What If Canada Annexed The USA? How Bad Could That Be?

[stopbush]

I mean, think about it. We'd all have great health care, our national IQ would go up significantly, the rest of the world would suddenly like and respect us, we'd still get to vote...and we'd all learn French to boot!

Plus, our national pastime would be ice hockey (SO much better than basketball & football!), we'd have a national anthem that we could actually sing, none of us would need to emigrate, and we'd have beer on the shelves that didn't taste like ox piss.

Who's with me?

[NMDemDist2]

1. why in the world would you wish such a thing on a nice country like Canada

shame on you!

[ithacan]

2. why would canada to that to itself?

why would they want to bring into their country and political system a population that is 9 time bigger than their own and that contains very significant numbers of right wing crazies, neo-confederates, Rush Limbaugh and Fox News fans, etc.???

That just would not make any sense at all.

Better idea: The "Blue" States secede from the Union, set up a nice, moderate Canadian like country, and work with Canada to defend ourselves from the crazies running what's left.

[Kitsune]

4. You know, we probably COULD secede

what with the entire National Guard in Iraq, who the hell would there be to stop it?

[Cleita]

10. That sounds like a plan.

Let the neo-cons have their Xtian paradise, with an elite ruling class, one-party rule, a dictator, and starving masses working for peanuts. It would take us back to the days of Charles Dickens. That's what they want.

[ithacan]

13. the problem though

would be that they would not be content to just stew in their own hatreds. This would be a militaristic right wing dictatorship that would act aggressively, especially against civilized societies...

they might have to be conquered and de-nazified by a global coalition.

[noahmijo]

3. Uh..no

Nothing against Canada, but the idea of dumping our Constitution our Bill of Rights, does not appeal to me.


Voting out Shrub and working to bring our country back up to the way it was in the 90's sounds far more appropriate to me, and so does strenghtening our ties with Canada.

At best maybe we could adopt some ideas from our Canadian neighbors but as far as health care is concerned the US has something that Canada doesn't: that is Mexican neighbors.

Canada doesn't have millions of illegals trying to penetrate their borders. They don't share the border problems that we do in that sense. The idea of Universal Healthcare can only be made possible if the vast majority are paying taxes for it.

Believe me I'd love to just cover every last good human being with proper healthcare, ect, but it's just not possible due to our limited resources.

Then you've got those who would refuse to adopt to a Canadian style system and it's enough to make an impact in the sense of the fact that another civil war could possibly break out, or the regions that dissent against the idea of annexation would break away and not contribute.

Conclusion: just learn a few things from Canada, take some advice from their prime minister especially when it comes to war, but BECOME them? naw I'll stick with trying to fix my own country.

[Zan_of_Texas]

5. Canada has got a lot going for it.

Less developed. Resources. Less extremism on the right wing. Less screaming in the village square. And, as Michael Moore pointed out in his movie, they don't tend to shoot each other. Even though they have guns. Go figure.

As for health care, Dennis Kucinich figured out that if we cut out the insurance companies (and maybe exerted a tiny bit of pressure on the pharmaceuticals? who are gouging us as if there were no tomorrow), and had a single payer, we could cut so much middle-man fat and bureaucracy out of the health care dollar that we could afford health care for all.

[reprehensor]

6. Slice the Pentagon budget in half.

And you would have health care for the USA and Canada too.

[Cleita]

11. We need to do more than go back to the nineties, or

this could happen again if we don't institute fail safes this time.

[TO Kid]

7. Real bad

No property rights.
Jail time for disagreeing with conventional wisdom on any controversial issue.
50% of income going to taxman, even when you're making minimum wage.
No right to self-defence.
Long waits for medical services.
Nobody willing to start a business without government help.
Tax dollars to finance political parties whom you do not support.
Fines and/or jail time for taking out ads during an election campaign.
Gasoline at $3+ per gallon.
8% unemployment considered "low".

[No2W2004]

9. Tax dollars to finance political parties whom you do not support.

Ya know, if this keeps government out of the hands of corporations, then I'd be all for it!

[zx22778a]

16. Huh???

Why don't you go back to Freeperville?

No property rights. I'm not sure what you mean by this. Any government in the world can expropriate property with proper compensation.

Jail time for disagreeing with conventional wisdom on any controversial issue. Again, I don't really know what you're talking about. I have a bit of a problem with the hate speech issue but I haven't heard of anyone going to jail over it.

50% of income going to taxman. My wife and I paid less than 18k in income tax last year on over 100k in combined income.

No right to self-defense. You can use reasonable force to defend yourself and others - same as anywhere else in the world.

Long waits for medical services. I am not a healthy person. I've had two strokes and a heart attack in the past five years. Never experienced any waits, never saw a bill either.

Tax dollars to finance political parties whom you do not support. Sounds better than the election going to the richest.

Fines and/or jail time for taking out ads during an election campaign. I believe the U.S. also has laws restricting third party spending in election campaigns.

Gasoline at $3+ per gallon. Last Tuesday was the last time I bought gas and here in Oshawa, Ontario I paid 84.9 cents a litre. Converting litres to gallons and Canadian dollars to US, that works out to $2.41 cents U.S. per gallon. Expensive yes, but nowhere near $3.00.

[Cleita]

8. Well, Americans have always wondered why we don't join the

two countries without the Queen involved of course. I doubt if Canadians would go for it. On the other hand merging the two countries with the Canadian system could be sweet. We could just tell the Washington. D. C. crowd to blow off. They wouldn't be part of the system anymore.

[AliceWonderland]

12. Uh, no thanks

No offense, but as a Canadian, I think I'll pass.

[livinginphotographs]

14. Let me just tinker with this article from CNN a bit....

There we go!


Dozens of American insurgents killed in clashes
Washington, DC (CNN) -- Insurgents and Canadian troops battled across America as talk of Christian peace moves competed with sounds of mortars and gunfire in Washington, the stronghold of American president George W Bush and his American Army militia.

The death count over the last 24 hours was high for insurgents: 21 in the Washington area, 16 near New York, and four in Chicago, where coalition troops and the Bush militia have been fighting for the last four days, Canadian officials said Saturday.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/15/iraq.main/index.html

[ibegurpard]

15. Why would Canada want to become the United States?

The attitudes and ideology of many Americans would overwhelm and destroy their way of life.