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Thank God - I am not an American
by Mohamed Elmasry
Over the past 25 years, I've known hundreds of high tech Canadian
engineers who took up lucrative job offers in the United States. None
gave as a reason for their move that the U.S. would be a better country
in which to raise their children. Invariably, the rationale was that an
American career promised "better opportunities."
I totally agree, if by "opportunity" they really meant the lure of more
money. For many highly trained and accomplished professionals, the
chances of acquiring and keeping significant material wealth in the U.S.
are statistically greater than in Canada.
As we were finishing our university educations in Egypt during the
1960s, my siblings and I were eager to do post-graduate studies abroad.
With two of my brothers, I ended up in Canada, while a sister opted for
the U.S. On numerous occasions since then -- and as recently as last
week -- we have hotly debated the wisdom of her choice versus ours.
Each and every time, I passionately argue that material wealth aside,
our quality of life in Canada is far better for the human spirit than
that south of the border. After having lived and worked in the U.S. at
various times, I can defend my argument with many examples drawn from
personal experience.
But statistics, driven by social, economic, and political trends, seem
always to speak louder than the heart. Take, for example, the fact that
in 2001, 11.7% of Americans lived under the poverty line, as compared to
11.3 % in 2000. The figure for 2002 is expected to have risen to 12.5%.
This means that more than 33 million Americans - almost equal to the
population of Canada - live on a daily income of only $18.14 for a
family of four, or $9.39 for a single person. This is not the kind of
society in which my family and I want to live, regardless of its "better
opportunities" for a fortunate few.
In his recent book, Fire and Ice (which merits a speedy paperback
edition), Canadian sociologist Michael Adams confirmed my gut feeling
that, somehow, our values in Canada are more humane than those of our
American neighbours. This is a point on which I find it hard to be
humble in the typical Canadian way.
Adams summarizes the results of years of research undertaken, in his
words, "to find out why an initially 'conservative' society like Canada
has ended up producing an autonomous, inner-directed, flexible,
tolerant, social liberal, and spiritually eclectic people, while an
initially 'liberal' society like the United States has ended up
producing a people who are, relatively speaking, materialist,
outer-directed, intolerant, socially conservative, and deferential to
traditional institutional authority."
But my main reason for being thankful I'm a Canadian stems from the
quality of leaders elected to head our respective countries. In 2000,
Americans outdid themselves by electing George W. Bush as their
president -- despite warnings by people such as Molly Ivins, in her
excellent book "Shrub, The Short But Happy Political Life of George W.
Bush."
Looking at George W.'s CV makes one wonder what kind of people, or
rather political system, could ever elect this man. Before entering
political life, for example, he bought an oil company that soon went
bankrupt because it couldn't find any oil in, of all places, Texas.
Then, with his father's help and name, he was elected Governor of
Texas. But his accomplishments in this post were equally dubious
qualifications to lead the world's only superpower.
While in office, Bush gutted pollution laws to favour power and oil
companies, leaving Texas the most polluted state in the union. He also
cut taxes, bankrupting his government to the tune of billions in
borrowed money, and set a macabre record for the allowing the most
executions by any state governor in American history.
And then he finally became President again heavily indebted to his
father's influence in the Supreme Court.
During his first term as president, George W. managed to attack and
occupy two countries, while the U.S. carried its biggest annual deficit
in history. He also cut unemployment benefits for more out-of-work
Americans than any president before him, and dissolved more
international treaties than any of his precursors in the White House.
And this pathetic comedy of errors is fated to continue if he is
re-elected in 2004, which is all too likely.
Perhaps by then my sister might finally be convinced to move to Canada
and forget the "better opportunity" that lures so many southward. The
price of that opportunity is becoming far too high.
Mohamed Elmasry
is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of
Waterloo and national president of the
Canadian Islamic Congress.
He contributed above article (an abridged
edited version of this article appeared in the August
6, 2003 Globe And Mail) to Media Monitors Network (MMN) from
Ontario, Canada.
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