Trump's plan for Canada - Canada's plan for trump

He’s a blowhard. A bluffer. The worst negotiator ever who telegraphs his every move. The only casino owner in history to lose money. In his first term every political leader took advantage of him. He’s a social media troll. He’s a narcissist who says everything to feed his insatiable need for attention. He says he's going to wage economic war against Canada. Erase the 'fake' border. Canada should be the 51st state. To paraphrase Trudeau, that doesn't have a snowball's chance in constitutional hell - it would have to be ratified by 38 of the 50 states, for one thing. So should we care about Trump's stupid bloviating? Well, we have no choice. So what are our options?

Here are my suggestions to the next Prime Minister, whoever that may be:

Option 1: Simply ignore Donald because everyone knows he's full of shit and not to be taken either literally or seriously. Make contingency plans for retaliatory tariffs in case he's actually dumb enough to follow through. Batten down the hatches until he's gone.  

Option 2: A great idea Donald. After all, we're economically already so integrated and the US does cover our security needs. We're open to having a discussion. What are you offering? Because, I'm sure you agree that, at the very least, it should include a proportionate number of seats in the House and Senate relative to the population, which would make us roughly equal to California. And we know how good that would work out for the GOP.

Option 3: Fuck off Donald. We're not interested in whatever you're proposing. We'll make other plans, including applying to be part of the BRICS economic forum, and opening discussions with China on a security cooperation agreement. 

Option 4 (my favourite): Fuck off Donald, part 2. The new PM, whoever that may be, calls for a North American federation, inviting the governors of the blue states to discuss secession from the United States to join Canada in a new North American federation. On the table would be all the goodies that Canada has to offer that the blue states massively favour, including universal healthcare, universal childcare, universal abortion rights etc.    

I think Option 4 has a good chance of success. Most of the blue states already share our values. And anyway, if the last two World Juniors is any indication, Americans are getting better at hockey and taking in the blue states would certainly help turn Canada back into a global hockey powerhouse.   

It's The Communication, Stupid

I'm generallly avoiding political information overload these days. I'm watching, and online following, a lot less punditry. Restricting my informational intake to only a few of the most middle of the road unbiased sources. It's part of my program for the New Year to reevaluate my overall perspective on things. As you may be able to tell I'm also occupying my free time (and mental space) with more creative endeavours, namely learning GarageBand and re-working on my iPhone the songs I've posted into slicker versions that sound better and have added instrumentation. I discovered that my smartphone has the equivalent of the London Philharmonic in it, and a musical recording studio that makes Abbey Road look like Betamax technology.  

But I still do dip into cable news on occasion, and something occurred to me. This business of settling on inflation as the main reason that Biden was so unpopular and ultimately Harris lost the election - the refrain you hear is the price of eggs is all people really care about - is wrong. It's not completely wrong, but it's only part of the story, and actually not the most important part. The pundits are flummoxed by the fact that the Biden economy is by far the best in the world coming out of the pandemic. Jobs are at near-historic highs, wages are rising, and by most meaningful metrics the economy is healthy and chugging along at a good clip. But people aren't seeing it in the grocery aisles, they say. Is there always a direct correlation between high inflation and the electoral fate of the incumbent? The answer is clearly no. There have been times in recent US history when Presidents were reelected during a period of inflation (it was as high or higher under Nixon and Reagan, for instance). Biden's economy has had the advantage of low unemployment, which should be equally important to how people feel - and that's key here, it's how people feel, not what they are experiencing that matters most.

This means that inflation can only be part of the story to how people feel. The most important factor? It's how effectively the President communicates, and the way he connects with the public. Biden was arguably the worst communicator of any President in recent memory, maybe second only to George Bush the first, who was also an extremely accomplished President on paper, and failed to win reelection (notably, Bush's average inflation during his term was a point lower than Biden's). The communication skills of the President, in our day of communication overload, have become the single most important factor determining his (or her, in Harris's case) political fortunes. How well he can break through the noise, and maintain the attention of, and connection to supporters, is determinative. The way the leader shapes the narrative determines how people feel about their lives. People have experienced economic austerity and discomfort in the past, but they have had reason to feel good about the sacrifices they've endured when the leader has successfully given them a vision of the future to adopt. Biden's (and Harris's) greatest failure was that he did not do that. And whatever you may think of trump - and as you know I think very little - he communicated in a way that connected with people on a visceral level and provided a view for the future. It may have been a dystopic future to many of us, but it was a vision of the future nonetheless. He was so effective in his communication, that people were willing to excuse his obvious incompetence, inadequacies, ignorance and criminality.

My hope is that the Democrats understand this point, and take this as the main lesson from the last election. Incidentally, it's just as applicable to Canadian politics. Justin Trudeau's early election success demonstrated it. He was essentially a neophyte politician with charisma and communication skills. Yes, Canadians are tired of the Liberals under Trudeau, as the polls are showing. But Poilievre has vulnerabilities as a communicator few people are noticing because the focus is on the Liberals in disarray. It may be too late for the Liberals to salvage the next election, but choosing a leader who is a superior communicator must be their priority if they are to avoid dropping into a political abyss.    

A Home

CLICK HERE TO HEAR THE SONG

When I’m alone,

I look for a home.

