For some reason the largest slave uprising in 1,900 years (since Spartacus)—and the first ever successful one, I might add—somehow didn’t make it into any of my history classes. The Haitian Revolution of 1791 erupted in an atmosphere wherein a lot of different people were conveniently pitted against one another. As historian Paul Fregosi describes it:
“[T]he rich whites despised the poor whites, the middle-class whites were jealous of the aristocratic whites, the whites born in France looked down upon the locally born whites...Haitian born blacks regarded those from Africa as savages. Everyone—quite rightly—lived in terror of everyone else.”
It’s very convenient for the oppressor, when the oppressed are at each other’s throats.
As an American living in Canada, I sometimes look back over my shoulder at the United States and think, wow, they are really pitting friends and neighbors against each other. Imagine what would happen if all those people were to realize they are all in the same boat together, and were suddenly to affix their gaze in unison in the direction of those who are jacking up people’s livelihoods and futures. Then I snap back to reality, and realize that the same thing is happening right here in Canada. And all over the world. Small wonder people sometimes move.
I love the US. I lived there for the first 51 years of my life. I’ve lived in 7 states: in the East Coast, the West Coast the Gulf Coast and the Midwest. I’ve visited a total of 45 US states, mostly by car. It’s a fantastic country. It’s super easy to feel at home. My family and I have made some deep and lasting friendships pretty much everywhere we’ve lived.
That’s why we were so surprised to discover how difficult it is to feel at home here in Canada. I’m not saying it’s hard to meet your neighbors—that’s easy. I’m saying it’s hard to take your neighbors, coworkers, business associates, etc. to the friendship level. That's partly why we decided to rekindle those old friendships with this newsletter.
A lot of people are interested in checking out places where they can be left mostly alone, and not worry that spendthrift politicians and election-cycle pendulum swings are going to keep moving the goalposts. You want to know what steps you can take to secure your earnings, your nest egg, your wealth--perhaps even pass a little something on to your kids (I know: crazy talk).
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