Soon after the 2004 presidential election ended, I started to write a screenplay about a committed Democrat who, in the heat of the election season, promises he will move to Canada if George "Dubya" is re-elected. When the inevitable occurs and Bush gets four more years, our hero follows through on his promise and makes the trip to whiter Northern pastures. The resulting film, called Blue State, which stars Breckin Meyer and Anna Paquin, came out last year.
The producers and I liked to joke during filming that if we ever made a sequel, we would call it Blue State 2: Bluer and State-ier. But when the 2008 election season began so many months ago, I was heartened by an impressive field of candidates, and by Bush's approval ratings remaining firmly in the toilet. I remained hopeful -- confident, even -- that no Democrat would have to make emigration plans for this November. There would, thankfully, be no room for a Blue State sequel.
But now the sky is falling for Democrats, and the whole "I'm-moving-to-Canada" thing is back.
It's been a rough few weeks (including the arrival of Sarah Palin), and we Democrats find ourselves suffering from another pre-election moment of abject fear, self-doubt, and despair. Suddenly, on an almost daily basis, someone I know will say to me:
"I've been thinking about your movie lately, because I watched Sarah Palin's ABC News interview and decided I'm moving to Canada if McCain-Palin wins."
Or, "Have you thought about a sequel?"
Or, "If McCain wins, forget moving to Canada -- I'll slit my wrists."
Has it come to this again? What started as an interesting and substantive election race has suddenly become a retread of 2004, with the left and right largely retreating to their red and blue corners. Evangelicals courted by Obama are realizing (shocker!) that he is pro-choice and they will ultimately vote Republican; those independents who are socially-liberal/economically conservative McCain has been courting are growing disgusted with his campaign and his policies, and returning to the Democratic camp. Yes, the map of blue states and red states won't look precisely the same as 2004, but this election is shaping up to look much more similar to the Bush-Kerry matchup than I would have thought six months, three months, or even one month ago.
I've resigned myself to this fact: if McCain-Palin wins, then I simply have to accept that I don't understand the country I'm living in. This sense of disconnection from the majority was the driving force behind making Blue State for me. I never promised to move to Canada, but I identified with a guy who felt so alienated by the election results that he would resort to that step. And for a while here in 2008, it seemed that we were going to elevate ourselves to address real problems rather than devolve into culture wars, name-calling, and hiding the ball, which is where we've found ourselves at this moment.
So is there any chance of a sequel? Maybe about a Republican who promises to move to Canada after Obama is elected. Wouldn't that be nice?
Otherwise, if McCain wins, it'll have to be called Blue State 2: The End of Hope.
It is an inspiration, which citizens of countries around the world hold in high regard, respected and admired, an example of how the world could one day be.
So be careful in thinking that leaving America will alleviate your problem. America is more than a place. It is a corner in your heart that never goes away. It is a dream come true, but currently in danger. It deserves protection. Please stay and fight to take our country back from those in power. They do not seem to understand what American is. If they did, they would hold her ideals in higher
It is an inspiration, which citizens of countries around the world hold in high regard, respected and admired, an example of how the world could one day be.
So be careful in thinking that leaving America will alleviate your problem. America is more than a place. It is a corner in your heart that never goes away. It is a dream come true, but currently in danger. It deserves protection. Please stay and fight to take our country back from those in power. They do not seem to understand what American is. If they did, they would hold her ideals in higher
That being said, don't get overly distracted by the verbiage especially of the right. It's mean-spirited and a grotesque distortion of the truth and it is meant to, on the one hand, appeal to the politically unprincipaled who have yet to decide who to vote for and, on the converse, make the thinking person pull their hair out at the inanity of it all.
Still, if the unthinkable happens, remember the echoes of the Great Britain, a little over 50 years ago, was a strong empire and it all went away because they over-extended their imperialist reach and relied to much on antiquated systems of trade and wealth-building. Plus others, including ourselves, stepped up to challenge them. If Americans are not smart enough to vote for their best and brightest to lead them, then America doesn't deserve to rule the world. We go back to being just another country. Maybe we might reacquaint ourselves with the ideas that founded this country when we do.
Your post was excellent. As far as the blog itself, I thought I was one of few who swear they are moving to Canada, but seriously, (and I never thought I would think this) I think our glory days are over.
We'll get over Palin pretty soon - what worries me is that Obama's not talking about how much work it's going to take to turn this place back into America once we kick out the Bush Administration. Getting rid of Gitmo and the CIA's other secret prisons, getting the Pentagon to release the records about torture and about corrupt contractors, getting the courts to start recognizing the Bill of Rights, appointing the next couple of Supreme Court Judges without the Bush Litmus Test (which wasn't about abortion at all - it was about "approving the Administration's right to do anything it wants".)
This is the time to get busy and GET OBAMA ELECTED!
The red states can have McCain-Palin, and we can have Obama-Biden. Everybody will be happy, then.
Oh... and red states can keep Roberts, Alito, Scalia & Thomas. We can keep the other guys.
i too chanted the mantra, "if he wins a second term, i'm moving to canada." i am now so flummoxed as to how close this '08 race is according to the polls. are we as a country really that stupid? i fear the answer is.....sadly, yes.
vancouver is looking like home if obama is not our next president as of 11/05/08.........no, i really mean it this time....
Disconnected from reality in order to bring you pretend intellectual claptrap.
Go back to your AM radio hate fests and dittohead mantra chanting.
This year, unfortunately, even that fantasy offers me no solace, as Prime Minister Stephen Harper forces an early election in a bid to establish a Conservative majority in Canada's parliament. If he succeeds, the NCP will likely start "preparing the battlefield" to dismantle Canada's social services infrastructure, thus turning the Great White North into a colder copy of the Repuglicans' corporate-fascist America.
Canada swings right, along with Britain, France, Germany, and Australia. There's nowhere left to run except maybe New Zealand.