U.S. President Donald Trump wants to revoke the right to citizenship for children born in the United States to parents who are not Ameican citizens.Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
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Fascism’s brink …
Re Is Trump Driving The U.S. Toward The Brink Of Fascism? (Nov. 2): Douglas Frantz, the most recent writer in your pages to suggest that the U.S. and other countries are on the brink of fascism, provides a useful three-point checklist – “economic trouble,” experts and institutions “undermined,” and “only the demagogue speaks the truth.” This checklist works both historically and today, so could we look to history to perhaps illuminate what may occur over the next decade?
Going tribal, targeting a scapegoat and encouraging focused hatred/violence toward them, history teaches, will evolve into armed conflict – death, destruction, which like a forest after a wildfire, will start life anew, with grateful people focused on (re)building out of the ruins.
Sadly, we are following (whether blindly or willfully does not matter) this historic script, exactly as Mr. Frantz describes “the deterioration of democracy.” Since nobody in politics is perceived to be effectively addressing Canada’s “economic turmoil in the working class,” why wouldn’t socialism or more likely fascism, couched as “simplistic solutions delivered in simplistic language,” seem worth a try to economically frustrated or desperate Canadians some time in the near future?
Michael A. Tukatsch, Toronto
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Yes, like the Nazis/fascists in the 1930s, Donald Trump is certainly focused on trying to challenge the legitimacy of numerous established institutions and representing alternative facts as he works to exploit the fears and prejudices of many Americans. And he has been successful to a degree. The essential difference is that, unlike Germany and Italy in the lead-up to the establishment of those fascist regimes, the United States is not teetering on the brink of collapse either politically or economically. The essential institutions of a free society still largely function and the political opposition to Mr. Trump remains healthy and not subject to the intimidation of storm troops rendering political opposition ineffective. Mr. Trump is a dangerous demagogue and this is not a moment to be sanguine. But let’s keep our heads and not fall prey to sloppy historical analogies.
Simon Rosenblum, Toronto
‘To be expected’?
Re Tibollo Says Lawsuits To Be Expected After Long Career (Nov. 1): So Ontario’s Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister, Michael Tibollo, suggests civil lawsuits (five, including professional misconduct against his law firm and failure to pay debts) are to be expected after decades of practising law. Wait, what? I’ve practised law for a decade or two myself, and among my many colleagues and friends in the legal profession I don’t know a single one who is or has been the subject of a civil lawsuit. That’s not to say it never happens, but it certainly isn’t normal for lawyers.
Daniel McLeod, lawyer, Vancouver
Carry on, carry on
I was delighted to see the cleverness in the Film Friday section, beginning with the review of Bohemian Rhapsody (Oh Mama Mia, Mama Mia, Mama Mia Let Me Go). The headlines of each review and story were a part of the lyrics of the classic Queen song. It’s that kind of playfulness and subtle daring I appreciate in The Globe and Mail. It also came on a day that you rightly put the spotlight on courageous journalists worldwide whom we need more than ever (Journalists Are Being Killed With Impunity Around The World. Remember Their Stories).
It reinforces the need to support our newspapers. Carry on, carry on. We will not let you go.
Noel Cheeseman, Toronto
In/under the omnibus Bill
Re A Debate Gets Thrown Under The Omnibus (editorial, Oct. 31): I always applauded the Liberals when they opposed the Conservatives’ omnibus bills. Now I see the Liberal Party, which I generally vote for, introducing one.
Omnibus bills are a threat to any democratic country. Knowing the Opposition will do battle over some “important” issues, and not have time to constructively deal with most of the other issues, the government includes in their bill everything but the kitchen sink.
This is cowardly and expedient politics: The federal Liberals have lost my respect.
David B. Caryll, Toronto
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Your editorial criticizes the government’s new Budget Implementation Act for being excessively long. At 854 pages, it is indeed long – but to suggest it is overly so is absurd. In the last election, we offered a plan to invest in the middle class and build an economy that works for everyone. Advancing that goal requires a great deal of legislation, and we are committed to making sure we continue to deliver on our plan.
Budget 2018 included many important measures, and the act we just introduced is the next step in following through on them. Everything in the act reflects budget measures. The length of the legislation reflects the scope of our government’s ambition, and the trust Canadians have put in us to help build an economy and a country where everyone has a fair chance at success.
Bill Morneau, Minister of Finance
A G-G jaw-dropper
Re Royal Treatment (Nov. 1): My jaw dropped reading your editorial. You might think that happened when I read that Adrienne Clarkson “has billed the government $1.1-million in expenses since leaving office” as a governor-general in 2005, but you would be wrong. Her skill in maximizing her entitlements is well known to Canadians. It wasn’t even that G-Gs can keep charging us for expenses after they go, upsetting as that news was.
No, the jaw-dropper was her assistant’s claim that what these taxpayer funds were spent on was a “private matter.” Unbelievable.
Helen Rogers, Winnipeg
Goodbye to a hero
Re Giants Hall Of Famer McCovey Dies (Sports, Nov. 1): In this day and age of nonsensical trade wars, presidents dallying with porn stars, so-called “fake news,” alarming levels of bigotry, and on and on, it’s nice to come across a hero once in a while. We all admire first-responders, compassionate nurses, “above and beyond” teachers but people who entertain us can be heroic as well.
I first saw “Stretch” play when I was a kid. My parents had told me about Willie Mays just in time for me to see The Catch (1954 World Series). I’ve been a Giants fan since then (that’s a long time), so I had the privilege of rooting for not only the Say Hey Kid, but also Orlando Cepeda, Juan Marichal, Jim Davenport, both Clarks (Jack and Will) and many, many others.
But there’s a special place in every Giants fan’s heart for the quiet, dignified, and oh so talented Willie McCovey, the gentle giant who terrorized every pitcher in the National League. But he also, by all accounts, loved his family, his fans, his teammates and his community, and was revered everywhere he went. And I rooted for No. 44 as hard as I did for No. 24.
A great loss, but what memories we’ll have forever.
Alan Rosenberg, Toronto