Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Trudeau’s War on Truckers Will Backfire … Badly
Freedom lovers around the world have cheered on the Canadian truckers who convoyed into the nation’s capital to oppose vaccine mandates. After arrival, they hung around Ottawa, proving a nuisance to nervous politicians and wealthy residents.
Unlike leftist protests in the summer of 2020, truckers haven’t smashed windows, burned down businesses, or assaulted cops and bystanders. Instead, they’ve held cookouts, helped feed the homeless, and fostered a happy party atmosphere.
Their demands are limited and simple. They want the Liberal Canadian government to end the vaccine mandate on truckers, a common-sense request for essential workers spending 99 percent of their workdays alone in a cab. PM Justin Trudeau and his bureaucracy could have ended this long before the convoy reached Ottawa by agreeing to their sensible position.
Instead, the Liberal Party and major Canadian media declared war, accusing the truckers of racism, fascism — even transphobia. Trudeau fled the city in terror and remains in hiding. This bizarre overreaction transformed a minor protest into a so-called “occupation” of the nation’s capital. As I write, Ottawa police are stealing fuel from the truckers and columnists are advising a military response.
Far worse, Canada has demonstrated that citizens disagreeing with their government is no longer allowed and will be suppressed with force.
When a government decides to treat peaceful protests as violent insurrections, it is forbidding dissenters from lawfully petitioning their government. Once that traditional democratic tool is banned, citizens have no peaceful, legal option left. What Trudeau, et al., haven’t yet realized is that citizens do have several other options to redress their grievances. Options that are far uglier and more damaging than smiling truckers honking horns.
Protests, like elections, are a useful pressure valve for a discontented public. Truckers can have their say and vote against Liberal MPs. If they lose, hey, at least they registered their disapproval. The activists can try convincing neighbors to promote their interests the next time around.
But when peaceful protests are banned … then what? Canadians, considering themselves free citizens (perhaps mistakenly), will still challenge their leaders. Some will turn to national strikes, destroying North America’s already tottering supply chain. A few others will turn to less savory methods of protest.
After decades of relative peace, Canada’s leaders have become ignorant of basic political realities and human nature. Peaceful protest is a boon to any governmental structure as helps it maintain public confidence, which allows the entire system to remain in power.
Once public confidence is lost, the government writ large is not long for this world.
Published in Foreign Policy, General, Politics
Excellent, comprehensive post. I just hope our government (and people) will take some lessons from what is happening in Canada, where the good guys are the citizens and their “leaders” are in hiding.
I hope you’re right Jon.
Great insights. Canadians, among the friendliest, most courteous people on God’s green earth–have had enough.
This goes for the United States, too. It probably applies far more to the United States, which is no longer operating at the consent of the governed.
The truckers should stop delivering fuel to Ottawa . Let the government drones sled to work.
The West’s left-of-center elites have gone Full Tribal. They are now so insulated and self-assured they regard the act of even engaging with outsiders (truckers; Joe Rogan guests) as seditious. Their intellects are so stunted they cannot imagine criticism from the right as deriving from anything other than corruption or malice.
I thought they were demanding the lifting of ALL mandates; not just vaccine mandates and not just for truckers.
I tried to research, but Google no help. Trying Instagram for a statement from the truckers.
And where would they have gotten such an idea?
The Lincoln Project’s eternal cry: “Hey, is there any way we can grift off this?”
Absolutely.
I researched it, but all Google showed was the government-approved narrative. You may be right, but the press is hiding their reasonable demands.
The Trudeau government did that when they abrogated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as their first response to the China Virus WMD.
The local officials did it when they accepted the Trudeau Government fiat, instead of standing up for the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The truckers have come home to roost.
Language warning:
Canada coverage starts at 17:00 mark: “A Tumblr website made flesh”
They didn’t have to go anywhere. They just had to revert to mankind’s natural state. Tribalism is still the default setting of our hunter-gatherer minds. Our American Experiment was an attempt (imperfect of course) to get an entire, multi-ethnic, multi-class, multi-cultural population as far out of its tribal mind as possible by getting everyone to buy into the ideas of equality before the law, due process, and property rights for EVERYONE–even those outside our ethnic/class/cultural tribe. What we are seeing in Canada is a non-elite tribe (truckers) exercising EVERYONE’s right to petition the government for redress of grievances, and Tribe Elite freaking out about it because Tribe Elite has gone so deep back into its tribal mind they think anyone outside Tribe Elite protesting a policy preferred by Tribe Elite is seditious. I don’t know how else to explain the way elite Canadians are over-reacting to this entirely reasonable and peaceful disagreement over a mandatory vaccine policy directed at truck drivers who do 99% of their work in isolation.
Duplicate.
Worth it
Please tell me how we are winning.
I predict Tiaman square
The police are just regular working stiffs like us? Who believes that??????
Waiting for their donation from GoFundMe of the stolen cash.
Duck Duck Go
Demands from the Freedom Convoy to the federal government are:
“A unified and free Canada can be our future, and it starts now with reminding the government they serve the people,” stated the truckers.
Key phrase is “protest related violence”.
Whenever you see that, you know an incident was caused by a Left Radical individual.
Even his socks signal his virtue!
Been saying all along that there’s no way this ends peacefully. The politicians on the left cannot allow dissent because it’ll bring their whole house of cards down. The politicians ostensibly on the right don’t have the balls to stand up for liberty. Expect bloodshed. Canada is a preview of what we’ll be seeing here soon.
Canadian Elites Created The Ottawa Crisis, And They Have No Idea How To End It
If you take a look at a transportation map, Canada is completely different from the US interstate system. Ottawa politicians have no choice but to Cry Hard.
Pro Tip:
Canadian news media worth checking out:
Rebel News
Western Standard
Post Millenial
True North
Small Dead Animals (aggregator)
Getting on the totalitarian tiger isn’t so tough. It’s the dismount that’s complicated.