Ninety-four percent!
No, that's not the turnout in this year's Presidential election — although if the line we stood in this morning is any indication, it's going to be pretty high. That was the percentage of Quebecers who, back on October 30, 1995, showed up to vote either "Oui" or "Non" to separate from Canada. ("Non" won, in a squeaker.)
Three days before the vote, 100,000 people from across the country had jammed Place du Canada in Montreal for a Unity Rally in support of "Non." There were also, as proven by the final percentages — 50.58% to stay in Canada, and 49.42% to break away — not only Francophones who crossed over but many Quebec federalists who would have felt stranded in a new nation if "Oui" had won.
"Those of us who remained behind would lose [our country], becoming exiles in our
own homes," said reporter Don Macpherson, reminiscing in The Montreal Gazette. "Never has anyone more appreciated being Canadian."
Twenty-five years later, Quebec separatists are pretty much yesterday's news. Yes, there are still divisions, but nothing like the fevered pitch of 1995. Which maybe goes to show us that there can always be hope for unity, even in the wake of angry, bitter politics.
Today. Americans are, in the words of Biden-voting Republican consultant Frank Luntz, "caffeinated and cataclysmic." Each side in the 2020 election sees the other's victory as the end of the world. (Spoiler alert: If Benedict Donald wins, it would be.)
The question is, if it's Joe Biden who wins on November 3, will the MAGA crowd — who can't be more than a third of us — roll with it? Or would they feel like men without a country? (Biden would surely do everything he could to make sure they don't.)
Trumpster behavior is unpredictable. But here's the good news: If Biden wins, his margin is going to be a lot bigger than 50.58% to 49.42%. The thousands of early voters we've seen standing in line for hours are not doing it for Donald Trump. We cats are certain of that, and we PURR.
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