make him a 1 term president? That sounds to me a little like the “well known facts” that those on the right say. You know like Hilary Clinton has a plan to open the borders on both sides and create a new nation made up of Canada, USA, and parts of Mexico. In other words, it sounds a bit like nonsense.
I’m not sure I’m ready to hold Europe up as a shining example of a place that “looking after your citizens makes sense in the long run.” The Union is not without a great deal of problems and certainly is also seeing a populist shift to the right (Brexit for example).
I’m not fearful of Trump needing scapegoats. I’m fearful of his attitude to anyone who isn’t a white American, or serving the needs and desires of white Americans. But I am also aware that the whole “leader of the free world” nonsense is based in geopolitical theatre to present the President as a man of power, when in reality he is a merely an influential player in a game where his position is tenuous. (For example, why does the US President need a motorcade of 17 vehicles and the French President not?)
Wrote the following comment on Nov 9, 2016 at 11:02 am
I am pro the wall. We have had to put up with their election fiasco on our news for so long. I’m done with constantly hearing people saying they’re moving here if Trump wins (which demonstrates their lack of understanding about immigration in the first place). So yeah, build the wall! Ha!
Hey, I like that other blog Simon. I’ll subscribe, albeit a little late because it ends soon, right?
Wrote the following comment on Nov 10, 2016 at 2:26 am
We’re so fucked now!
Wrote the following comment on Nov 11, 2016 at 4:45 am
@ Jean-Pierre – Now we have to see if all those celebs are really going to move to Canada as they say!
@ Braden – I think I agree!
Wrote the following comment on Nov 14, 2016 at 2:51 am
Hello Simon. Haven’t seen you for a while, but I just looked at the 366 blog. Great pictures!
After all of this I find myself how Canada appears to be so different to so many places being swept by populist movements at this time. Canada voted in a young progressive leader, and is a country that has one of the most open and helpful immigration systems of any country.
What can we learn from our northern neighbors?