The unspoken ties bonding American and Canadian populations
Americans and Canadians have front-row seats to the greatest political debacle of all time. Generations to come—our children, their children, and their children’s children—will bear the cost.
Empire’s prey capriciously on both their homelands and adjacent colonies. In other words, the 50 US states are colonies to Washington DC as the seat of the empire. Imperialism, and the subsequent colonization has no regard for people, international borders or law.
There are deep seated reasons the US is the most tumultuous society on earth. The main one is that Washington is both seat of the Empire and capital of the Republic. Two very powerful entities and rivals competing for the same funds, resources and serving very divergent roles.
As US historian Chalmers Johnson pointed out 30 years ago America cannot be both an empire and democracy. With the empire, as the lion, sharing office space with a flock of sheep, the sheep loose every time.
“Although tyranny...may successfully rule over foreign peoples, it can stay in power only if it destroys first of all the national institutions of its own people.”— Hannah Arendt, Political Philosopher
Donald Trump has a lightening grasp of the obvious when he points out Canada is the 51st state, at least unofficially. We share the world’s longest undefended border, our economies are highly integrated and Canada is under a constant barrage of American media and culture. Under such an assault it is little wonder we become the de facto 51st state.
I write this blog as a de facto American with a serious concern for the future of both countries where the bonds run deep and the assimilation is near complete. We are in George Grant’s golden moment. He predicted sixty years ago this moment in time would arrive when Canada would be forced to make a hard choice. I have lived on the border lands all my life and experienced more than my share of the living history of the Canada/US relationship.
In the post WW ll years the USA and Canada each made profound decisions that are binding today and we are all captive to them. The US made the decision it was going to be an empire and proceeded accordingly. Canada for its part slid into the role of being the colony and the “branch plant economy” to the empire, just like Europe was colonized under the auspices of NATO and the EU.
It follows that if Canada is the 51st state we join the other fifty states as colonies to the empire, where the empire seated in Washington DC feeds off of its fifty colonized states. This is a very important distinction in these times as the question has to be asked: When Trump says he is going to make “America great again” is he referring to the Republic, the union of 50 states; or the Empire seated in Washington?
It appears once again the Republic is getting the short end of the stick as he desperately tries to resuscitate the failing empire with endless juvenile bullying, brinkmanship and bull crap.
US presidents preside over both which is a critical conflict of interest, as recorded in Chalmers Johnson’s book, The Sorrows of Empire. Mixing democracy with empire is like trying to mix oil and water; or like asking an aged senator to do a cart wheel.
And, as Hannah Arendt points out above, the institutional destruction empires inflict on their homelands is devastating and history confirms this ad nauseum.
It is generally acknowledged the US empire is in decline which is the nature of all empires. No less than five empire’s have collapsed in the last hundred years, most prominently the British empire, Hitler’s Third Reich, the USSR, along with the Japanese and Ottoman empires.
Trump’s first loyalty is to the empire as these are the “constituents” he serves; the capitalists, the oligarchs and war mongers who have bought up and control government. He is betraying the voters who put him in office because his insane economic policies are going to make life for working-class Americans and Canadians alike even harsher. Where the very rich go tax free the tax burden on everybody else increases. His sanctions and trade wars on countries around world are only going to isolate and make the USA a pariah state. He refuses to see the limits of his power and realize “building back better “ is a long term undertaking requiring sound progressive government and many reforms.
For the populations of Canada, the US and the rest of the West politics and elections are just another spectator sport where we are marched off to cast ballots that mean nothing. The denigration of government, democracy and political parties is so complete elections are just window dressing for a failing empire.
Nothing good will happen until the US repudiates war and empire and commits to building a better society for all.
Canada is in the midst of a vicious federal election where the two contending political parties are claiming to be the country’s savior from the Trump assault. But both, if we look at history, have been instrumental in creating this crisis. Prime Ministers Mulroney, and Harper are especially culpable, with the Liberals more than willing to follow their lead.
The transgressions and betrayal of political elites on both sides of the Canada/US border are now too many and so grimly manifest .
Americans and Canadians have front-row seats to the greatest political debacles of all time with profound global consequences. For generations to come—our children, their children, and their children’s children—will bear the cost.
The longer debacle persists, the more intractable the recovery becomes.
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History’s Parrot is read in 39 US states and 52 countries world wide
These are dynamic times, and I like to think they offer opportunity for change.
We're watching a slow motion train wreck that we know will inevitably cause much societal damage.
How do we prepare? What kinds of systems can communities put into place to ensure we're all housed, fed and connected in a good way?
And if we do this correctly, what new systems will emerge from these efforts?
Yet underlying the Empire, the Republic and the Nation, are the thought-corruption ideas and propaganda of the neo-liberal think tanks as well as the neo-conservative operatives (followers of Leo Strauss) who control all MSM media outlets and cause all conversation to conform to their framing. They have been developing these thought-control processes for almost 80 years, while other people bit ignored what was taking place as well as did not develop a coordinated response. THAT is where "Project 2025" came from,, the Heritage Foundation think tank - their ideas are the fuel of the Empire.