So many of They, The People, are lovely neighbours; why don’t they seem to care?

Opinion

It isn’t a party until somebody desecrates a flag.

At the Celebrating Canada rally held Sunday at the Manitoba legislature, there were lots of people focused on their love for Canada. Team Canada hockey jerseys of various vintages, stuffed polar bears and Canadian flags of all sizes dominated the red-and-white gathering.

But then, somebody unfurled an American flag.

In the Free Press story about the rally, Elijah Kirton admitted to bringing the Stars and Stripes expressly so that he could throw it to the ground and grind it into the damp, spring turf outside the Legislative Building with a lively jig. Kirton’s act of defiance was robustly cheered by dozens of people on lawn.

“I have this flag, like, to show that the U.S. has trampled over us for so long and has disrespected us, especially their crappy president.”

As far as acts of political performance art are concerned, this was pretty good stuff. But does it accurately capture how the majority of us feel right now?

A quick sidebar note: desecrating a flag is an act that really makes some people unhappy.

Personally, while I think that flags and anthems are important symbols of national identity and very worthy of respect, I have never considered them sacred. Burning or stomping on a flag, or booing a national anthem, isn’t an act of treason (when it’s your flag or anthem) or an open declaration of war (when it’s somebody else’s flag and anthem); the mere fact that you can burn or stomp on a flag or boo an anthem is evidence that you live in a fully functioning democracy that affords you the right to express yourself.

Of course, desecrating a flag also brings us precariously close to an expression of hatred. And that prompts a pretty big question about how Canadians really feel about the state of the world and the clearly existential threats posed by the U.S.

Do we have to hate America and Americans to show our love for Canada?

Right now, we’re watching with horror as U.S. President Donald Trump and his band of merry mayhem makers looks for new ways of ruining the lives of people who do not live, work or vote in the United States. Understandably, many Canadians feel entitled to anger, even hatred.

But surely this isn’t where we want to be for the long term. Surely, we want some sort of future off-ramp where we can once again celebrate our differences with America without wishing bad things for them.

Recent experiences have shown me that, notwithstanding the toxic qualities of the man in charge of all the mayhem, there are quite a few nice people down south.

Last summer, in anticipation of the possibility of Trump 2.0, I visited two of my favourite U.S. cities: San Francisco, a fascinating community bursting with a multitude of vibrant cultures; and Minneapolis, the closest, larger city to Winnipeg that has been a welcome cultural oasis for my family.

Saw live music, ate great meals, hiked great trails, saw wonderful architectural and natural wonders.

When all the manure hit the fan in January after you-know-who was inexplicably given the keys to the castle for a second term, I found myself casting back to all of the great Americans I met on those trips: the third-generation family winemakers in the Napa Valley; the elegant career servers who toiled at Restaurant Alma, my all-time favourite restaurant in Minneapolis; the mother-daughter duo we met at a concert at the legendary First Avenue.

When I think of those folks, the thrill I get from hating what the Trump administration is doing to Canada (and other countries) is significantly dampened.

I should say, I didn’t find out the politics of the winemakers, the servers or the mom and daughter. I am, however, a bit concerned about whether the Americans I like are going to be overwhelmed by the Americans I might be inclined to hate.

Despite Trump’s complete lack of respect for the rule of law and democratic institutions, Americans are split on whether he’s doing a good job. Although there have been nationwide protests against the extra-legal acts of aggression he has committed against his own citizens, public opinion polls show that nearly half of Americans approve of what’s happened, all of it in fewer than 100 days since he was inaugurated.

When you fire hundreds of thousands of civil servants without cause, apprehend and deport people who are legally entitled to be in the U.S., and repeatedly supersede and ignore the elected Congress, you might think there would be a stronger reaction from the American people.

Apparently, the preservation of democracy is not a priority for very nearly half of all Americans. If the citizens of the country to the south don’t rediscover their reverence for democracy and the rule of law soon, many of us in Canada will find ourselves embracing a hatred from which we may never recover.

For now, I hate what Trump is doing to America and Americans. And I honestly believe that most Americans will come to their senses and punish Trump for what he is doing to one of the world’s great democracies.

But if that doesn’t happen, hand me a Canadian flag and get ready for a jig.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca