Get Cozy

In 2024 I voted for the first time in an American national election, this despite living here since 1998. Having moved myself and my wife Laurie to Houston, Texas from Calgary, Alberta, the thought was it was likely a one to two year stay at most. You know what they say about best laid plans.

I arrived in Texas on an L-1A visa, and in retrospect should have immediately applied for a Green Card. Instead, I looked at the tenure of that visa and thought I would be well covered. To make a very long story short(er), my original employment plan fell through, I switched to a TN Visa, a pathway to work from the NAFTA days. That was renewed annually a few times, before switching to an employer sponsored H1-B. I then applied for the magical Green Card, which I didn’t receive until 2016. During that wait, I switched jobs twice, and Laurie and I had three kids.

Side note: My personal journey, navigating the US immigration process by the letter, explains why that issue is quite personal to me. Anybody waltzing into the country illegally, and being allowed to stay, is tough to accept. Laurie and I became dual citizens in 2021, in the first month of eligibility after five years under a Green Card, 23 years after moving here. Get in line.

Politics has always interested me. I grew up in a Canadian conservative household, in Alberta, often called the Texas of Canada. I followed the American news like most Canadians do, and watched with intrigue as the network news anchors announced the tally every four years.

I recall growing up, seeing Ronald Reagan as a charismatic and engaging President. George Herbert Walker Bush was a fine President in a time of war, and a decent human being. For me, Bill Clinton changed the way young people engage in politics, and I thought he was pretty damn cool. Very much a JFK-type figure for my generation. The fact that any of these guys were Democrats or Republicans was immaterial to me. They were admired because of how they made people feel, including me.

When I crossed the border, and bought a home in the Woodlands, just north of Houston, I had assumed I would be a Republican. After all, I come from a long line of conservatives. It didn’t take long for me to discover that a Tory in Canada is not a Republican in Texas. Chatting with the folks at the country club (did I mention we joined a country club?), they were surprised to hear the Conservative Party of Canada, at the time, campaigned on keeping and improving universal health care. They implemented protections for minority groups and interests. Oh sure, the Liberal Party was more “motherly”, but the delta between the two party platforms wasn’t as severe. Of course, the Canadian parliamentary system allows for multiple parties to gain seats nationally, so compromise and coalition governments are a necessity. This meant minor parties like the NDP and the Bloc de Quebecois had an inordinate amount of power during certain elections.

During a few social occasions, with work colleagues or neighbors, I discovered that some Americans were pretty comfortable with their racism and bigotry. In fact, I’m pretty sure that half the time they didn’t realize what they were saying would emit gasps back home in Canada. Being a white guy, and living in Texas, there was an assumption I was on board. Regretfully, I managed those situations by remaining silent. I was taking mental notes, however, and I felt my American political beliefs taking shape.

It was Bill Clinton’s impeachment in late 1998, where American politics really took hold of me. Bill’s inability to keep it in his pants became the worst thing to happen to America since Emperor Hirohito’s flash mob in Pearl Harbor. The spectacle of what the GOP did to Clinton was a disgrace on the world stage, and exposed the political system as a blood feud. I found myself constantly defending Clinton to my more conservative colleagues, who just wanted the man gone. I kept asking – “are you guys really going to try and take down the Presidency over a blowjob coverup?” The answer was an emphatic “yes”.

I suppose it was then that I became a left-leaning moderate – and I was utterly shocked that Al Gore lost the 2000 election (allegedly) to George W Bush – widely regarded as one of the least intelligent men to ever step into a Presidential campaign.

My opinion of W changed, for a while anyway, September 12, 2001. I thought he did a great job as the Commander in Chief during one of America’s darkest moments. His ceremonial first pitch at Yankee Stadium, before Game 3 of the World Series that year, was the ultimate “eff-you” to the terrorists. And not only that – he threw a fastball strike. His popularity may have peaked at that moment.

Sadly, W’s weak leadership was fully exposed by the hawks in the White House, and his catastrophic decision to go to war with Iraq destroyed his legacy, and has harmed American interests in the region to this very day.

Enter Barrack Hussein Obama. Intelligent, calm, inspirational – the polar opposite of W, and a stark contrast to the GOP’s nominee at the time, Sen. John McCain. I liked McCain, but I will never forgive him for launching Sarah Palin into the national American politic. It was a moment in time where Republicans abandoned logic, falling in behind a person so obviously ill-equipped for the moment. She was an embarrassment, shockingly unprepared, unqualified, and offensive. But, she was pretty, she was younger, and she took the focus off McCain’s age disadvantage to Obama, for a fleeting moment. Ultimately, her hilariously awful interviews exposed her for the amateur grifter she was – and McCain was routed in 2008. In the loss, Republicans became the party that embraced piety over science, form over substance, ignorance over intelligence. This doesn’t mean all Republicans are religious freaks who never finished school – but it shined a light on how easily manipulated that voting block could be.

It certainly explains the rise of Donald Trump. Supposedly smart Republicans backed him for what he promised to do to those that oppose them. They backed him for tax cuts, they backed him for his celebrity status, they backed him because they were terrified of his MAGA base. Only the most devout cultists in DC actually believed Trump was a genius. The evidence was overwhelming that most Republican politicians knew the bed they had made in that Trump era was harmful to the brand, and not sustainable. As soon as he was gone, they knew they had work to do to repair the damage. Until then, they passively subjugated themselves to their reality show blowhard, biding their time. Joe Biden provided that relief in 2020.

Joe Biden was a good President. He brought normalcy back to our politics. He lead a historic economic recovery from the pandemic – better than all other G8 countries by a mile. GDP growth, job creation, unemployment rate, the stock market – all metrics that ANY President would laud as a success, Biden had them all. He restored our reputation on the global stage – which was always his strength. It was a fatal miscalculation on his part – dare I say arrogant – to decide to run for a second term. I was in the camp that said he should have declared from the beginning he would serve only one term. Maybe, he would announce that at the 2022 mid terms to allow the Dems a full primary to choose the next leader? It was not to be. The repercussions of that decision came to a head in that dreadful debate performance that shocked political junkies everywhere. It turns out the election was lost in that moment, many of us just hadn’t accepted it yet.

Now, we are left with the shocking, mind-numbing reality of the second (and maybe last) term of Donald John Trump. As was said earlier – leaders are admired largely based on how they make voters feel. Trump makes me want to take a bath in rubbing alcohol. He represents everything the world hates in America, all wrapped up in an oversized suit, extra long ties, and more makeup than a Broadway whore.

I like his stance on immigration policy, but hate the scapegoating and cruelty. I like his simplified tax plan for the middle class, but hate his love of oligarchs and his fawning enrichment of the billionaire class. I fully endorse the support for Israel, and the need for Gaza to be rid of Hamas, but hate the ridiculous idea that Trump will turn it into one more casino to bankrupt. I hate his lying – and I hate how senior Republican leadership bend over backwards to make his lies seem plausible in the face of overwhelming opposing facts and statistics.

In short, what the Republican party has become, offers me very little that matches my own values. I may get a tax cut – but does that mean more homeless veterans? Does that mean viral diseases running amok in the developing world, the rest of the world soon to follow? Does that mean private companies dictating public education for profit? What does it mean for freedom of the press? Freedom to assemble? This seems like a dumb debate.

Until the GOP pull their heads out of their collective asses, there’s not much doubt as to whom I support. And believe me, the other side comes with large helping of eye-rolling bullshit as well. But at least that side still understands the concept of checks and balances, Congressional power, civilian oversight, and Constitutional limits on the Executive branch.

Then again, who knows if all those foundational pillars will be there in 2028?