In January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney gave a speech that gained a lot of attention. It clearly rubs him the wrong way that the United States - Donald Trump, in particular - bullies, belittles, and seeks to economically exploit his country, and his message for a quite a while has been “We’re not gonna take it anymore.” Clearly he means it. In preparation for a phone meeting with President Trump early last year, Carney’s office reportedly told the White House that if during the meeting Trump made any reference to Canada’s being America’s 51st State, or referred to Carney as “Governor” (both of which Trump was known to do with Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau), the Prime Minister would immediately drop off the call.
Carney’s current posture takes things beyond symbolism, however, as evidenced by his speech at Davos. So much so in fact that many now call him “the leader of the free world.” That description usually refers to the President of the United States, of course, but no one looking at anything from ICE raids in which over four thousand people have been illegally detained, to the building of detainment camps more accurately described as concentration camps, calls America “the free world” anymore. Having traveled internationally over the last several months, I’ve gotten the distinct impression that whether or not Americans are willing to face facts about America’s descent into neo-fascism, other countries already have. Having gone through stages of denial, anger, bargaining, and depression, they’ve reached the acceptance stage and they’re ready to move on.
Carney referred to the current shift from America-gets-it-wrong-a-lot-of-the-time-but-we-can-still-trust-it to America-gets-it-wrong-a-lot-of-the-time-and-we-can’t-count-on-Trump-to-even-try not as a transition, but as a rupture. And according to Carney, the democratic world order should reconstitute itself accordingly. We are no longer living in any semblance of a rules-based world order, he argued - a point referenced by other world leaders as well - but one in which great powers simply do what they do and everyone else has to merely acquiesce. This needn’t be, argued Carney, if that “everyone else” gets together to form its own vortex of power.
Carney didn’t just get a standing ovation for his speech; he created an earthquake. He seemed to be saying that if the United States wouldn’t lead with values, he would. He exhorted other “middle powers” to join him in initiating what is essentially a new power center in the world. And that’s exactly what they’re doing now. Carney is traveling to India, Australia and Japan for meetings this week.
As an American traveling to Europe, India, and Australia over the last several weeks, my civilian message has been similar to Carney’s. I’ve said, “Imagine the great democracies of the world are a big basketball team. Well, your star player has been benched. I promise you, in America a lot of us are doing everything we can to change that, but until then it is what it is. You know it, and I know it. So that means other players need to get out onto the floor now. I hope you will!” Democracy is bigger than America, and it needs to survive and thrive in the world regardless of the hit it’s taking here at home.
On the other side of this dark chapter in our national story, the United States will be a better country for what we are going through. Among other things, we will be more humble. Having gained tremendous power and in many ways both squandered and misused it, we will have been taken down a notch, that’s true. But if we’re clear that this crisis will be not a defeat but a course-correction - that ultimately it will return to us our own lost soul - then we will echo Lincoln’s words in the Gettysburg Address, that “this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.” The fact that other democracies will carry the ball while we’re going through all this - gaining more of their own power and building a more righteous, sovereign relationship with us - is not a bad thing. It will be better for the world.
Beautifully said Marianne! Completely on point. And you’re welcome to visit Canada anytime you need to rest and rejuvenate. You are doing hero work and that’s exhausting.
What a true essay. Mark Carney is the new leader of thre free world, and there are many good actions taking place in America because of the trauma we are all enduring: more connection, more community, more kindness, more actions that have begun because people do have a moral compass. Let's just hope that voter suppression won't hinder a massive change in the mid-terms. Marc Elias has confidence it won't.