{"id":6366,"date":"2016-03-13T13:23:28","date_gmt":"2016-03-13T17:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=6366"},"modified":"2018-08-24T14:12:34","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T18:12:34","slug":"sunday-march-13-2016-where-i-stand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=6366","title":{"rendered":"Sunday, March 13, 2016 \u2014 Where I Stand"},"content":{"rendered":"

I will make my posi\u00adtion plain. I am a Cana\u00addi\u00adan, not an Amer\u00adi\u00adcan, but like all Cana\u00addi\u00adans I must pay close atten\u00adtion to the pol\u00adi\u00adtics of the coun\u00adtry that bor\u00adders mine for 8,891 kilo\u00adme\u00adtres (5,525 miles), has ten times our pop\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion, with which we have (by far) the largest-scale trad\u00ading rela\u00adtion\u00adship in the world, and with which we share a con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00adable degree of our cul\u00adture. Our economies are so inter\u00adtwined that every polit\u00adi\u00adcal deci\u00adsion that occurs in the U.S. imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly and some\u00adtimes pro\u00adfound\u00adly influ\u00adences our life. I have at times lived in the U.S., and have many friends there, as do most Cana\u00addi\u00adans. But we are not<\/em> Amer\u00adi\u00adcans, and some\u00adtimes all has not been well between us. When the Unit\u00aded States entered its dis\u00adas\u00adtrous war in Viet\u00adnam, and we were pres\u00adsured to join in with that deba\u00adcle, a major\u00adi\u00adty of Cana\u00addi\u00adans were opposed to it, and we stayed out of it. When, sub\u00adse\u00adquent\u00adly, many young Amer\u00adi\u00adcans resist\u00aded the slav\u00adery of con\u00adscrip\u00adtion, and the cor\u00adrup\u00adtion of the war, we wel\u00adcomed them as hon\u00adourable refugees, just as we had wel\u00adcomed refugees from slav\u00adery in the 19th cen\u00adtu\u00adry. They were the true Amer\u00adi\u00adcan patri\u00adots, and we respect\u00aded them.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

One of those great moral divi\u00adsions is upon us. The Unit\u00aded States has accom\u00adplished many great and noble things, but in recent times, it has reached its low\u00adest moral ebb in a hun\u00addred years. The upcom\u00ading elec\u00adtion in the Unit\u00aded States is cru\u00adcial to both our coun\u00adtries. If the Repub\u00adli\u00adcan Par\u00adty wins, then the U.S. is washed up as a coun\u00adtry, every decent prin\u00adci\u00adple it has fought for will be defeat\u00aded, degrad\u00aded and destroyed. This is a pro\u00adfound threat to my<\/em> coun\u00adtry, which I love<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

There have been two great men\u00adaces to human dig\u00adni\u00adty and free\u00addom in the last cen\u00adtu\u00adry. One was the con\u00adstel\u00adla\u00adtion of total\u00adi\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan move\u00adments that dom\u00adi\u00adnat\u00aded the first half of the cen\u00adtu\u00adry, which includ\u00aded Com\u00admu\u00adnism, Nazism, Fas\u00adcism, and their var\u00adi\u00adous mim\u00adic and out\u00adlier move\u00adments. The oth\u00ader is its mod\u00adern suc\u00adces\u00adsor, the Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive Move\u00adment that emerged in the Unit\u00aded States in the last gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion and has slow\u00adly tak\u00aden over its pub\u00adlic life, and spread around the world, as Com\u00admu\u00adnism did, through the influ\u00adence of cor\u00adrupt intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adals, delud\u00aded suck\u00aders and fel\u00adlow-trav\u00adellers. But there is no sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant dif\u00adfer\u00adence between the two move\u00adments. The sec\u00adond is essen\u00adtial\u00adly just a reboot and re-brand\u00ading of the first. In both cas\u00ades, the aim is the same: the destruc\u00adtion of free and demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic soci\u00adeties and the erect\u00ading of mil\u00adi\u00adtaris\u00adtic soci\u00adeties ruled by a wealthy, all-pow\u00ader\u00adful aris\u00adtoc\u00adra\u00adcy, in which most human beings will be dis\u00adpos\u00adable ser\u00advants, peas\u00adants and slaves. In both cas\u00ades, human rights and lib\u00ader\u00adty are to be sac\u00adri\u00adficed in the name of crack\u00adpot eco\u00adnom\u00adic the\u00ado\u00adries. In both cas\u00ades, the lead\u00aders of the move\u00adment mobi\u00adlize racism, vio\u00adlence, super\u00adsti\u00adtion and every base human pas\u00adsion among the gullible to achieve their aims. The aims are the same, the meth\u00adods are the same, and the under\u00adly\u00ading phi\u00adlos\u00ado\u00adphy is the same. Only the slo\u00adgans and catch-phras\u00ades dif\u00adfer. Don\u00adald Trump and Ted Cruz are mere\u00adly the tip of the ice\u00adberg of evil. There is worse to come.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Any Amer\u00adi\u00adcan who votes for the Repub\u00adli\u00adcan Par\u00adty in the upcom\u00ading fed\u00ader\u00adal elec\u00adtion is, as far as I am con\u00adcerned, a trai\u00adtor to their own coun\u00adtry, and a men\u00adace to mine. I will con\u00adsid\u00ader such a per\u00adson to be beyond the pale of civ\u00adi\u00adliza\u00adtion, a per\u00adson to be shunned. Such a per\u00adson will nev\u00ader be allowed to set foot in my home, I will nev\u00ader share food with them, and nev\u00ader, as much as pos\u00adsi\u00adble, ever speak to them. This deci\u00adsion is final. It will nev\u00ader change. Ever<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have spent the entire\u00adty of my life study\u00ading the abom\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtions of aris\u00adtoc\u00adra\u00adcy and slav\u00adery, and sup\u00adport\u00ading and pro\u00admot\u00ading democ\u00adra\u00adcy and free\u00addom. This is a crit\u00adi\u00adcal moment, and I wish to leave no doubt in any\u00adone\u2019s mind where I stand.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I will make my posi\u00adtion plain. I am a Cana\u00addi\u00adan, not an Amer\u00adi\u00adcan, but like all Cana\u00addi\u00adans I must pay close atten\u00adtion to the pol\u00adi\u00adtics of the coun\u00adtry that bor\u00adders mine for 8,891 kilo\u00adme\u00adtres (5,525 miles), has ten times our \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,949],"tags":[1146],"class_list":["post-6366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-ak-blog-2016","tag-canadians-and-americans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6366"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7406,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6366\/revisions\/7406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}