"What is the Canadian identity?"
Good question.
Three summers ago I proudly (and naively) hoisted Old Glory up to fly out our cottage on Lake Erie.
My friend who had the cottage beside me nearly went into coronary arrest. For the remainder of the summer her and her children made nasty remarks about America, my flag, President Bush, blah blah blah. We just smiled and responded with "God bless America and God bless President Bush."
One day we got into a little discussion and I asked her just what Canada stood for. She responded with, are you ready, "tolerance". Ha! Tolerance for everything but an American flag! Or an opinion differing from what we are fed up here.
So, I think what she is saying is, we stand for allowing anybody who wants to come into this country and do anything they want. We never pass judgment on sexual perversions, we don't arrest criminals, we don't deport illegals or even terrorists, we just go along with any politically correct nonsense that is out there. The wishy-washy sitting on the fence, non-commital, don't get involved, don't rock the boat, spineless, pacifist approach.
Personally, I think we are just the jealous younger sibling who will do anything to go against the older, bigger, stronger and smarter sibling. We will make poor decisions and stand on the wrong side just to take a different stance. We cut off our nose to spite our face.
Couple this with the fact that we were brainwashed down the path of European socialism thanks to Pierre Elliot Trudeau. We are steeped in politically correct socialism in every aspect of our society...cradle to grave left-wing politics.
I am amazed there are any conservatives left up here.
I think Canada's identitiy is that of "peacemaker". The problem with that is...that often goes along with not recognizing evil. War and harm to innocents will always be the end result of that philosophy.
I was visiting Toronto a few years ago and read an opinion piece in a Toronto newspaper. The writer said that Canada's problem was the parlimentary system doesn't fit the country. Without a Senate (and Electoral College?) the urban voter had TOTAL control over a country with huge rural areas, and did not even have to listen (and didn't listen) to the concerns of non-urban Canadians. Do urban Canadians think non-urban Canadians are stupid, like the American red states?
Well, you make it sound like the left has taken hold up there, probably true. Keep fighting for your rights, free speech, association, right to keep and bear arms (uphill, I know) and for returning the Dominion to sanity. Just found www.proudtobecanadian.com, seems like a few conservatives there. Thanks.
I am amazed there are any Conservatives left up here.
We have adapted to the hostile Canadian environment by growing thicker skins, stronger stomachs, and a quirky taste for the bizarre performances of the likes of Carolyn Parrish, Svend Robinson, any NDP provincial government, etc., etc., each whack-job outdone in fatuity by the whack-job following.
I rejoiced when Canuckleheads chose the smarmy socialist preacher T.C. Douglas as the 'Greatest Canadian' last Sunday - a perfect symbol of the sanctimony and credulous thinking that so typifies Canadian public life.
I'm happy to have heckled the red demagogue 'Tommy' when I was a teenager in the early '60s. Made the papers. ;^)
By the lights of the lefty loons who direct Canadian public life, Canada appears to want to be the East Germany of the 21st Century.
That's not much of an ambition, imo, but it has its absurdist moments, and the b*stards won't grind me down. This is my country.
Your neighbours are evidently brainwashed by the CBC. Their display of prejudice over your flag is telling of their values. I love seeing the Maple Leaf and the Stars 'n Stripes flying side by side - a beautiful thing.
Just out of interest, did you fly that US flag by itself?
I ask because I remember some stories about Americans in Florida getting all bent out of shape because some Canadian snowbirds down there were flying their Canadian flags by themselves. Do they represent your views?
Me, I couldn't care less. US flags are commonly seen in Canada. Many businesses fly them along with the Canadian and provincial flags, and sometimes those of the business also, as a way of welcoming and showing our friendship for Americans. My office building, for example, has the flags of Canada, the US, and Westbury (the property management company that owns the building) flying in front of it. Of course, I work for a US company and regularly work with Americans.
Ah, we're just Americans who talk like Fargo.
Was that the only family that reacted that way?
You keep saying "we" did this, or "we" did that. It's not really a "we" thing. It is a "they" thing, meaning liberals (both Canadian and those from the south that migrated here and the MSM).