THOMPSON: America, the call is coming from inside the house

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OPINION

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Born July 1, 1867, Canada has never really faced the possibility of being anything less than a representative democracy. So, most Canadians might only guess the despair watching my native land slip from a democratic republic to a dictatorship.

It is not easy to witness the U.S. make that move…more hare-like than tortoise-like…after 250 years. As an adult, I have seen the U.S. go from the world’s leading democracy…a government with good leaders and noble aspirations to something closer to a fascist state with a megalomaniac calling the shots.

Sadly, Americans have in many cases let this happen…too complacent to even think about how their nation was changing. Blissfully ignorant, millions of Americans fuelled the fire that is destroying a great democracy.

It’s easy to find fault…blame folks for not keeping an eye out for threats to democracy and freedom. The problem is…most Americans were looking at Russia and China and North Korea and Iraq…as the nations pulling at the threads of the fabric of America.

They should have been looking at their neighbours. The call – time and time again – was coming from inside the house. The biggest threats to America’s freedom and democracy…are Americans. People who go to church every Sunday…people who work hard five and six days a week…people who somehow got too busy with life…to worry about life.

A nation’s success depends on the active participation and virtue of its citizens. Something too many Americans either forgot…or like those elected to serve Americans…decided to abuse for the sake of self-interest.

Benjamin Franklin – one of America’s wise founding fathers – knew the precarious perch of freedom and democracy when he warned the first American citizens that they had…“A Republic, if you can keep it.” He seemed to understand that the biggest threat in America’s future wasn’t from a foreign king…but from an American who might want to be king.

It isn’t easy to diagnose what went wrong and when it took a turn for the worse. Right Wing Conservatives have been preaching against the ills of society for more than three decades. Turns out what Donald Trump and today’s Republicans consider the ills of society…are rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence.

It was the backlash against Barack Obama’s election as president that marked – for me – a clear turning point in the decline of America’s freedoms and democracy. Right Wing radio and television commentators saw racism as an easy crack to gain a foothold in changing America…and dictate how Americans should feel and act…and what they can read and speak.

Conservative broadcasters used the same trick Hitler used with Germans…all of your problems are because of those folks. In less than a decade, white folks who had little political agenda from Florida to Michigan and North Carolina to Idaho…found a place to direct their hatred…Barack Obama…Democrats…Liberals.

People across America were told – mostly by those who never served in the military – that Democrats, Liberals and people of colour…simply weren’t patriots. White folks were losing because black folks and Mexicans and immigrants were winning. Republicans have long made politics a zero sum game.

How ubiquitous and effective was their efforts? Simply look at what the Trump Administration is doing today…unfettered by Congress and even the U.S. Supreme Court.

Americans like me who still want a democracy…still want freedoms…aren’t giving up. The number of Americans registering as Democrats is three times that of those registering as Republicans. It’s a matter of whether the U.S. can last until next November for the mid-term elections…and then two years more for the presidential election.

I’m not in Canada because I don’t like America…I’m proud to live in Canada. It is my primary residence…my home…and I love it. It’s North America’s greatest democracy today. But I worry about attitudes from America seeping into Canada.

Some say impossible…it can’t happen. Perhaps I’ve seen too much to simply shrug off political and social osmosis. Hatred…lies…dispassion…can flow across borders unchecked. Canadians must be vigilant.

Last week I was on a ferry returning from Vancouver Island. I noticed that the beauty of Canada and the U.S. is indistinguishable as the ferry navigated the waters of the Salish Sea. You can’t see good or evil…only the land and sea. Perhaps the indigenous peoples understand this best…our lands and seas are treasures.

Whether in Canada or the U.S., we must do everything possible to make them places for everyone…places rooted in democracy and freedom. We are responsible…we must stand up against hate and lies…and authoritarian rule.

Canadians know this. Americans somehow forgot…and as tragic as it has been to watch the fall…now we’re all wondering whether the U.S. can ever be a shining light of democracy again.

— Don Thompson, an American awaiting Canadian citizenship, lives in Vernon and in Florida. In a career that spans more than 40 years, Don has been a working journalist, a speechwriter and the CEO of an advertising and public relations firm. A passionate and compassionate man, he loves the written word as much as fine dinners with great wines.