To My Canadian Friends,
I rarely get the chance to listen to talk radio, as I’m working during the day. Yes, despite the Obama economy, I have a job. I’m an independent contractor. And despite what Barack Obama said in Roanoke, Virginia, recently (to business owners: “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that”), I did build my business.
I paid for and went through the training in my field, I busted my hump finding clients, and I often work 12 hours or more a day to turn out the best quality product possible so that I can keep my clients. Mr. Obama, I DID build this, with no help from you.
But back to my original point: I had an appointment that required some driving the other day, and while I was on the road I decided to listen to the radio. Glenn Beck, a popular conservative talk radio host was on, and he was kidding around about wanting to get out the country if Obama gets re-elected. “Canada, let us in!” he joked, to the laughter of his co-hosts.
I doubt Beck is honestly considering leaving the country, but many Americans are. Including me.
I am grateful to have been born in America. I love my country, but over the past several years I have become more and more convinced that the U.S. is in a political, economic, and possibly even a moral death spiral from which it may not recover for decades, if ever. Even if Mitt Romney is elected this November (something I find increasing doubtful), the very fact that Barack Obama was elected in 2008 and the fact that he is not trailing Romney by a double-digit margin after three-and-a-half disastrous years in office tells me that much of the American populace has no understanding of the most basic economic principles, or of the text or meaning of the U.S. Constitution. I fear that regardless of who is elected this year, anti-free-market and anti-freedom politicians like Barack Obama will continue to dominate the American political landscape far into the foreseeable future. The consequences of their policies will be disastrous for this country.
I know that Canada is not perfect, but I also feel that Canada is headed in the right direction. I was heartened when the Conservative Party won a majority in the 2011 federal election, and I was even more heartened that the Liberals under Michael Ignatieff (heavily supported, ironically, by the American liberal elite) self-destructed. Right now it is Canada that is setting the example of freedom and economic liberty in North America, and I feel that it is going to be this way for some time to come. I desperately want to be a part of that.
The problem is that Canadian immigration law makes it tough for those in my position to move north. As I said, I am an independent contractor. I work exclusively online with clients from around the world. That means that I can work from anywhere. It also means that I don’t need a job in Canada, and there’s the rub. If I were unemployed and received a Canadian job offer, I could get in. If my company were worth millions and I could open an office in Canada and employ Canadians, I could get in. But because I work solo and don’t need a Canadian job, I’ve fallen through the cracks. There are many like me.
You’d think that I would be the perfect immigrant: I already have a job, and I make more than enough money to support myself in Canada. That means I won’t be sucking resources from any of the social services Canada offers. On Day One of my Canadian residency, I would be a productive, tax-paying member of society without having to take a job from a Canadian or needing any government benefits. What more could you ask from a new immigrant?
So I’m asking the Canadian government to consider expanding its immigration rules to include people like me. And of regular Canadian citizens, I’m asking for your help. Maybe we could start an “Adopt an American” program for people like me? It may very well be that Canada is the last, best hope for liberty and freedom in the western world. Just as several hundred years ago, people left the Old World in pursuit of liberty and opportunity in the New World, today many Americans are leaving our country to pursue opportunity in the North. Please forgive us our former arrogance (and all of the Canadian jokes), and, as Glenn Beck said, “Let us in!”
Mike Jensen is a freelance writer living in Colorado. He received his M.A. in Professional Writing from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he wrote his first book, Alaska’s Wilderness Highway. He has since published Skier’s Guide to Utah along with humor, travel, and political articles for various magazines and newspapers. He is married with five sons, and spends his free time at a remote cabin in the Colorado Rockies.
