Two Guys Talking

One Worth Hearing

The Contrarian sneers at Donald John Trump as PINO (President in Name Only). Whatever else he is, the guy can direct the attention of the world to a 2-hour campaign speech before the assembled houses of Congress and representatives of the Supreme Court.

Credit. Jeremy Walker, PCC

He boasted about six unrelenting weeks of a Tour of Terror and Revenge that defied the rule of law while dismantling public safety and welfare programs. He praised himself for a stunning betrayal of American at home and abroad. As he trumpeted his Trump 2.0 actions to date, he effectively dismayed every listening ear not belonging to a MAGA cult member or an avowed enemy of American values and operation.

My least favorite moment was when he thanked members of the Court (on hot mic) for their support. And told the Chief Justice that he “would not forget” the rogue decisions in his favor made by a corrupt and partisan panel of justices.

Look North, America

Simeon Rosenberg has a Substack platform entitled The Hopium Chronicles. I count myself among his kingdom of over 200,000 subscribers and followers. This morning Simon provided a link to a speech given by the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau on 04 Mar 25. Simon heralded it as a “Powerful Rebuttal to Trump’s Madness.” And, indeed, it was.

Trudeau addressed three different audiences directly:

1. The world (the chaos, hardship, unfairness, and illegality of Trump tariffs);

2. The citizens of the United States (the betrayal of core values and trust domestically and internationally); and,

3. Canadians (acknowledgement of difficult times caused by the unnecessary, unprovoked, and totally counterproductive trade war—and actions their government would take to mitigate damage).

All his remarks were true and just. What set me on my ear was watching him deliver his message IN TWO DIFFERENT LANGUAGES!!!

Credit. Adobe Stock

1. Remarks in English were concise and measured. Reasonable and compelling.

2. Remarks in French were passionate in tone, in pace of delivery, and complete with the Gallic shrugs and arm waving that inflame any heart, mind, and soul dedicated to the proposition of liberty.

What Trudeau was doing was recognizing, embracing, and (to some degree) celebrating the truce between two strong cultures.

A Lesson Worth Learning

Canada can admit some battles are better accommodated than allowed to fester. Those conflicts demand attention. They distract from efforts to create and share a better life on both sides of cultural divide perhaps never to be resolved.

The Quiet Revolution of the 1960’s gave birth to a secular nationalistic movement. In 1969, Canada implemented a policy of official bilingualism and instituted socially democratic programs such as Medicare, the Canadian Pension Plan, and Canada Student Loans. Provincial governments, particularly Quebec and Alberta opposed many of these measures as incursions into their jurisdictions.

Radical elements called for the “liberation of Quebec.”

The National Capital Region (NCR) is an official designation of land areas on both sides of the Ottawa River (straddling the border between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.) The NCR includes the national capital of Ottawa, the adjacent city of Gatineau, as well as surrounding suburban and exurban areas. In March of 1970, I visited Ottawa to consult with representatives of the NCR about my post-graduate proposal for a building a cultural bridge across the Ottawa River that would rehome the nine National Museums of Canada. Tensions were high. A government official had been kidnapped and his stomach brutally incised with the word “porc” (which means “pig” in English). A series of bombings were in progress. Officials were understandably a little distracted, but unfailingly kind, courteous, and helpful. Refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada for details about this decade-long effort to divide the Confederation into cultural parts.

Quebec was not “liberated.”

Canada, like America, recognized a civil war and took steps to resolve it in law. Canada, unlike America, enforces its truce with clear and consistent dignity.

I say that is a lesson worth learning from our neighbor to the north.

Looking for the Tie that Binds

Election 2024 was a referendum. Fear and hate won by a small, but critical, margin over hope and equity.

Thinly disguised beneath the paternalistic veneer of Trump Talk was a civil war never truly lost or won.

To the point, the grounds of the state capitol of Texas, in Austin, has a monument to soldiers who died defending the position of the South. The memorial calls that conflict “The War of Northern Aggression.”

It took the attack on Pearl Harbor on 07 Dec 1941 to make America quit dithering over fascism as an answer to its domestic socio-economic woes within a context of global unease and unrest.

The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty; drastic reductions in liquidity, industrial production, and trade; and widespread bank and business failures around the world. The economic contagion began in 1929 in the United States, the largest economy in the world, with the devastating Wall Street stock market crash of October 1929 often considered the beginning of the Depression. Among the countries with the most unemployed were the U.S., the United Kingdom, and Germany.

The Depression was preceded by a period of industrial growth and social development known as the "Roaring Twenties". Much of the profit generated by the boom was invested in speculation, such as on the stock market, which resulted in growing wealth inequality.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression

We put aside our differences and defended the ties that bound us. In the process, we became a trusted world power. A peace maker and keeper. An opponent of fascism, communism, and every other “ism” other than our own (capitalism).

In 2011, NATO nations rose in simultaneous outrage and support of the United States when al-Qaeda weaponized four domestic airplanes against our icons of commerce (twin towers), war (pentagon), and democracy (unknown whether the White House, the Capitol building, Camp David, or another target of opportunity). After Trump’s shenanigans of last week, and his America First policy position, we have no reason to expect a repeat of that warm and reflexive attitude toward our welfare and security in the event of another attack on our sovereignty in premise or fact.

I believe we still have ties that bind us as a democratic republic. I do not want to sully, much less abandon, our myth of ourselves. In my mind, America never quit being beautiful or great or wisely welcoming or truly interested in equity and a more perfect union. I resent and detest characterizations of us to the contrary.

I am hopeful it will not require another global conflict to shock us clear of the MAGA fever dream. To make us pull on the controls of self-governance hard enough and fast enough to correct the death spiral into which the implementation of the Project 2025 has plunged us.

Call Me Naïve

We are engaged in a war of perceptions. Truth is hard to find when facts no longer are trusted.

Leadership now is evidenced in adolescent bullying, criminal conduct, and civil misdemeanors. Impediments to graft have been removed. Corruption takes daylight walks through halls of governance and courts of law. The happy betrayals of custom, security, and welfare distress the mind and so far, defy punishment.

Yet I believe there is a time-honored path of effective resistance and remedy.

The Power of One.

Let us resolve to use our person and our purse every day in every legal way to delay, deny, disrupt, derail, and destroy implementation of Project 2025.

Let us persevere.

Let us prevail.

That government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth on our watch.