4 ms·
It's my belief that it's Canadians that make Canada a lot less prone to political extremism. But watch out: America tends to be on the forefront of things. Pol
by jfengel 2y ago
It's my belief that it's Canadians that make Canada a lot less prone to political extremism.
But watch out: America tends to be on the forefront of things. Political extremism persists because it's politically successful. Extremists are enthusiastic, and moderates often follow them because it gets them what they want.
I hope Canadian's cultural adversion to the kind of behavior Americans display will save you for a long time to come. But the fact is that extremism works, and many people will prefer to win against their principles than lose with them.
- Rendello 2y agoPolitical extremism persists because it's politically successful in places where political moderacy isn't. Us Canadians aren't better than Americans, we have a system that allows people to vote more closely to their values and (somewhat) avoid polarization. It's not perfect and a lot of the issues come down to being a "2 Party Lite" instead of a full multi-party democracy. In my opinion, American Exceptionalism is not a pretension that the USA is the best, but a general assumption that culture primarily drives a nation's systems and not the other way around.