The Globe and Mail columnist Jeffrey Simpson seems to think that the view to his south, ain't so good any more. Of course, if I were a misguided Canuck, I'd probably have a similar view inside the same context of the Canadian world.
From his article over the weekend:
It is disturbing these days for the country’s friends to watch the Great Republic’s politics, to wonder about its economy, to tremble at its deficits, and to shake their heads at its Supreme Court that has struck down corporate contribution limits in politics and reaffirmed the right to bear arms, to the intense joy of the gun lobby.
The United States gave itself the most gifted President in several generations, handed his party a majority in both houses of Congress, only to watch his presidency be swamped by the doleful legacy of the Bush years, a worldwide recession and its parlous aftermath, and a ferocious Republican opposition bent on a search-and-destroy mission of his presidency.
Our politics do completely suck, I'll give him that, however, doesn't Ottawa perpetually have Quebec as the thorn in it's side? Perhaps we can just annex Washington to Mr. Simpson and let him have all the stuff he loves, like limits on speech, gun registration / confiscation, and the biggest boob since Jimmy Carter, errr what he refers to as the "most gifted President in several generations." Perhaps he can take Helicopter Ben while we're at it and give us the Canadian Central Bank's board back in exchange.
If you want to bitch about our debt problems, while you praise the largest spendthrift in the history of our country, isn't that a bit hypocritical? I understand Simpson's grievances that as the USA goes, the majority of Canada goes, but, come on, Canada is really just America's largest national park. Perhaps we should make it's 12 Providences part of Barack's 57 states. (Of course, that would make it 62, and the Pres would have to count higher than his misguided brain can handle).
Last I checked, the great state of Canada has horrible state run health care that is on the brink of it's own insolvency, cold weather (unless it's skiing you're after), a gun registry (that is trying to be gotten ride of) and is one of the biggest producers of potash, coal, and oil in the world. So, if you don't want people to travel or do business with your country Mr. Simpson, I suppose the best thing for the USA is to regulate green house gas emissions and continue to ban guns?
People won't be able to travel to Canada to ski, fish, and hunt as airline fees will sky rocket. No one in the USA will be buying your oil because it's carbon tax is far to complex and expensive. Food prices will continue to sky rocket because the production of potash which is a major component of fertilizer will become hard to obtain, and electricity prices will sky rocket once the ban of coal from Canada is complete. Though the convenience of your economy will still go strong as far away China will continue to emit "global warming pollutants" in amounts far greater than your southern neighbor. Simply brilliant!
We are loosing the war in Ashcanistan, but no one is telling the Canadian PM to leave Canadian troops there. It is appreciated that your fine service men and women are doing a part to fight off evil. I fully admit that war isn't winnable beyond turning the whole region to glass and lowering the mountains a few hundred feet. The Russians couldn't do it, why did the free world think we could? Yet, the main contributing factor to our budget deficits is defense spending? The defense budget isn't the problem stupid! It's the social spending, the bank and auto bailouts, and every little pet project like paying $45 dollars to each Floridian to figure out their drinking habits or some other stupid crap.(See here).
Yes, we could trim the DoD fat too, but having a 20~50 trillion dollars in unfunded liability isn't helping matters. It wouldn't matter if that brilliant mind of your's couldn't read the balance sheet of the USA, as it's assets are extremely overstated, it's revenue understated, it's expenses under reported and the liabilities understated, which equals a whole fine mess. Where's Billy Clinton when I need him, "It's the economy stupid!" Watch the final half of this year continue to worsen as we see manufacturing and production falter. Jobs do matter!
Sure, we have our problems and it's nice that some nitwit from a Canadian newspaper pointed them out, but we already know about them. If you want to help, go tell us what Mr. Obama is doing to destroy our Federal Charter that is supposed to be binding upon tyrants and the safeguard against corruption. Perhaps Quebec can continue to hijack the rest of your country for the next 20 years while your remain a columnist boring the rest of the world.
Some of us Americans enjoyed our Fourth of July as a reminder to fight for the principles upon which this nation was made, and we don't care if that ticks off our Northern Neighbor, as everyone loves to piss on the USA.
