that big army

some thoughts from our Canadian neighbors

As many Yanks find the discussion of Canada becoming part of the United States peculiar—and I acknowledge many others enthusiastically welcome the idea, it’s not an unknown fear for many Canadians. They are frustrated we take them for granted, then uncomfortable when we don’t.

I was the only core course director, to my knowledge, at the National War College that included our northern neighbors in the curriculum. I introduced a Canada topic in “the global strategic context” because I could not fathom how we would not want to know more about a country so similar in some ways yet decidedly different in others.

I saw a map yesterday on social media pointing out that Canada, absurdly perhaps as a single additional state, would most likely introduce two further Democrats to the Senate. Certainly the western portion of this vast territory, often referred to as the Prairies, has a significant portion of more conservative voters but the bulk of the population, liberal and globalist, is in the east. Adding additional voters has implications for any country but the idea of Canadians joining us would mean they were full up citizens with the rights and privileges therein held.

Canadians also proudly and passionately have a huge immigrant population so it’s hardly just Quebecois or Ontario Northern Europeans. Those Indians, Ukrainians, Chinese, Uzbeks, and a hundred other ethnicities would come as part of the package. Should Canada join the United States, which I find extremely unlikely but hypothetical, then this migration question would create interesting politics for us.

But my point today is that Canadians never forgot that we are much bigger, much wealthier and much more prone to use our armed forces than them. They also don’t assume we are peaceful force all the time. I heard a hysterical lecture once by a Canadian scholar about how they view us. People were rolling in the aisle at his description of the imbalances and his country’s on-going reality check about the differences in being a Dominion under the British King and being who we are. It was a great, peaceful deal.

Embedded in that tale, despite the humor, was a profound anxiety following any of our conflicts, but especially the Civil War, that we had amassed a huge army that we would want to use elsewhere; would we pivot north because we had the resources to do so? The speaker made quite clear that predecessor generations feared that our militaristic tendencies, in conjunction with Manifest Destiny, were hardly benign as most Americans blithely assume. People in the audience began choking on their laughter after these words sunk in. The lecturer further noted Canadians keenly adhere to international law because it might be the only hope they had of preserving their sovereignty. It was quite a lesson for those of us who thought things just so kumbaya between former British colonies along that extended, unmilitarized border.

Giving up one’s country of birth, forcibly or by choice, is rarely as simple as it sounds. Years back, an “in your face” email circulated when one of our colleagues, long married to an American, received U.S. citizenship. The blast said every single person on the planet wanted to be American because we were the only country in the world worth being part of so why would anyone ever ever want to retain German citizenship? The unseemly condemnation was one of the least colleagial moments in my years at the College as it so naive.

I approached the new citizen whether he had any regrets giving us his birthright. He rather seriously nodded, then told me it had indeed been hard choice as he was who he was. He had lived in the United States for decades but holding an American or EU passport wasn’t going to change where he was born, bred, and initially saw the world. He passed away a couple of years ago but I can just see his head shaking through the current uproar, knowing that it’s rarely as easy or simple to absorb new lives as it seems. People are rarely any simpler than policy.

Canadians will probably oppose this proposal by the President-elect. That doesn’t mean many Americans won’t endorse it fully, if not encourage the incoming administration to make it so. But I suspect most Americans have no appreciation of how many things would change in unexpected ways. It’s not as if, in the end, everything is cost free; there would be benefits for Canadians and Americans as there would be costs as well. Any and all actions create consequences but this is one I expect with far more profound effects than merely giving us access to the Arctic or the vast hydropower up north.

But my point is that Canada is not completely surprised this is coming up. They have heard this one before. Turns out the set nature of post-World War II borders may be more malleable for some than we had been thinking.

I welcome your thoughts; a dialogue requires multiple voices but dialogue is what I aim to spur. I throw out things we need be aware of but am mindful my voice is a single one in a sea of other smart folks. So please chime in.

Thank you for your time this Saturday morning. I appreciate each and every one of you reading this today or all days. I thank subscribers for their investment.

We have a little more snow but no repeat volume of last week. I leave you with a vision of spring, however, as I say bring it on. I so look forward to the tulips and longer days.

Be well and be safe. FIN