Why Moving to Canada Isn’t the Right Choice

Don’t get me wrong, Canada seems like a great place. Free healthcare, Tim Horton’s donuts are as frequent as a Starbucks in the States, and their cities are eerily clean. Everyone is polite, global warming doesn’t seem as bad up there, and Canadians get maple syrup. They did a great job hosting the Olympics a few years ago, a moose problem isn’t even a problem, and who cares if they say “Eh” all the time, we say worse.

The issue is, moving to Canada, or anywhere else, for that matter, isn’t going to fix the Trump problem.

Let’s think about this. The day is November 8th, 2016. Let’s say, hypothetically, it’s Bernie Sanders for the Democrats and Donald Trump for the Republicans. We as a country are watching the polls climb higher and higher, and even though none of us have actually a met a non-ironic Trump supporter, (at least, I haven’t) this man wins the presidency. The implications are increased hate crimes, attacks on gay marriage, attacks on Obamacare, infringement on free speech, poisonous immigration policy, the ruination of millions of lives, and almost inevitably, someday, World War III.

It makes sense that we as Americans would want to run. We see the rise of a tyrannical dictator in action, and fleeing makes perfect sense. We saw what happened to Germany when they elected a guy who “told it like it is.” (Spoiler: not. well.) We’re a nation built on people that hated England and Europe so much they decided to cross an ocean, starve, and freeze to death over and over until they figured out tobacco growing and eventually won independence. We like the extreme form of protestation: get up and go. But that won’t solve anything. Aaron Sorkin (what a guy) used the line once, “Decisions are made by those who show up.” We don’t seem to live that out in this country.

Sure, when, there’s minor protests to be had, we do, and when the time comes to vote, two-thirds of us do, but when it comes to a guy taking over, a man we all know is gonna bring about Armageddon, we think running away is going to fix it. So I’ll bear with the idea of moving to Canada. You leave your job, your home, your friends, and switch countries. Trump starts small, passing executive orders placing limits on Congress. Then his political opponents start having . . . accidents. Soon half of Congress is agreeing with him, out of nowhere. Bill after bill of his is passing, and he’s deporting people who have every right to stay, making Muslim identification laws, stripping journalists of their rights as a free press, silencing the Supreme Court, and taking “an aggressive approach” in areas of foreign policy against Russia, ISIS, the UN, and even, probably, some of our allies.

But you’re in Canada, so you’re safe?

If you’re in Canada, you’re doing nothing to fix the state of the country. You’re allowing things to get worse, and worse, and you aren’t showing up.

If Trump gets elected, college students should be rising up in revolution, demanding impeachment, demanding a new election, because we have to inherit this country, live in this country, and enter into this country’s job force, this country’s housing market, and this country’s crime-filled cities, towns, and states, building a life and a family as we do.

If Trump gets elected, our parents should be joining us, because they want to leave behind a country that will sustain us and support us.

If Trump gets elected, something should be done immediately to undo that.

You can’t fix the United States while you’re living in Canada.

You can’t stop World War III, stop war crimes, stop bigotry, stop racism, and stop pain from ruining further an already ruined country if you leave altogether.

Stop saying you’re running to Canada if Trump gets elected, and start thinking about what you’re going to do instead.