Editors at Issues and Insights question one American political party’s support for authoritarians.
While we support the truckers’ objective – to break Trudeau’s infringement of human liberty – a legitimate government has the authority to remove those who block public spaces, whether they are Black Lives Matter belligerents, Antifa thugs, or truck drivers who simply want to be left alone to do their jobs.
But Trudeau went well beyond that. His government became illegitimate the moment he used the country’s Emergencies Act to destroy, as radio talk show host Dennis Prager wrote, “the lives of Canadian dissidents.” He arrested peaceful demonstrators as if they were terrorists, stole from supporters, and seized protesters’ trucks, which the mayor of Ottawa wants to sell off. …
… Who else has frozen the bank accounts of his political opposition? Russian President Vladimir Putin. Where else have we seen a social credit system that ranks and punishes citizens based on their relationships with the ruling party? China.
Simply put, Trudeau’s response was that of a despot, not the head of a free Western nation.
And American Democrats like what they’ve seen: 66% approve of the prime minister’s raid while only 17% disapprove. These are voters – no surprise – from the same party that sided with violent BLM and Antifa riots that killed, maimed, and destroyed.
Meanwhile, 87% of those who identify with the nation’s other major political group, the Republican Party, disapprove of Trudeau’s repression, his “war on dissent,” while only 8% approve. Overall, 55% of Americans disapprove.
Feeling the chill yet? It’s there, and it’s blowing in hard from Ottawa.
Hope remains, though. Poll results indicate that younger Americans are disturbed by Trudeau’s spiteful behavior: 100% of respondents from 25 to 34 disapprove of his ugly tantrum. This inspires a little confidence in the face of true villainy that, yes, can happen here.
