My POV on the 2016 election

The return to unabashed white racism in American politics

In July 2008 when Senator Jesse Helms declared he would not run again the  Washington Post had this to say about the long serving Republican

“What really sets Jesse Helms apart is that he is the last prominent unabashed white racist politician in this country -- a title that one hopes will now be permanently retired. A few editorials and columns came close to saying that. But the squeamishness of much of the press in characterizing Helms for what he is suggests an unwillingness to confront the reality of race in our national life.”

Eight short years later all hopes of the end of racism by a prominent American politician have been dashed. A new racist has risen from the bowels of America; Donald Trump has incited the Republican base with his rhetoric of hate and exclusion.

As an outsider looking in I do not believe there is anything uglier than politics in America in this the 21^st century. Canada, fortunately, dogged a bullet when we voted out the Conservative Party of Stephen Harper and gave rise to an era of hope.

Americans often ask what business is it of Canada who they elect. It matters because our economy is so intertwined with yours, much of our manufacturing and resources depend on America. Canada and America have been friends for over 100 years. More than 1.9 million America’s vacation in Canada every year and America is Canadians favorite winter home for snowbirds and many of us have summer cottages in the US.

Friends worry about friends; it’s not just a Canadian thing we know Americans, particularly those in the north along the border care about what happens in Canada and to Canadians. For that we are grateful.

I do not believe Trump will make America great again at least not as long as he insists on being your voice, the voice of Republicans and racists, the voice of the KKK. To make America great again your President must be inclusive, must represent black Americans, Mexican Americans Muslim Americans, Native Americans as well as white Americans.

Equality is essential to making America great …. again

by Robert Hawkins