Weekly Thought Leader, No. 1
Pieces to enrich your media consumption
Hi folks, it’s been a while since I did a link round-up, but as part of my commitment to actually posting more often, I thought I would also share the interesting posts I’ve come across. This will be an about-weekly service, and sorry about the title for the series, which is indeed meant ironically.
True North, Strong? And Free?
Canadian Substackers are not treating Trump as a joke. And they shouldn’t
Philippe Lagassé, “Canadian defence without an American alliance?”, Debating Canadian Defence
Considering how dependent Canadian defence policy is on the United States, how would we re-establish a greater degree of independence and self-sufficiency if our alliance with the United States is hollowed out, used as leverage against us, or falls apart entirely?
Stewart Prest, “Canadian conservatives’ Trump problem”, Politics, Explained
Whatever failings Donald Trump has, his one surpassing skill is his ability to make everything about him, and the Canadian election of 2025 will be no exception. This is becoming an issue for [Conservative Leader Pierre] Poilievre, and the longer he takes to move more decisively on it, the bigger that problem will get. The laser-like focus on the unpopular carbon tax, combined with a tendency to turn every other conversation into a story about how it’s really the Liberals’ fault, might be sound strategy in a normal “throw the bums out” election. Given the growing number of voters looking forward with fear, however, rather than backward with anger, such a strategy risks making Poilievre and the Conservatives seem out of step with the concerns of Canadians.
Ministry for the Future
What do we owe the future today?
Michael Rushton, “F is for Future Generations”, Arm’s Length
An alternative to the economic approach is to think in terms of fairness. Our current generation was born with a cultural inheritance, one that we could enjoy, and that gave our artists inspiration for making new works. If we think that this cultural inheritance is a “primary good” - one that ought to be as equally shared as possible - then we owe to future generations the preservation of great works, and great artistic traditions.
Timothy Burke, “Values or Nothing, Compliance is Dead”, Eight by Seven
Every carefully-crafted communication from on high will somewhere say something about values, in the most generic and non-committal way. But in the practice of making and enforcing policies, values are at best an afterthought, a way you message a decision, not a structure of reason that produces that decision. Trying to introduce values during a decision-making process, especially to debate or discuss potentially rivalrous or divergent values, is often regarded impatiently, as a distraction, as a kind of weird compulsion or kink that some faculty can’t get away from.
Uncivil Military Relations
James, “The American Agamemnon,” War By Other Means
There’s no ground the military can stand on anymore that means they’re going to be doing anything for non-partisan institutional reasons. Hegseth (for instance) has signaled that he is deeply ambivalent to the Laws of Armed Conflict—but we are legally bound by treaty to adhere to those laws. In our current times, if the military refuses to operate outside the bounds of those laws—that will be a partisan act wether the DoD likes it or not.