Common bonds between Americans and Canadians in ‘Cascadia’ are too precious to toss

In the upside-down world we’re all stumbling around in, one’s first inclination often proves to be the worst.

To wit: Several weeks ago I felt an urge to pen a column pre-apologizing to our Canadian neighbors about what’s coming down the pipe from Washington, The Lesser. That got tabled; when I returned from a week off I saw that a former colleague and usually sound mind, Danny Westneat of The Seattle Times, had already done a similar thing.

Which he may now regret.

Some people appreciated his piece, but it also unleashed a wave of vitriol on both sides of the border once his reasoned words were fed into the global Logic Chipper/Shredder that is (anti-) social media.

Merci, Danny! With some trepidation, I’ll skirt around the arrows in his back to move on with a piece more focused on our own neighborhood.

This missive, from a Bellingham newsroom where we literally admire the high peaks in British Columbia from our windows, should NOT BE CONSTRUED AS AN APOLOGY. It’s a plea for a mutual focus on what’s at stake regionally in what has become an unwanted, unwarranted international whizzing contest.

The hope: That cooler heads in Washington state, and yes, B.C., might at least contain the damage already inflicted by the nation’s new “leadership” cadre of talk show hosts, conspiracy theorists and internet trolls, who have now collectively branded our oldest nation-state neighbor a “trade enemy.”

Shared values run deep

We start with the simple premise: All of us in “Cascadia,” — a regional signifier chosen as the name of our publication for a reason — have been blessed to live in a neighborly relationship that stands out as one of the most agreeable on the planet. Our shared values and open border have undeniably enriched our lives in terms of our economy, culture, environment, mutual defense — and basic decency.

To borrow a quote from Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, speaking last fall of the MAGA practice of demonizing “others”: “They’re your neighbors. You look out for them, and they look out for you.”

All of that has been put at risk by destabilizing practices of the current ruling junta in D.C. We feel it. We get it.

And a lot of us passionately hate it.

In that vein, this, also, bears repeating: While we clearly own our own elections, and their results, Northwest Washington is heavily populated by folks who heeded the warning flags about what was to come, resoundingly voting no on the tariff-obsessed president.

More than 60% of Whatcom County voters disfavored Trump; 53% in Skagit County. Voters in San Juan County, which constantly rubs elbows with B.C., went 73% for Kamala Harris.

Blame? Plenty to go around

Does that somehow absolve us from today’s chaos? Of course not. The lowering of the guard was a slow-drip national process and every American owns it. But friends in B.C. should at least know that vitriol about America, in this corner, is mostly preaching to the majority choir.

Note that CDN’s opinion pages in recent weeks have been flooded by heartfelt sentiments of locals mortified by their government’s unrelenting attacks on foundational national principles such as rule of law. Today’s pages contain a large amount of disdain over America’s flipping of the bird to the world — particularly Canada.

It’s not surprising; people in our upper left corner share a longstanding mutual trust with Lower Mainland neighbors — something too precious to toss via a petulant political hissy fit.

We share a natural ecosystem — a mountainous, maritime region connected by the Salish Sea — that transcends arbitrary borders. That’s why it’s never seemed odd that in vast stretches of our shared space, borders casually marked only by unguarded ditches in cow pastures, or jagged arbitrary lines between beautiful islands on nautical charts, seemed fitting.

Such is the depth of our commonality and, until last month, trust.

Let’s not kid ourselves: Damage has been done. And all those decades of goodwill here — and beyond —are threatened by global authoritarian movements. In a model oft-repeated in world history, their oxygen is grievance. What’s new, and more disturbing, is their ability to metastasize with previously unimaginable efficiency by what amounts to 24/7 IV drips of daily digital propaganda, creating a literal alternate electorate reality.

Whether representative democracy survives that conflagration is, I think, an open question. I’d put the odds today at 50/50.

This writer’s hope is that Canadians, justifiably appalled, at least avoid the American mistake — born of a long run of good luck mistaken as superiority, resulting in arrogance — of assuming they are immune from the same global forces.

Canada’s own current national politics speak loudly there. If nothing else, America might be viewed as a case study of how to fail to shore up democratic guardrails before it’s too late. And our own corner, perhaps, an example of how to contain the damage.

Let’s talk at another CDN Town Hall

As stated here before, CDN’s job in this new bizzarro-world reality is two-fold: We vow to keep a lane open for communication and sentiment via letters and commentary on our Opinion page. We also will strive to document the impact of the pending reshaping of our federal government on local residents — of both nations.

We want to hear how America’s actions impact British Columbians as well as us. And while it’s a lot to ask, we hope they’re still willing to listen to like-minded governmental captives across the line. (Cascadia Daily News is open to a content-share arrangement with a B.C. media partner to facilitate common ground.)

At the same time, our locally owned company is forging ahead with a series of public forums that we hope will cut through hyperbole and promote mutual understanding about the current political upheaval.

The first of these was our pre-election Town Hall featuring an enlightened conversation on the trappings of creeping fascism by world traveler Rick Steves.

Our next Town Hall, “A Border Between Friends,” is set for 7-9 p.m. Thursday, March 27 at Sehome High School Theater. An expert panel will discuss and take questions about economic, cultural and immigration issues presented by our new border realities.

Guests include Laurie Trautman and Edward Alden, both Western Washington University scholars and authors of a popular new book on border issues; Whatcom County Sheriff Donnell “Tank” Tanksley; and immigration attorney Aaron Korthuis, of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. Tickets are $20 and available on a first-come, first-served basis.

We hope to see many of you there. It’s a subject so large that easy answers are not likely to arise. There’s no magical local solution to a trans-continental problem.

But we hope it builds a foundation for a solid start. And maybe shines a small light across that peaceful border we have all too long taken for granted.

Ron Judd's column appears weekly; ronjudd@cascadiadaily.com; @roncjudd.