The American Dream

That's funny. I had always heard that the Canadian Dream (at least according to Will Ferguson) was "success without risk".

As long as you call yourself an "individualist" could you please tell us what your claim is for that name?

What have you done, built, "created" with your own head and hands ? Are you a worker, or an "investor" counting paper values, from the work of others?

The friends I was talking about are the hardest workers with their own hands, self employed forever, who have made a considerable success with their hard work and human treatment of their animals and employees. The real individualists.

Now, when they could relax and enjoy the fruits of their labours, the great "free enterpriser" US government forbids the taking of their own savings from their own bank accounts, because they choose to live abroad. This apparently applies to all US citizens abroad, unless they're corporations out to screw and enslave other countries.

Ed Deak, Big Lake, BC.

Ed, I applaud your American friends. They sound like decent, honest,
industrious and wise people. Canada is good place to live - but sadly, we're
no more economically free (nor in many other ways) than the beleagured
Americans you spoke of.

Success without risk. How funny. Kind of like something for nothing.

Reminds me of a friend who voted for the Liberals so she could have "free"
child care. This from a woman who makes $130,000 a year and recieves a
generous child allowance from the father of her child. This same woman jets
from Toronto to Calgary every other weekend to visit her boyfriend, and
shops for designer clothing for she and her daughter on the weekends in
between.

No risk or sacrifice to child care on her part. Universal child care lets her
pursue indulgence and pleasure while the state pays the bill. Think about it:
free daycare for a woman in the top 5% income bracket in Canada. Does this
make sense to you?

This illogical situation has been the norm in the much lauded Quebec system
for years, and now all of us may get it - the poor and middle class paying for
the wealthy. Emits a similar odour to corporate welfare. Yet, this genuine
inequality is argued to be a "Canadian value" by politicians, progressives, and
as polls and the media would indicate, all Canadians.

On the other hand, those desiring to mind our own children rather than
handing them off to child care "experts", are percieved as enemies of children
and the poor. Why? For not wanting the state to implement national, state
funded and regulated child care. This egregious inequality suffered by stay-
at-home parents, granting special privilage to dual-income families. Fool's
joke.

The woman I described above can afford her own child care, and if the state
didn't extract 50% of her earnings there would certainly be no question of her
ability to afford it. This would be equally true for the majority of Canadian
parents.

The state effectively owns her labour as a Taxpayer, enticing or forcing
increased reliance on the state. Here we have the parent welfare state
rewarding irresponsibility. Success without risk, something for nothing.
Meanwhile, those who truly need help are short changed. The "rights" of the
poor mean nothing in practice under this system of institutional inequality.

There appears to be confusion, inconsistency and perhaps hypocrisy on the
part of so-called progressives on what are or what are not authentic and
essential rights and liberties. A woman's right to choose. Sure. Gays to marry.
Of course. The natural right to own the fruits of one's labour, and provide for
oneself and his or her dependents. Not so sure about that one.

"Progressives' are all too willing to exercise state force to implement taxation
(i.e. theft). The euphemistic "wealth redistribution" (theft) of the welfare state
is achieved most entirely by coersion and force, the very implement decried
by those of us (progressive or otherwise) who abhor war and violence.

Force is force, no matter what the context, justification, or utopian ideal. And
stealing is stealing. Period.

Marxian philosophy, progressive taxation in particular, is in fact hostile to
and undermines human rights, self and mutual responsibility, and authentic
liberty. My wealthy friend is a resoundingly clear example of this. And we
applaud her. We say its her right to "get value from the system". Hence, a
engendering a culture of something for nothing, success without risk.

And leviathan grows.

<p>Ed,</p> <p>that’s news to me, and if true would be of immediate interest to my in-laws. Is this restriction due to the amount of money that your friends would like to bring over, or does it apply to any amount of money? Are they unable to even use a Canadian ATM to withdraw CAD from their American USD bank accounts? (I’ve done this numerous times, but then I don’t live in Canada.)</p><p>---<br>Shatter your ideals upon the rock of Truth.<br />
<br />
— The Divine Symphony, by Inayat Khan<br />

<<They are in their late sixties, American born and raised, served in the military, still have large holdings in the USA, but can no longer live there.>>

Hope I'm not helping support these Americans living out their golden years under our free health care plan. Maybe if they liquidate these "large holdings" in the US, they can speak from a position of legitimacy.