Recently, as a lonely American at a friend’s birthday party in Montreal, I found myself the object of pointed conversation: “How do you feel about focus shifting away from the U.S. and back to Canada for moral leadership?” As I informed my Canadian friends, the pending shift is not only away from U.S. to other countries for responsibility and leadership, but also within the U.S. to cities and states — which is not such a bad thing. It returns us toward the Founders’ vision and the meaning of federalism. The progressive left will and should increasingly embrace state rights.
I then asked them how they felt — and they said “a bit uncertain, but in the end it, too might be a good thing.” So let’s not decry it. Instead, let’s celebrate this return to moral and local self-reliance which hopefully will complement greater economic and yes, military as well as political responsibility.