Even a short trip from Michigan to Canada refreshes the US visitor’s confidence that an inclusive multicultural democracy is not only possible, but that it is being happily experienced in North America already. That happy democratic experience is being lived in Canada — and most emphatically not in the United States. Crossing the international border between Michigan and Ontario underlines that difference.
This fact puts Donald Trump’s ungrounded and impulsive hostility and bullying of Canada into even more shameful relief. His ludicrous and childish pretence of “renaming” Lake Ontario as Lake America is roughly similar to the mad emperor Caligula’s command to his troops to attack the waves of the incoming time. It is mad, and it is deeply shameful for all of us who respect the dignity, responsibility, and institutions of the United States in the year of its 250th anniversary. For shame, Donald Trump, for shame! You bring dishonor to our country.
So why is a short visit to a Canadian city so invigorating for a lifelong US citizen and resident? For many reasons. First, the streets, businesses, and destinations give an impression of a people who are secure in their freedoms and who trust their government and their fellow citizens. There is not the sense of foreboding which is so pervasive across America, in cities and towns. The police in Canada seem to live the slogan so often expressed but often not lived in the US, “to serve and protect”. Second, there is great racial, religious, and national diversity in most Canadian cities, and it is not a source of conflict and hate-based extremism. This seems apparent in the street behavior of ordinary men and women, families and children, reflecting that diversity. There is not the sense of wariness that pervades so many intergroup interactions in the US. Rather, the many racial and national communities appear to live in way and respectful harmony.
Other countries with powerful liberal traditions of equality and inclusion have succumbed to the vile forces of extremist right-wing populism. So far Canada has not shown itself vulnerable to that horrible disease. The dictatorial actions of the current US president, the affiliation of his movement with Christian nationalism and white supremacy, and his growing threats against the friends and allies of the United States in favor of the current strongmen and tyrants of our international environment suggest that the US has gone a long way down the road to fascist extremism. Having the humility to recognize that our country has misstepped and must take new resolve to strengthen our democracy suggests there is much we can learn from Canada’s experience. We must nurture our friendship with Canada, not destroy it.
And, as the map above reminds us, Lake Ontario has been Lake Ontario much longer than the United States has been a nation.
Understanding Society 