Have you seen a lot of glee on social media and the interwebs from blue-staters and liberals who can't wait for their Trumpster neighbors to realize that their wages are going to be cut, their grocery bills are going to explode, their schools are going to get stupid, and their gas tanks are going to get a lot more expensive to fill? Yeah, us, too.
It's also gone from "Ha-ha-ha-that-MAGAt-is-going-to-pay-more-at-Shop-Rite" to "Blue states should stop subsidizing red states with their tax dollars." We cats have to admit we're inclined to agree. States like ours (New York) pay far more into the federal government than we get back.
But on the other hand, supporting lamebrain red states helps lift all boats, yes? (Because there are a lot of Black Americans in lamebrain red states, through no fault of their own.)
That last point, actually, is key. Here's why. In the midst of all the horrors that Election Night 2024 brought us, the worst one was that we knew Vladimir Putin was sitting in Moscow and smiling. Not just because his stooge Benedict Donald was heading back to the White House, but because the election was so close. (It was. Don't go by November 5th numbers. Look at them now.) If there's anything Putin dearly wants, it's a United States of America that is no longer very united.
On top of that, our closest ally and neighbor, Canada, has a Trumpy successor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau waiting in the wings. They'll have an election next year. We've already seen writers and opinion leaders we admire speculating that if Conservative Pierre Poilievre becomes Prime Minister and imposes Trump-like policies on Canada, they'd be willing to support Quebec sovereignty.
Wow. The last time Canada came close to breaking up was in 1995, when the vote to separate failed by a whisker. We're no fans of Poilievre, but take it from us — a sovereign Quebec would make Canada weaker, disrupt its economy, and hobble its efforts to oppose Russia's influence in the Arctic. (Which is something Vlad really cares about.)
We have to stick together, folks, whether we're talking about our fractious 50-state union or Canada's 10 provinces and three territories. Federalism, as in so many matters, is the only answer to Putin. What's Benjamin Franklin's alleged famous phrase? "We must all hang together, or most assuredly we will hang separately"? We cats PURR.
(IMAGE: The Apotheoses of Washington, US Capitol Rotunda)
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