When I’m home,

I want to be alone.

If I were a river,

I’d want to be a stone.

If I were a stone,

I'd feel that I'm alone.

Draw some lines,

Make up a map.

And hope to God, 

It's not a trap.

Sometimes I'm small,

Other times big.

I love a woman,

And she loves me.

My mind's made up,

I'm gonna settle down.

Choose a nice place,

Survey the ground.

Draw some lines,

Make up a map.

And hope to God,

It's not a trap.

I'll take a walk,

The desert is alive.

It looks to me, 

How I feel inside.

Hot in the sun,  

Cold in the moon.

Quiet at times, 

And dangerous too.  

I come to a mountain,

And start to climb.

Count every step,  

I leave behind.

To a new place,

With a broader view.

Approaching the edge,

To help me see you.

I won't be gone too long,

I won't be gone too long.

No One Came

CLICK HERE TO HEAR THE SONG

Had some fun when we were young,

Went to school, played some hoops.

Rock band in the basement, 

Smoked a lot of doobs.

The band was pretty bad,

But we didn't know it.

Aw we had big dreams,

Thought we couldn't blow it.

No one came, no one came.

We played our hearts out

And no one came.

They say it's the road to fortune and fame.

No one came.

Weren't old enough to drink,

Could barely drive a car.

Yeah, we booked our first live gig,

At a local bar.

Mixing board and light show,  

Bouncer at the door.

A forty minute set of songs,

And two ten minute encores.

No one came, no one came.

We played our hearts out,

And no one came.

They say it's the road to fortune and fame.

No one came.

Thanked the fans who didn't come out,

On a night as cold as this. 

For not filling the hall,

Missing the show they couldn't miss.

Yeah we played our second set, 

Really brought the house down.

Thank goodness that it happened,

When no one was around.

No one came, no one came.

We played our hearts out

And no one came.

They say it's the road to fortune and fame.

No one came.

I never will forget,

What I learned that day.

In this life you're playing to no one,

So play it your own way, 

Yeah, play it your own way,

So play it your own way ...

Precious Privacy

Still thinking about My Dinner With Andre…

The movie depicts a private conversation in a public space. I think the setting is centrally important and revealing. It made me consider the politics of our time, this relationship between the public and the private. One of the hallmarks of our times, because of the intrusiveness of social media and the internet, is that the boundary between the public and the private has been largely erased. As the film suggests, I began to think of the way so much of politics nowadays is so excessively performative and based on matters like identity, gender and sexual-orientation that were once considered private. I am thinking about how for my kid’s generation everything is public. Every unformed, inane thought and feeling must be shared, and with very little consideration for how to share it appropriately or respectfully. 

Admittedly, when the boundary between public and private began eroding about 20 years ago, I wasn't sensitive to the possible ramifications. Someone, I think it was my older brother (who was always smarter and more insightful than me) warned about it. He said people aren't seeing how precious their privacy is, and they will pay for their blindness dearly. My brother was thinking mostly about the dangers of identity theft. But his instinct for peril was on target. I began to grasp how profoundly our privacy was being impacted after watching the must-see documentary film The Social Dilemma. It expounded on how the ubiquitous devices that we all carry around 24/7 and rely on for so many decisions that we make every day were brainwashing us and manipulating our behaviour. The algorithms were designed to get us addicted and make us adopt extreme and intolerant world views. I understand now that what they were describing was essentially the consequences of the obliteration of the boundary between public and private space.

My kids think it cute when I recount nostalgically about a time when people kept their thoughts, feelings and experiences mostly to themselves. How in those days they didn't photograph their meals before eating them. They simply ate, and enjoyed the fleeting experience of consumption privately while it lasted. I tell them how people experienced special times with family and friends, not as occasions for documentation and publication, but as special moments to relish, and sometimes to photograph and put in an album so that it could be remembered privately later on. I tell them that I've learned in the last 10 years or so that the most unexpectedly precious commodity - something that has been assaulted to the point where their generation has abandoned it completely to their detriment and not even realized the consequences - is privacy. Understandably, they have no idea what I mean. This is our generation gap. It ain't sex, drugs and rock and roll, like with our parents. 

There used to be a fascination with exhibitionists and voyeurs as a kind of fetishism. Movies were made about it. Now we are all exhibitionists and voyeurs. In my Dinner With Andre the audience is meant to be eavesdropping, the intention being to give a taste of the main course of the subject matter on the menu ie. whether we are watching a public performance or a private exchange of ideas and feelings. The question of the boundary between the private and the public must still be asked, only the stakes are much higher now. Performance as an everyday part of life has become the norm and engrained to a level the companions in My Dinner With Andre could not have anticipated. I mentioned the movie to my daughter who did a degree in Fine Arts. She immediately understood what I was talking about, having taken university courses that focused on the performative aspects of identity and gender. What she couldn't grasp was the possibility that there was an alternative. I said that I thought a person's happiness depended on their ability to nourish and protect their privacy, which is the foundation of their sense of authenticity. She said she thought that everyone was putting on a public act all the time. The question, I said, is whether it was by choice or habit. She said that at this point, for most of the people she knew, she couldn't say.