To the editor:
Are we witnessing the end of an Empire? Canadians can do nothing but wait by the sidelines, and we are too close to that sideline. Since 2016, the political situation in the United States has changed drastically. But, to be completely clear, things haven’t been well since Ronald Reagan. Polarization has become more profound and more divisive, leading many to personalize their political leanings to the point of hating people who identify with the opposite political view. This has led to the situation with Donald Trump feeding from this divide. The urgency of the situation is pressing, and action is needed now.
But it has become more egregious than this. With his endorsement of Project 2025, The Heritage Foundation think tank manifesto and some of the things the former president has said, this writer believes that if he is elected and gets back into the White House, he will never leave. If Donald Trump wins in November, it will be the last election they will ever run. The potential loss of democratic values is not just a possibility, it's a frightening prospect that should concern every American.
Project 2025 is a stunning document. I urge every American to familiarize yourself with it. It aims at ‘prompting a collection of conservative and right-wing policy proposals to reshape the United States federal government and consolidate executive power should Donald Trump win the 2024 presidential election.’ (Wikipedia) It calls for change to the executive branch such that it be under complete control of the president. Tens of thousands of qualified civil servants would be replaced with unqualified political appointees. Loyalists who would be more willing to enable Trump to go forward with his draconian directives. This would allow him to suspend their constitution, instate a more authoritarian, christian nationalist agenda, make sweeping immigration rules allowing him to gather up and remove anyone not a citizen, and repeal laws protecting the rights of marginalized groups.
However, the implications of Project 2025 extend far beyond the executive branch. It proposes significant and drastic changes to economic and social policies, as well as the role of the federal government and its agencies. The plan suggests partisan control of the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Commerce, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission, and even the dismantling of the Department of Homeland Security. It advocates for a drastic reduction in environmental and climate change regulations in favour of fossil fuel production. It also proposes tax cuts for the rich and powerful, the one percenters, while remaining ambiguous on trade protectionist policy, which could potentially benefit the wealthy at the expense of the general population.
This, with an already tight hold on the Supreme Court, means he could prosecute and eliminate his political rivals with impunity. The court has already said he could.
And, of course, it goes after reproductive rights and government-funded healthcare. I won’t do more here than call attention to this and encourage everyone in Canada with the right to vote in United States federal elections to educate yourselves and vote. Your education and your vote are powerful tools, and it’s our responsibility to use them wisely.
But this brings me to the point of all of this. Is any of this possible? Could a president become king? Could Donald Trump become a dictator? He has said he would. For a day? For the rest of his life? Could Donald Junior be next in line? No one could say for sure it couldn’t. We in North America have never been exposed to absolute tyranny, had our homes bombed out, had to push a shopping cart containing all of our worldly possessions down the road with our neighbours doing the same thing. We think, ‘That’s not going to happen here.’ But could it?
My wife and I took a trip to Europe in 2015. We landed in London, England, and travelled to Paris via the tunnel and high-speed train. In Paris, we stayed in a B&B near Luxembourg Gardens. Near our digs was the Panthéon, a 200-year-old building in the Quartier Latin, a part of the city connected to knowledge and education. It began life as a christian church but is now a mausoleum. It was closed when we were there, so all we could do was wander around the outside of the massive, monumental building. The thing I remember most about it was the tall, copper-clad, enormous oak doors; you could see bullet holes. There were quite a number of them. The large stone columns surrounding the building also had many, indicating the city had been hotly contested in the past. France. A vibrant progressive part of Europe, in the past, a hotly contested part of the world. One of many around the world. Fortunately, not North America. Unfortunately for us all, this could change.
Sure, the United States had suffered a civil war in the 1860’s. The Union nearly tore itself apart. People in the country experienced significant loss, mainly in the south. But they survived the convulsion to build back. Built back enough so that at the beginning of the last century, they were a strong enough nation to be able to send troops to Europe and end an epidemic conflict occurring there—a conflict of dictatorship over democracy. Thirty years later, they did it again. In the ’40s, it was a truly global conflict of fascism over democracy. And the United States fought in both significant theatres, in Europe and in the Pacific, to emerge as a world superpower. They called themselves, rightly or wrongly it can be debated, the beacon of democracy and vowed never to let it happen again. The NATO Alliances were struck to prevent a European conflict, and throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s and the Cold War, cooler heads prevailed, notwithstanding Korea and Vietnam. But it seems we have been at war ever since 1945. (Margaret McMillan)
But more to the point, will the empire of the United States end, and what can Canadians do about any of it? The short answer is yes and get more involved. Become more aware of what is happening and question everything. Don’t take anything at face value. Conspiracy ideas abound, and they usually have a sinister purpose. Educate yourself. Before you conclude, get the best information you can. Know the source of the information, the who, what, and why of it. There is a lot of garbage out there in social media land. Learn to tell what good and bad information is. Learn history. It may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.
The former president has been speaking the same as past dictators who craftily plotted to take over democracies by having the people slowly let them. He is demonizing immigrants, minorities, and marginalized communities. He is fomenting the alt-right, white supremacists, and christian nationalists, frightening them that they are losing the power they once held, and they are terrified by it. Convincing people he has their best interest at heart, paramilitary organizations like The Oath Keepers and The Proud Boys (the latter started by a Canadian by the way) when, in truth, he cares only about himself and his image. He is a snowflake who’s ego can be easily bruised and he is dangerous. Dangerous to the democracy south of us and, by the nature of that democracy, the rest of the world. As Canadians, most of us living within a stone's throw, we are on the front lines, not the sidelines. Don’t think for a second that if the social structure of that elephant in our collective living room were to break down, we would not be affected. We would be directly affected. And in this writer's opinion it would not be a pleasant effect.
Again, I am reminded of a conversation I had with my older brother. He had moved back to Canada after having been in the United States teaching at a university. He’d been there for ten years or so, most of it during the Clinton years. We were discussing the second Bush’s policies shortly after planes flew into the Twin Towers in New York; the invasion of Iraq, weapons of mass destruction, and the like. I thought Bush was a complete fool. My brother warned that it could get worse. I asked him how. He answered with a statement I will never forget. He said, ‘You and I will, within our lifetime, witness the end of that empire.’ I dismissed the remark as glib and wondered how it would be possible. I know now how it could be possible; and it is a warning from history. His son still lives there, in Tennessee. A thoroughly pragmatic fellow, the last time we talked, he said he was very worried. Again, I was struck by the forthrightness of the comment.
We can right the ship; voting citizens of the United States can do so before it is too late. To all US Citizens here visiting, travelling, seeing the sights, going fishing, and enjoying our out-of-doors, vote. Inform yourselves and vote—for the good of your home and the rest of the world.
Andre Boileau
Nipissing
