Ten Reasons Not to Move to Canada (Sarah Anderson, CommonDreams.org)

Published on Wednesday, November 3, 2004 by CommonDreams.org

Ten Reasons Not to Move to Canada
by Sarah Anderson

Ready to say screw this country and buy a one-way ticket north? Here are some reasons to stay in the belly of the beast.

1. The Rest of the World. After the February 2003 antiwar protests, the New York Times described the global peace movement as the world's second superpower. Their actions didn't prevent the war, but protesters in nine countries have succeeded in pressuring their governments to pull their troops from Iraq and/or withdraw from the so-called "coalition of the willing."Antiwar Americans owe it to the majority of the people on this planet who agree with them to stay and do what they can to end the suffering in Iraq and prevent future pre-emptive wars.

2. People Power Can Trump Presidential Power. The strength of social movements can be more important than whoever is in the White House. Example: In 1970, President Nixon supported the Occupational Safety and Health Act, widely considered the most important pro-worker legislation of the last 50 years. It didn't happen because Nixon loved labor unions, but because union power was strong. Stay and help build the peace, economic justice, environmental and other social movements that can make change.

3. The great strides made in voter registration and youth mobilization must be built on rather than abandoned.

4. Like Nicaraguans in the 1980s, Iraqis Need U.S. Allies. After Ronald Reagan was re-elected in 1984, progressives resisted the urge to flee northwards and instead stayed to fight the U.S. governments secret war of arming the contras in Nicaragua and supporting human rights atrocities throughout Central America. Iraq is a different scenario, but we can still learn from the U.S.-Central America solidarity work that exposed illegal U.S. activities and their brutal consequences and ultimately prevailed by forcing a change in policy.

Read the rest at:

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1103-28.htm

9 the VAT
and 10, weather again.

and make you watch an "Air Farce" marathon.

No, we'll be glad to have you. Particularly the smart ones. A little money in the bank won't hurt either. Hopefully you're quite attractive.

I have two graduate degrees.

people have been leaving hellholes for a better life in another country for centuries (in fact they often came to the US).

i'm doing the same.

And don't listen to that stuff about the weather. A handy descriptive up here is "crisp."