Butt Out

U.S. observers of the Canadian scene are well aware of the almost obsessive attention Canadians pay to the United States.  

It is almost as if you don't have a life of your own.

Or that you only see value in your lives by criticizing ours.

So in the midst of your national election, you waste your time on criticizing our politics and politicians as if the USA should be taking direction and inspiration from our northern neighbor (who has such a depth of knowledge and experience that it condescends to inform us of our best interests--when it should be figuring out what is best for itself).

We are well aware that your national preference in our presidential race is for "any Democrat" and that you would probably vote (as you would have voted in 2004) at least 60 percent for the Democratic candidate.  But you may not be aware that it would be a kiss of death for any Democrat to advertise your preference.

It seems to pass you by that while U.S. citizens appreciate Canadian citizens as international security allies, economic and trade partners, and generally good neighbor(u)rs, we don't care for interference in our domestic affairs. 

Thus for the past 8 years, we have been enduring commentary that ranged from the malicious to the simply stupid.  For example, then Ambassador Chretien's expressed preference for VP Gore in 2000; PM Chretien's press secretary's commented that President Bush was a "moron;" MP Carolyn Parrish called Americans "bastards" and leaped up and down on a Bush doll; and Frank McKenna (still another former Canadian ambassador) described our Congress as akin to 535 Carolyn Parrishes and declared the U.S. to be a theocratic state; and PM Paul Martin suggested the U.S. lacked a global conscience for not endorsing the Kyoto Treaty (when the U.S. record regarding green house gas emissions was better than Canada's).  

And in every recent election the Liberals and others have flailed against "U.S. style" this, that, or the other instead of logically refuting the ideas of political competitors.  In the absence of personal attributes of their own, they accuse their opponents of being crypto-Americans with "hidden agendas."   

Perhaps then it was only normal extrapolation for Heather Mallick's pathetically puerile rant against Republicans, males, and Sarah Palin on CBCNews.ca.  In language acceptable only when directed against U.S. citizens who are not supporting Senator Obama, Mallick hit the wall.  She was adjudged to be so out-of-control that CBC executives, their gonads in a vice, attempted to extract themselves from her cesspool with a "Who knew that excess would become wretched excess?" type of response.  Part of their mea culpa was a commitment to more balanced opinion.  Yes, and palm trees soon will line the streets of Montreal.

Perhaps Canadians should spend a little time reviewing the beams in their eyes rather than critiquing the motes in the eyes of others.  Thus a history including

-- a founding father who was a functioning alcoholic;

-- a World War II prime minister who spent time communing with his dead mother and was so despised by Canadian Forces that they defeated him with write in votes in his own riding;

-- a prime minister who motorcycled about Montreal with a German helmet and suggested that he hadn't really understood World War II until it was over, but is touted for a sexual rapaciousness that made JKF appear a prude;

-- a feckless prime minister who lost his luggage while traveling and his government because he counted parliamentary votes more poorly than a high school student; and

-- a prime minister who attempted to strangle a demonstrator (imagine the calls for psychiatric intervention had a U.S. president so acted).

Canadians are charged with forgetting their history.  Given the foregoing, one can understand why.

Or your recent campaign in which

-- one candidate wishes to terminate Canada--and is treated seriously rather than medically;

-- another candidate was so inarticulately strangled in both official languages that he makes George Bush sound like Pericles;

-- a third candidate emphasizes a foreign policy initiative to abrogate Canada's UN/NATO commitment in Afghanistan  immediately (a new type of "trust buster" to be sure); and

-- an assortment of parliamentary candidates who have been defenestrated or have withdrawn "for personal reasons" after offenses including video taped marijuana use while driving, sexually explicit exposure to teenage girls, previous criminal convictions, 9/11 denial, and politically incorrect comments.  

Neither of our societies is short of glass houses.  So why not do your stone throwing domestically--and just butt out of our election.