Since 2016 as Canadians watched Americans begin their run-up to the 2020 election I think we’ve been confused by what we’ve witnessed. Recognizing that since 2008 and the bank failure in the USA we have noticed increasingly that there was growing anger towards anyone, anything inside or outside the USA that was seen as costing Americans. From jobs going to Mexico, to China’s rising economic power. to inside traders, bank executives getting off without penalty brought the average American to this one conclusion; the system is broken.

That has brought us to where we are today – yes, simplified for sure but my point is that people are willing to follow anyone who they think will return them to an America where the middle class gets ahead and jobs are plenty.

My economics teacher told me that a system works when the forces of the system are allowed to work as they should – ie. bailing out the auto sector would not be the choice of an economist. Marketing systems would not be in the choice of an economist.

Yes, again simplified statements, but you get my point.

With a growing global market place being able to be self-sufficient is increasingly a way to economic ruin. We need each other and we need to trade fairly.

Protectionism is rampant in the USA – we saw it on our most recent trip. Buy American is crazy – they don’t manufacture what they need AND they don’t have the workforce to sustain themselves.

But that was just one observation. The signs to buy guns, get a licence to carry a concealed weapon, practice at the range, and so on were at every turn. And of course – we were in the Mid-West where Jesse James is a hero.

Knowing the debate over health care, and the number of obese Americans we saw, I wondered… how does the life expectancy of an American man compare to mine?

Look it up yourself but you’ll discover on average that the Canadian male will leave four years longer. Yup four years. We’re not taking the difference between here and some Eastern European state still climbing out of the pitfalls of communism or some developing African country. We’re talking about the great US of A. Four years is huge compared to Canada.

I didn’t do any further research, but I wondered, is it guns or healthcare or all-you-can-eat buffet lines?