A Canadian Views American Demoracy Through Eyes of H.L. Mencken

Here are some quotations I saved that might give a chuckle or simply a sense of futility.

H.L. Mencken:

Democracy: the worship of jackals by jackasses.

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

The men the American public admires most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.

Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.

Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.

Good Luck,

w

Terrorist Atttack in Ottawa on October 22, 2014

Needless to say, as a loyal friend of Canada, the terrible events in Ottawa today have upset me deeply.  Canada is one of the greatest countries in the history of the world.  I know from first-hand experience.  It angers me that vermin would desecrate the sacred dead of Canada, kill its soldiers, and attack its Parliament.  

In 2011, Jane and I visited the tombs of the unknowns and Parliament.  As we walked observed the tombs of the unknowns a caravan of cars with Pakistani flags on them circled the tombs of the unknowns blowing their horns!   I could no believe I was watching, hearing such disrespect to the country that gave them safety, freedom, wealth!  I submit that coddling such behavior is one of the reasons why the terrible event in Ottawa occurred today.  I hope that anybody who engages in such disrespect and acts of violence are handed over to the Royal Canadian Legion, whose members will know what to do with such vermin.  I love Canada; I hope, pray such terrible acts stop.  Paul

P.S.  My wife Jane is on a two-week tour in Europe right now; she will return on October 30, 2014  I am sure she is very upset with this turn of events.  Please take care of Canada.  We love it!  (We spent two weeks in Ontario in August of 2014.)   We love Canadians!  Paul & Jane Rux

Erosion of Teacher Dignity in Canada

Alan, here are a few quick thoughts.  The blather about leadership assumes professional autonomy in the classroom.  More and more teachers are widgets in an imposed top-down system.  This is especially true for online paper graders like me.  The course is canned; you simply grade the results.
It is similar to the old major professor who had a lot of TA's (teaching assistants).  The TA's graded the paper.  The professor "canned" the content. 

Moreover, the emergence of "Big Data" in which headquarters uses databases to measure your "competence" is going to further degrade teachers.  A friend of mine was head of science at York University, Toronto.  York has 66,000 students; his science department had 10,000.  The System was turning to the TA model, adjunct paper graders, and he saw the erosion of professional autonomy, dignity, "leadership." 

FYI  - I am tired of the American obsession with Leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership.  This is the mantra of fascism, of course.  I favor each person managing himself, herself, also called Chaotics, self-organizing systems.  Anyway, I know I am hopelessly outdated.  So I need to accept "as is," Taoist phrase there, how things are.  Let the systems destroy themselves. 

My friiend in Toronto fought the System.  The result was a fatal stroke last December, which killed him at age 67,  The year before I begged him to retire at age 67 from trying to assert traditional guild craftsmanship against the challenge of the Big Data machines emerging out there.  He could have retired at, yes, $110,000/year.  He is dead now for he believed in a hopeless cause.  I do not intend to make the same mistake.  We plan to visit his widow within the next two weeks.  Paul

Raise Your Family in Canada, Not USA

The bad news is the tragic school killing in suburban Portland, Oregon, the online base for the Concordia University System.  The shooting underscores, good and hard, our discussion about priorities in education today.  Sadly, in the USA, it must be school, campus, student, teacher physical safety.  As I have shared, Dale Breitlow, a Ph.D. classmate of mine at the University of Wisconsin – Madison was murdered by a student at his high school in suburban Milwaukee.  For your professor, the issue of school safety is not some academic debate.  It is very real because of Dale’s murder.   The good news is students like you are preparing yourselves to be educational leaders who are alert to this need.  Keep up your good work.  Only two weeks remain in our course.  It is “pedal to the metal” time now!

The Old School Tie in Canada

Stephanie, I have seen the house system work big time at Upper Canada College, Toronto, Canada.  It is the Eaton/Harrow/Ruby elite high school for boys in Canada.  It has "houses."  This gives each student a special identity and provides the basis for internal competition in sports, academics, and social events.  However,  all "houses" focus on overall excellence in all aspects of student life.  The "houses" help to remove isolation, build friendships among students, and instill a sense of intramural pride and competition that drives overall excellence.  I taught at nearby St. Andrew's College, an elite school in the model of Upper Canada College.  We were rivals in the same prep school league. At St. Andrew's, which immigrants from Scotland founded, we did not have "houses."  We had "clans."  The purpose of the "clans" at St. Andrew's was the same as the "houses" at Upper Canada College.  At St. Andrew's each clan had ties with the tartan of the actual clan in Scotland on it to wear when they competed in intra-mural events.  In the end, however, they all wore the St. Andrew's school tie with pride; your humble servant has his St. Andrew's tie to this very day too!  Dr. Rux

