Something We Should Import

Thursday, July 04, 2013

This Independence Day, I find myself recalling a line from the movie, Smoke Signals, in which one character asked another something like, "So, are you feeling independent?"

The question struck me as based on bad premises, but understandable. At the same time, it was a question that could have been spot-on (and applicable to all Americans) based on good premises and the accelerating trend of government abuse called for by the electorate. With that in mind, I direct your attention to a lesson we could learn from our neighbors to the north. Their forebears may not have rebelled against England, but they now freer than we are in some respects and are moving in a better direction overall than we are.

Here is just one example:

["Hate speech"] legislation was nowhere near unique to Canada, as charges of "hate speech” are a ubiquitous tool of the worldwide Left, intended to silence opposition while elevating their approved opinions to the level of law. But the fact that Canada has abolished this shameful codification of censorship reveals a tendency toward renewal of liberty that the United States, and other nations, would do well to emulate.
My thanks to reader Steve D. for bringing this article to my attention. The piece shows that there is hope that the tide of statism can be turned. It can happen here, too, and that is cause for celebration. This is especially true for those of us who realize that the fight for liberty never ends.

-- CAV

2 comments:

Bill Brown said...

I'm not so sure that things have changed up north:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/02/27/supreme-court-upholds-canadas-hate-speech-laws-in-case-involving-anti-gay-crusader

Maybe they no longer imprison hate speakers, but that's not an improvement on our First Amendment.

Gus Van Horn said...

Thanks for the additional evidence.

That said, I never meant to imply that what Canada had done was an improvement on the First Amendment. I was merely commenting on what my (possibly incorrect) reading of cultural and political trends indicated to me as two countries headed in opposite directions.