are we different?

I was thinking, in the aftermath of Ronald Reagan's death, that Canadians are entirely different. We don't gild our elected leaders with any kind of mythology. We don't care who our leaders have fucked or what they might have smoked. And when they grow very old and die, we don't feel like someone has snuffed out a bright star that always twinkled at the edge of our consciousness.

I've read real thinking, caring Democrats crying about Reagan's passing because of what he represented - some kind of medium that connects all the souls in America through a network of corndogs and slow motion army ads. The Prime Minister doesn't represent anything. He does his job for awhile and then moves on to the university lecture circuit. And if he proved himself to be dimwitted or mean, not many universities will invite him to speak. There's nothing that connects Canadians to one another that way. Old people are connected by CBC radio. Young people are not connected at all, except by a vague pride in our superior beer products. Canada is a place to live - a very good one. But the only time it has significance beyond that is when America is terrorizing the rest of the world - because then we're Not American.

But maybe I'm wrong. There was Trudeau, after all. Tears and red roses. Maybe if we had another leader with a little personality we'd care again. Even if he made shitty choices for Canada. I don't see it happening this time around. The defending Liberal gov-bot can only lose to Mr. I've-rehearsed-this-speech-so-many-times-it-might-as-well-be-in-Urdu Conservative.