Does CANADA deserve to be whipped by US?

"Join America? They don't want us"

Mark Steyn
National Post
Monday, January 20, 2003

[SNIP!]

"Whatever it once symbolized, the border is now a very real dividing line between the two principal manifestations of Western democracy: an American system which emphasizes the primacy of individual liberty, and a Euro-Canadian system of top-down statism. Even without the war [on Terror], the differences between the two are likely to increase rather than diminish over the coming years.

"But, since the war, our flabby Dominion's position has weakened further. Not to be alarmist but I'd say the U.S. is coming to regard Canada the way Australia regards Indonesia. Yes, it's geographically close, an important trading partner, a cheap vacation destination and a nominal ally, but it has to be pushed and chivvied into taking even the most perfunctory action against obvious enemies, and everyone knows that all kinds of dodgy characters have the run of the joint. Bali was a soft target for the terrorists because it exists in both worlds -- a Western enclave in bandit country. Canada also exists in both worlds: We're the country that supports both the Princess Pats and Hezbollah.

"Washington knows that now. The big story since September 11th is that they finally see us for what we are: foreigners."

http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?id=%7B2E7EA1CC-364A-48B6-B020-451DE3C08B0B%7D

--Orson

 

I found this...

provaocative, amusing, and at least half true!

--Orson

 

Orson,
I think you've got it all wrong. The vast majority of Canadians are pro-America. Nearly 55% of all Canadian industries are American owned. We exchange nearly one billion dollars annually in raw materials and goods. Our universities are headed by some of America's top scholars.

Just because we have a couple of incompetent clowns running this country doesn't justify comparing the relationship between Canada and the U.S. to that of Indonesia and Australia.

Canada needs to tighten its immigration laws and weed out those who are suspected of terrorist or illegal activities. We also need to change our foreign policies on terrorism and those organizations that support groups such as the Hezbollah.

The "Bozos" in Ottawa don't have the backbone to confront their fears and take side with their neighbors. In these troubled times the relationship between Canada and the U.S. needs to be strengthened not weakened.
regards,

 

They may not have any ill will toward the average American, but they often think that the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is a moron.

 

...and with a SA subject line like you presented here, you wonder why the world won't kiss the US' a**?

Darren.

 

Re: Re: Does CANADA deserve to be whipped by US?

That's an advantage of being the most powerful, prosperous nation in history...we don't need anyone to kiss our ass. We also don't need anyone's permission to do anything, though we always ask out of courtesy.


Bruce

 

There are a large number of Canadians who think the PM is one too!

 

Re: Re: Does CANADA deserve to be whipped by US?

I agree with dlkereluk that the subject line of this thread is terrible. I don't know what "whipping" Canada means, but I certainly don't like the imagery.

Despite our occasional family arguments, the US and Canada are *very* much alike. I think that Canadians often like to overemphasize the subtle differences between us as a way of affirming their own separate identity. The US shouldn't read too much into that. (What would we be doing if things were reversed?)

 

Are you talking about the occupant from 1992-2000, or whom?

 

I visited Canada as a child and was surprised to see that the Canadian kids looked and talked just like me. We are of the same stock, except that a couple of hundred years ago, a border was drawn between us.

I have always viewed the Canadians as my brothers or sisters.

 

.........

I've been in BC about 25 times and once or twice in Alberta and cannot recall while there an unkind word spoken to me.

 

OH NO!
Tampering with Canadian national pride always brings about some backlash. The last time this happened was when in 1969 the United States put a man on the moon. It outraged the Canadians so much they had to counter with something--but what? Ah yes...another rash of potential national heros attempt Niagara Falls in old beer kegs. If any Canadians would like to petition their goverment to be the 51st state, please remind the PM that they need to get in the back of the line...Puerto Rico is next!
Buckwheat,
Sorry folks, blame it on work related stress, ole Buckwheat works for a Canadian company!AYE????

 

I don't think the Eurotrash impulse is any more characteristic of Canadians than the truckle-to-Saudi impulse is characteristic of Americans.

 

We talk behind your back.

The last time we scrapped the dirt farmers in the Canadian militia kicked regular army Yankee butt. Michilimackinac and Detroit surrendered without a shot being fired.

At Chateauguay, the French Canadian militia, outnumbered several times, sent the New Yorkers home in a spectacular retreat.

We will let it go this time, just don't tick us off.

 

=======


I used to arm wrestle all the loggers around Quesnel and won every time...course I never challenged them unless they'd had quite a few

 

I've got nothing against Canada or Canadians and I guess that, if push came to shove, Canada would back the USA. I would like to point out, however, that the majority of Canadians actually elected those "incompetent clowns," and "Bozos" into office and so they can't just "wash their hands" if these reps somehow go astray.
Jack

 

sorry, I couldn't resist

He may have it all wrong but your argument above is unconvincing. None of the evidence you cite necessarily means that the majority of Canadians are pro-American. All it means is that America has a lot of money and Canadians are willing to let them spend it in Canada, and that Canadian universities recognize good scholarship when they see it.
Jack

 

Re: Re: Re: Does CANADA deserve to be whipped by US?

I agree with you, Bill.
It shows a certain maturity of the democratic process when a nation's ruling party like Germany exploits and demogogues the issue (War on Iraq) in their last election, and their old ally mostly ignores it (although not withou a certain diplomatic frostiness). I mean, elections mean molifying the demos--the unwashed! No leaders get to pick and choose the people.

Democracy only means getting rid of the worst, not getting the best leadership! The bloviating in Canada is thus to be expected.

BUT I am frosted (the "whipped" of the thread's title) by the way the Canadian government lays down for Hezbollah and other terrorist groups, and just can't leave self-rightous moral relativism alone. It's like America has a better historical memory than its elder cousins (especially the French), who so obviously have better historical memory--just a poisoned moral compass!
THESE ethically challenged times, post 9-11, strike me as bizarre.

I keep waiting for an attack on the Eifel tower or something to shock Erope out of its complacent torpor. But, it seems, these low-tech, low-profile terrorists won't oblige me.

One who has left European"conventional wisdom" behind is the Somali refugee of the Netherlands now leading a Dutch party, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, also now a Dutch citizen. Her lifestory, better told elsewhere in The (London) Times (story no longer online), is an object lesson in the moral life of western (classical) liberalism. Yet most ignore it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/22/international/europe/22HOLL.html

--Orson

 

Actually a recent Ipsos-Reid poll showed that 36% of Canadians polled view the U.S. as the greatest threat to world peace. I believe Al-Qaeda was in second place.

I agree with them by the way. The U.S. is a warmongering terrorist state.

 

You're not one of those guys with short stubby little arms that has a person three quarters of the way down before you start?

You must have relatives in Quesnel or why would you go there? I do have relatives in Quesnel, consequently, I have never been there. We really are talking boonies.

Loggers, now-a-days, are heavy equipment operators and not so tough. If you showed them a line-up of a toaster, a blow dryer and a chain-saw more than half could pick out the chain-saw by the process of elimination.