While the promise of stable government passes for
political discourse in Canada, the Americans are playing out Act One of a
classic American drama.
Necessary bipartisan problem-solving will return to Washington
with the winners and only a handful of losers will give up and move to Canada.
In the meantime, however, Americans will participate in a bitter, high-stakes debate
and then a decision about who should guide American power at home and abroad.
The least certain—the deciders—will be swayed
by the most certain. So, both Obama and Romney and their campaigns will have to
keep raising the temperature.
The prospect of a loud, divisive election is unnerving. Too
much shouldn’t be decided on in one day. Also, it compromises good government to
tie elected representatives to too many detailed positions in advance of
assuming their responsibilities. These
concerns have been around as long as mass democracy on this continent.
Fortunately, the American public—like people everywhere—quickly tires of loud-mouths and inflexible dreams.
In event, one postponed decision after another and one
political calculation after another have forced a big election on America. So,
Americans: Enjoy the Fourth of July because the next four months will be hard
work.
There’s a school of opinion that extreme language in
American politics is uniquely American—that it’s in your character. Writers
who want to find something pleasingly different to say about how Canadians
practice democracy can be counted on to call us temperate and Americans, less
so.
In John Irving’s novel A
Prayer for Owen Meany, a character is quoted favorably in the Literary Review of Canada this month
saying:
“But don’t you see how your … opinions can be disturbing?” a Canadian
confides to him. “It’s very American—to
have opinions … as strong as your
opinions. It’s very Canadian to distrust strong opinions.”
Click on: http://reviewcanada.ca/
You can’t overstate the abundance of fresh water up here.
But, our reputation for watery opinions is exaggerated. Canada’s persistence as
a British Dominion is testament enough to the power of dogged opinion over almost
all else.
What may have caught Irving's attention is our reticence. Yet,
that isn’t a virtue in a democracy or in a family of adults.
The faith that energizes America’s extravagant democracy is
profound: Americans who are attracted to politics or simply love their country still
believe that their fellow Americans are persuadable.
That’s what brings their opinions to the service; that’s the
optimism that we should celebrate with Americans today.
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