I Used To Care....But Things Have Changed

What they are already starting to see is the effects of their country isolating and alienating itself from the rest of the world and the sheer impotence of the trickle down economic theory that was the basis for the huge injustice they so proudly refer to as tax reform.

And going forward, it's just gonna get uglier. A lot of optimism being shown about the stock market will inevitably be offset by the escalation of the trade war that Trump has started as job losses will continue to grow along with increases in consumer prices.

Even if, as many are predicting, the congress and perhaps even the senate of that country become controlled by the Democratic party, change, if any is to come, will take years, pephaps even decades.

As a long time observer of and visitor to America, I am astonished at the havoc that one misguided, sociopath in the right place has been able to unleashed on that country.

Of course he had lots of help from the Republican party, who, for some mysterious reason, refused, and still do, to stand up to this maniac.

I have always had a grudging respect for America and the basic principles on which it operated. I was not a big fan of their economic imperialism or the internal corruption which is now in a malignant stage.

But America gave the world spectacle. They showed the world how to think big and act bigger. They fostered intellectualism and supported the arts and created a culture that was, for quite some time, the envy of the world.

I grew up in the town of Fort Erie, which is right across the river from Buffalo New York. I spent a lot of time in America and got to know many good people. So my fondness for that country transcends the political. Because back then, it was the era of Ike and the Kennedys and life was pretty good. Of course, it's been pretty rocky since then. But American innovation never stopped.

However, over the past couple of decades, something has happened. The forces of darkness appear to have taken over the forces of light, and here we are today with a true fascist at the helm, and most of us wondering just how the hell it happened, and more importantly, why.

These are the great mysteries. But the reality is that cultures appear to be able turn on a dime and that's what has happened here.

However, I am a Canadian and Canada will survive the Trump era.

We will make deals and welcome those businesses who will soon start to feel the effects of diminished opportunity in America now that the market is controlled by greedy and sociopathic corporations and their political puppets.

We will take the immigrants who have great ideas and are willing to work hard to build solid businesses.

Our government will make fair and equitable trade deals with other countries and reduce our dependence on anything to do with America, as will, sadly, most of the world.

Our appreciation for the differences between Canada and the US will grow, as will our pride and gratitude for being one of the great free countries of the world.

And we will watch from what amounts to a front row seat, the slow dry rotting death of the America we all used to admire.

And this has all come about because America simply forgot it was a country of 350 million people, 99% of whom were not super wealthy and desperate to control anything beyond their own lives and dreams.

For me the words of my friend and fellow August 17th birthday boy, Roderick Mackin, have been echoing in my head. "Not my circus...not my clown."

So I have made a resolution to simply work harder at being the best Canadian I can be, and to worry less about things a cannot control. Like America.

It will be hard because writers deplore injustice. And I won't stop speaking out when I see it.  My heart goes out to all the Americans (the majority) who were not dumbed down by this conspiracy of control run amok.

I wish you all the best. I hope you take your country back. Because freedom always trumps slavery. Always.