The Rot that the US has become

I don't often post politically oriented articles. My fundamental view is that each person is entitled to their opinion, and as long as that opinion doesn't infringe on my (or others') way of life, have at it. I don't really care what you think.

For example, let's take the controversial topic of abortion. You can believe whatever you want on the subject; I don't care. However, when you take actions that inhibit others, whether that is harassing patients outside an abortion clinic, murdering doctors who are performing abortions, or organizing political campaigns to restrict abortions (we are talking about you, Texas), then I think you deserve to be called out.

My original idea for this post was to link the article below on my Facebook and Instagram pages, add a few comments, and leave it at that. However, as you may know, Meta refuses to compensate Canadian media outlets for their content. Therefore, Facebook and Instagram are blocked from posting articles like the one below from the Toronto Star.

So, I decided to share what I thought was an excellent piece of journalism via a post on my blog. Given that I have started this post, I have included various editorial comments (I couldn't resist). Remember, they are just my opinion, and as long as what you think and do doesn't impact me and others, knock yourself out. The reality is, however, that many of these opinions do impact others. Whether it is abortion, immunizations, climate change, immigration, the list goes on and on.

The Article

The article is by Richard Warnica, a senior opinion writer for the Toronto Star. It was published in the Toronto Star on November 13 and updated on November 18. Full disclosure, I am a paid subscriber to the Toronto Star and read the "paper" every morning from the Toronto Star app. Although the Star does infrequently complete meaningful and thorough investigative reporting, many of its articles are short and superficial. Richard's article is not like that. I thought it was insightful and got beyond the catchy headlines and clichés. I think it gives you a very real sense of just what a mess the US is. The Star gives subscribers the option of gifting articles to get behind their paywall, which I hope the link below does for all of you.

Read the article here

I hope you enjoyed the article (maybe enjoyed isn't quite the right phrase).

My Perspective

I was a supporter of Barack Obama and was glad he was the US president for 8 years. However, I was disappointed in many of his actions, such as not taking a single Wall Street executive to court despite their role in the financial crash. Although he did not accomplish as much as his supporters hoped, I remain a fan.

The thing that used to drive me crazy was when Obama would state, "The US is the greatest country in the World." Virtually all U.S. presidents say this. I totally understand it would be political suicide to state the US wasn't the greatest nation in the world. Just look at the intense criticism Michelle Obama receives whenever she is the slightest bit critical of the US. However, if you believe, as I do, that you can't begin to fix a problem until you acknowledge you have a problem, I wish Obama had found a way to acknowledge (even slightly) that the US needs significant improvement. You only have to look at the multitude of data to conclude that this country is nowhere near the greatest country on earth.

Key Statistics

• Life Expectancy: Americans have a lower average life expectancy than residents of other large, wealthy countries. In 2023, it was 78.4 years in the US compared to 82.5 years in peer countries. This is despite having the highest per capita healthcare spend among comparable nations and covering a small fraction of their population.

• Education: On international standardized tests, US students perform below the average of other developed countries, particularly in mathematics. But it is ok, Trump is going to eliminate the Department of Education, and that should fix everything (yes, that was a sarcastic editorial comment).

• Mass Shootings: Between 1998 and 2019, the number of public mass shootings in the US was higher than all other developed countries combined! From 2009 to 2018, there were at least 288 school shootings in the US, 57 times more than the combined total for all other G7 countries.

• Healthcare: In addition to lower life expectancy, Americans face higher rates of avoidable deaths from chronic conditions compared to other developed countries, despite the greater healthcare expenditures.

• Poverty: The US has one of the highest poverty rates at 17.8% compared to 10.7% for peer nations. Child poverty is particularly acute at 20.9% versus an average of 11.7% in comparable countries. Despite this, the Trump administration went to court to NOT pay SNAP benefits while the government was shut down. Btw, poverty and child poverty are too high in many countries, including Canada.

• Income Inequality: The US has the highest level of income inequality, where the richest 10% of Americans earn 47% of the nation's income.

• Infant Mortality: The US has the highest rate of infant mortality among high-income countries at 5.4 deaths per thousand.

That is probably enough, but you get my point. Here is the disturbing and main point I want to make in this post. Most of the data above represents terrible outcomes that were happening before Trump became president.

