Look Northward, O Republican

To listen to Republicans these days, you'd think that the beginning of the Obama administration was the advent of Armageddon. Taxes! Government spending! Regulations! The return of the Welfare State! Lions and tigers and bears, oh my, and pieces of falling sky.

For anyone who lives in the real world, as opposed to the alternate universe that Republicans seem to inhabit these days, all this is pretty weird. But one way to get a handle on the weirdness is to look north.

To Canada, I mean. That's where I grew up. It's where I was educated, and where my family still lives. I've got lots of friends there too. Canada has national health care. It has higher taxes than the US. It has more regulation than we do. It has a more extensive social safety net. But...

Various surveys (sorry I can't lay hands on the link to the latest one I heard the other day) make clear that Canadians are still happier with their health care system than Americans are. (Yes: sometimes you have to wait. But at least you know you have insurance. And if what's wrong with you is serious, you'll get bumped to the head of the queue.) It costs less, and delivers better results. The Canadian banking system is one of the healthiest in the world. The country is basically debt-free and its pension system is in good shape. (See http://tinyurl.com/afr74l for a summary.)

Though I haven't done a poll, my strong impression is that very few Canadians would trade their system for the one in this country. But Canada is unmistakably, undeniably farther to the left than the US.

So what's the point? Not that Canada is paradise; that would be silly. But a bit of sober and sensible reflection on our neighboring state ought to be a corrective to Republican hyperventalation. Even if Obama gets everything he wants, the US will still be to the right of Canada. And it doesn't follow that we'll be better off.

I'm a moderate at heart. It's a prime principle with me that reasonable people can differ. There are conservative ideas (especially of the Burkean sort) that I take seriously. But when every single Republican in the House votes against the stimulus bill, and when the tiny handful of Senate Republicans willing to vote for it predicate their willingness on taking things out of it that probably should have stayed in, it's hard to put that thought into practice. As near as I can tell, Republican opposition is pretty much a matter of pure Pitgoatery. And that's a shame. Having a sane opposition party would be a good thing. Too bad we don't.