When I first heard Neil Young sing “keep on rockin’ in the free world,” I thought his portrayal of western arrogance and the “thousand points of light” social issues faced by contemporary America was spot on. In fact, the issues raised in the 1989 hit song are quite relevant today and the irony that this song was used by Donald Trump when he announced his candidacy for POTUS in 2016, is not lost on me.
Indeed, there’s a warnin’ sign on the road ahead that the American man of the people, would rather not heed. His ALL CAPS tirades on Twitter reveal that his gentler, kinder, executive-order-signing and tariff-imposing hand, could trigger the mother of all wars. This POTUS does not seek to keep hope alive – he seeks to rock the free world. I don’t know about you, but this frightens me.
It is commonly asserted that the president of the United States, by virtue of the office held, is “the leader of the free world.” This epithet denotes a level of political influence and power that transcends the U.S., making POTUS the de facto spokesperson of all democratic nations. What kind of spokesperson do we have in the current POTUS? To draw from another song analogy: I am not sure if he is Tweeter or the Monkey man?
With origins in the Second World War, the term free world referred to the allied nations. During the Cold War, the term “leader of the free world” was ascribed to American presidents because they railed against communism and those forces that sought to weaken and undermine democracy and the rule of law. With what we have witnessed recently with tariffs, G7, NATO, Singapore, Helsinki, and now Iran, is POTUS really the “leader of the free world” basket in which we want to put all our hopes and trust? Surely Obi-Wan-Kenobi – there must be another?
We do not need POTUS to be our spokesperson for … anything. In fact, I would strongly encourage reasonably informed citizens and Canadian media to refrain from even using the term “leader of the free world” when referring to POTUS. Its use may have been warranted or even true in the past – you know, like the era when allies actually respected each other – but this epithet in the current context – is truly fake news!
Canada, a.k.a. “the true north strong and free,” is quite confident in asserting its presence on the world stage in a most respectful and respected manner. We can let our example be one of hope to the free world. Far from perfect, we aspire to keep on rockin’ in the free world through our commitment to pluralism, peacekeeping, and all the sweet maple syrup Canadian stereotypes you can fit into your double-double Stanley Cup! Take that eh ‘Merica! Sorry.
Perhaps it is up to us Canadians to be the voice of reason in a time of great darkness? We must not shuffle our feet or sleep with our shoes on when the colours on the street are the wrong hue of red, white and blue. We did not vote for POTUS but we can certainly let it be known that we, unequivocally, do not see him as leader of the free world!
We’ve got fuel to burn and roads to drive – so just keep on rockin’ in the free world, Canada!
Tim Cusack is an educator, writer and member of the naval reserve.
