Along with the grounding power of tradition, there must be a simpler and more practical reason why Canada was able to learn from Trump’s attack, while the US Democrats have been allegedly opposing Trump since 2015 while ACTUALLY campaigning for him.
Constants and variables: Trudeau’s sudden shift toward doing the right thing after many years of standard globalist craziness is a huge outlier, and deserves an explanation. The king’s reminder of the old tradition happened after Carney invited him to speak. Before yesterday the tradition was dormant, so it’s not the best explanation. There must be something in the active and conscious parts of Canada’s system that enables change.
I can think of three practical differences.
1. I noticed one a long time ago. Britain and Canada understand psychopaths. Some Americans also understand how to deal with the type, but the understanding has never appeared in print or movies or TV. Trudeau and Carney are using this knowledge to make EXACTLY the right moves when attacked by the psychopath.
2. The most obvious reason, which I’ve cited before for Britain, is the physical setup of parliament, making the old system far more adaptable and flexible than the US rigid kleptocracy. The ruling party can change the prime minister quickly when he turns out to be bad or ineffective. The minority party can call a new election under some circumstances. The US system has no feedback loops at all, no adaptation. There’s no way to get rid of a bad or inadequate president, and there’s no way to call an election to change direction.
3. Thinking about the specific motives of US Democrats, another difference emerges.
Canada doesn’t have any billionaires.
Specifically Canada doesn’t have any Tech Tyrants.
When politicians CAN rely on a billionaire or Wall Street they WILL.** When politicians don’t have the choice of relying on a billionaire, they have to look elsewhere. At some point, after exhausting all tolerable sources of support, they will grudgingly rely on Negative Externalities. Before Trump, Canada WAS the 51st state. It was a seamless part of the billionaire network, so its politicians were following the same rules as US politicians. Trump broke the connection, leaving Trudeau with no remaining option except his own people, no matter how much he hated them. Trudeau amazingly figured out what happened, and started trying to please Canada instead of Wall Street.
US Dems are obeying the same billionaires who run the Repooflicans. Until 2024 all the billionaires wanted the same results no matter which puppet was standing in front of the machine. In 2024 the tech tyrants switched to a different puppet who would do even more for them. The Dems were blindsided when Elon and Jeff and Zuck switched to the better servant. They still haven’t begun to understand why the voters hate them more than they hate Trump. Dems are still screeching and suing, effectively campaigning for Trump.
Yesterday I noted that Canada was always weak in electronics, even before globalism when it was strong in all other industries. Possibly Canada’s permanent weakness turned out to be its best strength at this moment?
Might be too specific. The simple lack of all billionaires is probably enough to explain the difference.
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** See also: When businesses CAN rely on defense contracts, they WILL. and When researchers CAN rely on government grants, they WILL. In all three cases the choice involves more than simple stability. The preferred source (billionaires for politicians, defense contracts for businesses, agency grants for scientists) has a HIGHER STATUS than voters or customers or private funding.
Polistra's Mill 