Quote:
Originally Posted by Mutt
I understand American history and the roots of its political culture. Jefferson, Franklin and Washington are heroes of mine. I'm also mindful that they lived 250 years ago in very different times. They were all very reasonable men and were they to come back from the dead today I'm sure some of their thinking would change and they'd look at many of the far right conservatives who use their names to promote their political goals as utter morons.
I don't think Canada has a national roster/list of citizens other than the Census, so no different than the US and since 9/11 and its political aftermath in the US, Canadians enjoy more privacy than Americans.
And you're right, English Canadians began as American colonists in New England, fleeing the American Revolutionary War - they were called United Empire Loyalists.
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Posting now just to add something I wish I'd said above.
A whole series of laws exist precisely to compartmentalize information so that it's not used by the US government to assemble dangerous lists of citizens. For example, it is a federal crime for the data to be retained or compiled when a pre-gun purchase background chek is performed. The only person who could commit such a crime would be a government employee. Similarly, census data is confidential for a very long period of time and particularly identifying data cannot be accessed for decades to protect the privacy of the living. When I last looked into it, the "tracts" or raw data of the 1930 census was first being released, perhaps we're up to 1940 by now. These prohibitions are routinely inserted into US laws to reflect our (popular) adversity to a master government list. When names are taken for one purpose, like draft registration, it is usual that the law requires that this information be segregated.
This policy got some bashing and deformation after 911 because the law formerly required FBI records and CIA and NSA records to be segregated, and while I'm no expert, I think the Patriot Act facilitated data sharing among these agencies with Homeland Security. You can expect all of this to be looked at again closely in light of the Edward Snowden disclosures.
This is one of several important cultural differences between Americans and Canadians that tended to result in very different societies. Canadians are great collaborators while the American tradition impedes that with great value attached to rugged individualism. The whole gun issue turns here on what is seldom expressed; it's really not only about self defense from criminals and hunting, at least psychologically it's also about the power to fight tyranny if and when it emerges here. Canadians don't worry about tyranny as much as we do. But I'm always complimented when, in Canada, I'm taken to be a Canadian. When I've asked why, Canadians said that it was because I was well-spoken and nice. I take that as a compliment.