The Trump Factor

This gets me to the second thing that drives me crazy. All the Americans (and others) who blame everything on Trump. It is not just Trump. I do believe that Trump's ignorant behaviour has emboldened right-wing crazies, racists, and the ugly underbelly that was always in the US but just below the surface. I also believe that now that this ugliness has been released, there is no going back. The rhetoric in the US is not going to get better; it will likely only get worse (despite Marjorie Taylor-Green's recent mea culpa (do we believe it?)).

As an example, what is going on in Texas started before Trump and is likely going to continue long after Trump is gone.

• Abortion Laws: Texas has some of the US's most restrictive abortion laws. Abortions are banned except in narrow cases where the pregnant patient's life is at risk. There are no exceptions for rape, incest, or severe fetal anomalies.

• Abortion Medication: Texas has outlawed the manufacture, distribution, and mailing of abortion medication. The law allows private citizens to sue anyone suspected of providing or aiding access to abortion pills.

• Vaccination Requirements: Texas has made it easier for parents to exempt their children from school vaccination requirements. This led to a measles outbreak in 2025 with a total of 762 confirmed cases, 50 hospitalizations, and 3 deaths. This outbreak led to the first measles deaths since 2015.

• Book Bans: Texas leads the country in book bans with nearly 1,800 titles removed from schools in 2024-2025.

• Voting and Gerrymandering: Texas continues to lead the way in racist actions to suppress minority voting.

• Transgender Rights: Texas continues to restrict transgender rights and gender identity through laws like House Bill 229.

• Expressive Activities: Texas Senate Bill 2972 severely limits expressive activities on college campuses.

My point of all this rambling is that anyone who thinks that what you are seeing in the US is a result of only Donald Trump is suffering from wishful thinking. The direction of the US has been going on for decades. Has Trump accelerated it? Undoubtedly. Has Trump given license to Marjorie Taylor Greene, Josh Hawley, and Lauren Boebert? Absolutely. But let's be clear. No one has effectively stepped up to reverse the trends above across the US or individual states like Texas, Alabama, Mississippi (the list goes on and on). Not Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, or Chuck Schumer. They have all participated in a system that has gotten the US to the state it is in. And certainly, no Republicans have stood up to Donald Trump. They have rolled over and let him continue to break laws, norms, and denigrate what is supposed to be the democracy of the United States. Americans can dismiss Trump and say he is not their president, but their system and their population elected him. He is the President of the United States.

Conclusion

Gentle reminder - these are just my opinions, and as such, you can disagree; you are entitled to your own opinion. Just don't force them on others (I am not meaning to do that).

So what can we do? Well, for starters, let's ensure we don't allow this kind of behaviour and direction to creep into Canada, even in a small way. Let's resist any progress Pierre Poilievre makes towards being Prime Minister. We don't want a Jordan Peterson, "the mounties are despicable" leader in Canada. I personally believe a positive, constructive Conservative party is important to Canada. But not one led by Pierre Poilievre and the small-minded Andrew Scheer. Let's ensure political parties are rewarded for having constructive ideas and inclusion. We need strong gun laws, strong healthcare, and robust support for the disadvantaged in Canada. Let's ensure we create an environment where citizens, business people, and entrepreneurs can grow and be successful. That's what makes us different, better, and successful.

What else? Let's continue to boycott America. Let's buy Canadian products, and when they are not available, let's buy them from somewhere other than the US (and yes, I recognize there are lots of other "bad" countries, so hopefully we can avoid those also). Let's ban US products where we can (I love California wines, but I totally support the LCBO boycott). Let's not travel to the US. There are lots of great places in Canada to go in both the winter and summer, and if you must get to warm weather in the winter, there are lots of non-US choices.

That's it, my rant is over. Most importantly, I hope you took the time to read Richard's article. It is excellent.

If you have comments, send them (politely) to thethirdperiod.ca@gmail.com.

P.S. I don't think Canada is perfect. If you follow my blog, you know I have been very critical of how the Canadian government has treated and continues to treat Indigenous peoples. It is a blight on our history, and terrible that the treatment continues today. Police forces, including the RCMP and Toronto police, continue to allow racist and discriminatory behaviour to exist both inside their organizations and in how they treat citizens. If you want to talk about ineffective and corrupt governments, both the Trudeau government and Doug Ford's fit well into that category. So Canada has lots to improve, and we should all be pushing for that improvement.