A Letter To Our Friends Up North

Dear People of Canada:

As you are no doubt aware, the Republican convention in Cleveland Ohio concluded last night.  Since then there has been a spate of pieces in the media decrying the outcome and declaring the death of the Republican Party.  Thankfully, there still is the general election, to be held November 8, 2016, more than 3 months away.  More than likely, things will return to normal after that and people everywhere will breathe a big sigh of relief.  However, the nightmare scenario remains a possibility.  Were that to happen the consequence for Canada could be dire indeed.

People such as the author of this letter might very well opt to move across the border, in search of a country where sanity and tolerance still prevails, fearful of what life would be like if they remain in the U.S.  Nobody wants to leave their home, especially under such circumstances.  But these people will feel they have no choice.  Thus, they will be despondent and likely remain that way for some time to come.

If only a few make such a move that would be a trifling. But it is conceivable that the number of people who do this will be quite large.  Then the effect would be consequential.  The general sense of malaise these people will bring with them could create a significant depressing effect on otherwise cheerful Canadian society.  And these people might put a significant drain on Canadian social services, which have been scaled to a certain level that didn't anticipate such a large in migration occurring in a comparatively short timespan.  Overall, the effect could be quite deleterious for Canada and for many years to come.

Sensibly, then, Canada should want to block this large influx of people from the U.S.  Those people, however, might be quite determined to leave the U.S.   If at normal Customs checkpoints at the border they begin to turn people back instead of letting them through, word will get out about that and some of these people will try to sneak across the border elsewhere.  If enough attempt this Canada will want to block that as well, i.e., Canada will then need to build a border fence.  Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Anticipating the nightmare scenario now and knowing that to get effective blocking in place when it is needed will take some substantial lead time, it is not too early to begin planning these activities.  I am writing to urge you not to do that, reasonable as it may be for Canada to take such preemptive measures.  Consider the humanitarian argument for inaction.

People like me are quite nervous now about the nightmare scenario.  It is very troubling to contemplate such a dystopian future.  Somewhat reassuring, then, is to know we have a life preserver in the form of moving to Canada, if absolutely necessary.  Taking away that life preserver will make the time between now and Election Day impossible to endure, creating enormous psychological tension, call it pre-traumatic stress disorder. People of my ilk beg the good people of Canada not to force us into this untenable position.  Undoubtedly there would be a risk in doing so and that risk would be borne by the people of Canada.  But there would be a big benefit that you'd bestow unto people like me, who would have some peace of mind during the interim period till election day.  Most likely the nightmare scenario will not happen.   Inaction, then, would be a big gift from the people of Canada to people like me and in all likelihood at no cost to the people of Canada after the fact.

I hope you will see it my way.  Thank you for your attention.

CEO
PleaseNoCanadianBorderFence