American Footnotes
I returned from a visit to New York City last Sunday, weary from an eleven-hour journey by foot, train, bus and plane from Dr. E’s doorstep in New Haven, Connecticut to my own back here in Ottawa, but also from six days of immersion in American socio-political culture.
I don’t intend to launch into a tirade against all that is bad in the US of A – god knows that’s done frequently enough as is up here in the True North, Strong and Free. But I simply wanted to write about what it is that made it feel like such a relief to be back on this side of the border.
What I couldn’t help but notice on a regular basis throughout my trip, most of which was spent in arguably the bluest of blue states, were what one might call the footnotes of the great American storybook: countless abandoned warehouses, remnants of a bygone industrial era that’s come and gone in countless, nameless towns on either side of the tracks; and a startlingly high number of young, likely single moms with one or two kids old enough to be born when their mothers were still in, or barely out of, high school.
Before you accuse me of proselytizing about the virtues of the Canadian Way, I’ll add that there’s no sense in arguing that these things don’t exist in our country. Of course they do. But as opposed to the United States, where I got the distinct feeling that these things are far more common and even accepted parts of everyday life, these things are closer to periphery than anything else in our own country; rather than letting everyone fend for themselves and letting the market sort it all out, we take pride in the social safety net that, by and large, keeps most of us afloat and out of trouble, regardless of the resources we have at our disposal.
This difference in values was no more pronounced than during a conversation-turned-heated argument with an American acquaintance of Dr. E’s, who insisted that the Canadian health care system is destined to fail in “the next few years”, that user fees for medical services are good because they prevent people from going to the hospital for unnecessary treatments [which they do, to an extent, but at the expense of those who simply can’t afford them and end up dead or debilitated because of it], that our national debt is soaring because of our unsustainable universal health care policies [we’ve been paying it down at a steady rate for a few years now], and that even with our relatively generous social safety net we still have plenty of people without jobs [our unemployment rate is hovering around the lowest levels it’s been for a long time]. Granted, our system has holes and is (and will always be) in need of more funding to meet perceived needs, but is it on the verge of crashing and bringing our whole system down with it? I think not. And what’s with the animosity?
To try and wrap this up and offer some connection to the Canadian political scene at the same time, I’m afraid that despite our Prime Minister’s respectable focus on a limited set of priorities, his budget represents a slow but steady shift towards the “every man for himself” attitude that is pervasive – though often inconspicuous – within the borders of our neighbour to the south. If such an approach to governance – hallmarked by token, if not redundant tax cuts, cash handouts and policies motivated more by politics than by evidence– is to deepen, as it likely will under a Conservative majority, then perhaps my American acquaintance, who so firmly believed that our health care system was destined for the trash heap, will one day be right.
***
On an unrelated note, I became an honorary Estonian for an evening last night and continued my somewhat inexplicable habit of getting roped into singing folks songs in foreign languages. This time it was at a Baltic Pub Night in a church basement in downtown Ottawa full of Estonians, Lithuanians and Latvians, which I attended (though some might say ‘crashed’) with my good friend Mr. Saidla, of legitimate Estonian decent.
Once we had finished consuming a moderate number of 750 ml Saku beers, we were persuaded to join the impromptu Baltic songfest (read: showdown) along with five or six 1st generation Estonians. After a cursory rehearsal of “Meri” (Sea) outside the hall with the accompaniment of a fine sounding accordion, we gave it our best shot, came off sounding half decent and had a pretty good time in doing so.
Oh, and for the record, we were clearly more successful than both the Lithuanians and the Latvians…but don’t tell them that.
I don’t intend to launch into a tirade against all that is bad in the US of A – god knows that’s done frequently enough as is up here in the True North, Strong and Free. But I simply wanted to write about what it is that made it feel like such a relief to be back on this side of the border.
What I couldn’t help but notice on a regular basis throughout my trip, most of which was spent in arguably the bluest of blue states, were what one might call the footnotes of the great American storybook: countless abandoned warehouses, remnants of a bygone industrial era that’s come and gone in countless, nameless towns on either side of the tracks; and a startlingly high number of young, likely single moms with one or two kids old enough to be born when their mothers were still in, or barely out of, high school.
Before you accuse me of proselytizing about the virtues of the Canadian Way, I’ll add that there’s no sense in arguing that these things don’t exist in our country. Of course they do. But as opposed to the United States, where I got the distinct feeling that these things are far more common and even accepted parts of everyday life, these things are closer to periphery than anything else in our own country; rather than letting everyone fend for themselves and letting the market sort it all out, we take pride in the social safety net that, by and large, keeps most of us afloat and out of trouble, regardless of the resources we have at our disposal.
This difference in values was no more pronounced than during a conversation-turned-heated argument with an American acquaintance of Dr. E’s, who insisted that the Canadian health care system is destined to fail in “the next few years”, that user fees for medical services are good because they prevent people from going to the hospital for unnecessary treatments [which they do, to an extent, but at the expense of those who simply can’t afford them and end up dead or debilitated because of it], that our national debt is soaring because of our unsustainable universal health care policies [we’ve been paying it down at a steady rate for a few years now], and that even with our relatively generous social safety net we still have plenty of people without jobs [our unemployment rate is hovering around the lowest levels it’s been for a long time]. Granted, our system has holes and is (and will always be) in need of more funding to meet perceived needs, but is it on the verge of crashing and bringing our whole system down with it? I think not. And what’s with the animosity?
To try and wrap this up and offer some connection to the Canadian political scene at the same time, I’m afraid that despite our Prime Minister’s respectable focus on a limited set of priorities, his budget represents a slow but steady shift towards the “every man for himself” attitude that is pervasive – though often inconspicuous – within the borders of our neighbour to the south. If such an approach to governance – hallmarked by token, if not redundant tax cuts, cash handouts and policies motivated more by politics than by evidence– is to deepen, as it likely will under a Conservative majority, then perhaps my American acquaintance, who so firmly believed that our health care system was destined for the trash heap, will one day be right.
***
On an unrelated note, I became an honorary Estonian for an evening last night and continued my somewhat inexplicable habit of getting roped into singing folks songs in foreign languages. This time it was at a Baltic Pub Night in a church basement in downtown Ottawa full of Estonians, Lithuanians and Latvians, which I attended (though some might say ‘crashed’) with my good friend Mr. Saidla, of legitimate Estonian decent.
Once we had finished consuming a moderate number of 750 ml Saku beers, we were persuaded to join the impromptu Baltic songfest (read: showdown) along with five or six 1st generation Estonians. After a cursory rehearsal of “Meri” (Sea) outside the hall with the accompaniment of a fine sounding accordion, we gave it our best shot, came off sounding half decent and had a pretty good time in doing so.
Oh, and for the record, we were clearly more successful than both the Lithuanians and the Latvians…but don’t tell them that.
posted by Per at 4:45 p.m.
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