Videos and Confederation of the Great Lakes

Nicholas, this is thoughtful, thorough, and provides valuable insights.  One, the visual culture trend jumps out at your humble servant as he goes through various discount, thrift, retail stores here in Florida over the past three months.  What he sees is lots of romance paperbacks; serious factual books are disappearing.  The same is happening in large retail giants like Wal-Mart.  The video disc section is twice as large as the print section, which includes magazines like Guns and Ammo.  Yesterday, this writer visited the historical museum in Cedar Key, Florida.  The volunteer at the desk, a retired M.D. from New York, told me that not one book store exists in Levy County.  The last one was across the street from the museum, which a retired M.D. from Michigan opened and ran.  He and I became friends over the years; it was one of my favorite stops there.  His wife got sick, and they had to return north.  The book store is now empty, up for rent.  You get the idea.

Two, your discussion of economic domains reminds me of the Canadian consul general from Chicago who a year ago came to speak at a luncheon in the Madison Club, Madison, Wisconsin.  He said, given the population, production, water transportation the Provinces of Canada and the State of America on the Great Lakes could easily create a Federation, the Federation of the Great Lakes he called it!  It would not need the rest of the areas like Kentucky, South Dakota, Manitoba, etc. to become prosperous.  It would trade with them, but it would not provide corporate and social welfare for them!  This is economic domain big time; yes, it was suggested during the US Civil War.  Northerners who opposed fighting Southern planters for Wall Street banks suggested a Northwest Confederation, similar to the Great Lakes proposal.  They said what went on in Dixie was none of their concern; they could use the Great Lakes to make a living without cotton!  If Wall Street and Washington are not careful, such projects could easily emerge.  They would rely on economic domains, not political boundaries, as their engines.  If this country experiences institutional failure, which it could do yet, look for such economic domains springing into autonomous life and shedding the parasites on them.  Thanks for listening.  Dr. Rux

Winning and Losing in Wiarton, Ontario, Canada

Walter, wow, wow, wow!   I love your reflections.  Please keep them coming.  I also concur with your analysis in the email below 100%.  Pollster John Zogby in 2008 detected a trend in the U.S.  He called it "authentic."  You state this here.  People, he estimates it at 48% then, are moving toward the value of "authenticity."  They are tired of fakes, phonies, and frauds lying to them, exploiting them, and destroying them.  Zogby argues Americans have two traditions.  One is commercial; the other is conscience.  New England has its roots in Puritan conscience, not commerce, which came later.  Walden Pond is a symbol of this authenticity, and Zogby says Americans, and Canadians too, as North Americans, are moving more and more toward their versions of Walden Pond.  They are willing to work for less if they can have time for themselves and those whom they love, their neighbors, communities.  You document this superbly in your description of the musical event in Barrie, Ontario, Canada.  There is hope in this.  One of the best experiences of my life were the four years in Wiarton, Ontario, Canada.  I did not know it at the time, but my time there was one of the few in my lifetime where I felt a sense of community, which is absolutely basic to mental, social health.  At the time, I thought it was exile; as the Chinese say, who is winning and losing depends on when you ask the question.  Now, maturity has framed those years as one of the greatest learning, living experiences of my life.  Dear friend, we see the world the same way.  It is comforting to know that you value what I do, see what I do, and hope for what I do.  Please consider collecting your poetry, essays into some book format.  It could be paperback.  It could be self-published.  Make it your heritage to those seeking authentic.  God bless, Paul

Promises in Canada to Keep Before I Sleep

Gary, this is terrific!  Your use of wild card and historical analyses are stunning.  Your first article in particular grabbed the attention of this writer.  Here is why.  I earned my M.A. at the University of Toronto; I studied with John S. Moir, the greatest church historian ever in Canada.  Sadly, he died in 2012.  When I last saw him, he took me alone into his story at his home.  He said, "Do a study of the future of religion in Canada.  Immigration is going to change this country forever, and religious trends will change with it."  I honor Prof. Moir as my role model, hero; I am starting to take steps toward funding to do this.  Your article has simply fired up my resolution to honor my promise to Prof. Moir and write and publish a study in his honor.  Thank you Gary for your "push" here.  When you wrote your analysis you had no way of knowing its special impact on your humble servant here.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Dr. Paul Rux