I don't normally post anything on Facebook. My main reason for having an account is so I can keep up with what my six children are doing.
But I have just had it with some of the things I have seen recently from American politicians running for office in that country. They are entitled to say what they want but I get angry when most of what they say is just lies and fabrications, especially when those lies relate to some of the amazing freedoms we have in our country.
Canadians are more free than Americans. Many Europeans are more free than Americans. The USA is not the greatest country in the world by a long shot. In fact, America is not much better than a third rate, third world country in many of its qualities. (I recently met a young man in Vancouver who grew up in Florida who told us that the only good thing he could think of to say about his homeland was that it had elected a minority president in the last election).
I must point out that I don`t dislike Americans in general. I think they are fine people, they are not much different from Canadians really, they care about their families and communities, they are kind to their pets and animals in general and they are concerned about the future of the planet.
But American politicians, especially those of the tea party variety, need to be feared by all of us. They are totalitarians, they are the American Taliban. They want the government to control your lives. They want to make you go to the church of their choice. They think that the rich are smarter than the rest of us and should therefore run our lives for us.
Why do I love Canada so much? Here are some of the reasons:
Freedom mixed with compassion is a good way to describe the essence of Canada.
While the vast majority of us spend our days working to provide homes, food and even luxuries to our families, we are also concerned about our fellow citizens who are disabled in some way or do not have the same tools as we do to earn enough to provide these things.
So we delegate our government through the payment of modest taxes, donate to our churches and other charitable organizations, and the best of us even volunteer at food banks and take part in similar activities so that as many people as possible can experience the freedom we ourselves have.
But some of the best examples of our freedom are in the institutions we have built through various organizations and government. Universal free medicare. Public education for all. Modestly priced post secondary education with help in the form of repayable loans to those students who cannot even afford the relatively low tuition fees.
We are free to work, to become educated, and to remain healthy through the institutions we have built without resorting to the fear of taboo words like "socialism". We know we are still a country that is as free as any in the world because we have always insisted that while we want our government to help with the things described above and including building highways, parks, policing, fire protection, and on and on, while we have asked for these things we have also insisted, indeed demanded, that government stay out of our personal lives as much as possible.
We don't care what others do in their bedrooms or churches. They are free persons without many constraints on their individual freedoms. We go about our business, express our opinions openly, vote in democratic elections, even elect conservatives who would never remove things like universal medicare or we would never vote for them again. The police and government are virtually invisible except when we need them. We are for sure, the most free people in the world.
We have agreed as a society in some cases to limit some behaviours such as using certain guns and are, as a result, more free of crime and violence, more free to go on with our everyday lives without the kinds of fears Americans have to put up with and which limit their freedoms immensely. There are not many places in Canada a person is not free to go and fear his or her fellow citizens. This is not something that can be said of most countries.
So when we see the kind of idiotic arguments that are currently going on in the US election campaign we scratch our collective heads and wonder what planet that is. Look at us you fools. Maybe it looks like something else to you but to us it looks like freedom.
Don't misunderstand though, we still have the poor and downtrodden. The most obvious being parts of our aboriginal populations, inequality for women and many other injustices, and we will continue to follow the dictates of our consciences, the teachings of our religions (I don't belong to one but all of them seem to encourage helping the poor, etc., except maybe Mormonism if Mitt Romney is anything to go by), and the lessons learned from past struggles for freedom to provide those same freedoms to everyone.
And maybe, just maybe, we can also extend some of those freedoms to the rest of the world, particularly the cold and hungry billions who cry out for freedom from suffering, something you won`t ever hear a politician talk about in any country.
But I have just had it with some of the things I have seen recently from American politicians running for office in that country. They are entitled to say what they want but I get angry when most of what they say is just lies and fabrications, especially when those lies relate to some of the amazing freedoms we have in our country.
Canadians are more free than Americans. Many Europeans are more free than Americans. The USA is not the greatest country in the world by a long shot. In fact, America is not much better than a third rate, third world country in many of its qualities. (I recently met a young man in Vancouver who grew up in Florida who told us that the only good thing he could think of to say about his homeland was that it had elected a minority president in the last election).
I must point out that I don`t dislike Americans in general. I think they are fine people, they are not much different from Canadians really, they care about their families and communities, they are kind to their pets and animals in general and they are concerned about the future of the planet.
But American politicians, especially those of the tea party variety, need to be feared by all of us. They are totalitarians, they are the American Taliban. They want the government to control your lives. They want to make you go to the church of their choice. They think that the rich are smarter than the rest of us and should therefore run our lives for us.
Why do I love Canada so much? Here are some of the reasons:
Freedom mixed with compassion is a good way to describe the essence of Canada.
While the vast majority of us spend our days working to provide homes, food and even luxuries to our families, we are also concerned about our fellow citizens who are disabled in some way or do not have the same tools as we do to earn enough to provide these things.
So we delegate our government through the payment of modest taxes, donate to our churches and other charitable organizations, and the best of us even volunteer at food banks and take part in similar activities so that as many people as possible can experience the freedom we ourselves have.
But some of the best examples of our freedom are in the institutions we have built through various organizations and government. Universal free medicare. Public education for all. Modestly priced post secondary education with help in the form of repayable loans to those students who cannot even afford the relatively low tuition fees.
We are free to work, to become educated, and to remain healthy through the institutions we have built without resorting to the fear of taboo words like "socialism". We know we are still a country that is as free as any in the world because we have always insisted that while we want our government to help with the things described above and including building highways, parks, policing, fire protection, and on and on, while we have asked for these things we have also insisted, indeed demanded, that government stay out of our personal lives as much as possible.
We don't care what others do in their bedrooms or churches. They are free persons without many constraints on their individual freedoms. We go about our business, express our opinions openly, vote in democratic elections, even elect conservatives who would never remove things like universal medicare or we would never vote for them again. The police and government are virtually invisible except when we need them. We are for sure, the most free people in the world.
We have agreed as a society in some cases to limit some behaviours such as using certain guns and are, as a result, more free of crime and violence, more free to go on with our everyday lives without the kinds of fears Americans have to put up with and which limit their freedoms immensely. There are not many places in Canada a person is not free to go and fear his or her fellow citizens. This is not something that can be said of most countries.
So when we see the kind of idiotic arguments that are currently going on in the US election campaign we scratch our collective heads and wonder what planet that is. Look at us you fools. Maybe it looks like something else to you but to us it looks like freedom.
Don't misunderstand though, we still have the poor and downtrodden. The most obvious being parts of our aboriginal populations, inequality for women and many other injustices, and we will continue to follow the dictates of our consciences, the teachings of our religions (I don't belong to one but all of them seem to encourage helping the poor, etc., except maybe Mormonism if Mitt Romney is anything to go by), and the lessons learned from past struggles for freedom to provide those same freedoms to everyone.
And maybe, just maybe, we can also extend some of those freedoms to the rest of the world, particularly the cold and hungry billions who cry out for freedom from suffering, something you won`t ever hear a politician talk about in any country.
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