Québécois here.
In 2006, I gave my father his 70th birthday present: seeing the Detroit Pistons play in their home town. He was excited like a little kid.
At the same time, I was writing a scientific article on the Collapse of complex civilizations, after reading Jane Jacobs Dark Age Ahead and seeing how the economy was not going well in North America.
Being in Detroit, in the downtown area, I was completely flabbergasted, saddened as well as angered and non-plussed at the total devastation I saw. When I came back and participated in local politics in Montreal, I immediately tried to warn people that North American cities were going to waste away if the status quo was maintained. A right wing think tank called Institut Economique de Montréal had monopolized the discourse and called me a Cassandra, and the conservatives who were infiltrating the forums and blogs by the way of disillusioned libertarians stepped up their game of online intimidation.
Fast-forward 14 years in the future and all the discussions I had and the predictions coming true and now I feel powerless… I also understand better how the Finns felt when they saw the SU collapse. I already did, I worked and studied in FInland for 3 years, but this situation gives me even more perspective. I can only hope that No.45 is no Boris Yeltsin and that there will be clashes and riots but not more.
There is not much I can do but educate my fellow citizens as rationally as possible.
My fellow North Americans, enlightened and progressive citizens south of the border, please do not become the Sowhat Union or the Disunited States. As imperfect and inadequate as you may feel, we need you.
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