This is not new. World Wars I and II are our most unforgettable and expensive, in both lives lost and money spent. After WWII, we said “never forget” and “never again.” Like before, it snuck up on us like a thief in the night and under somewhat false pretenses. Most German people thought Hitler was a saviour.

Now, even U.S. soldiers both active and retired are speaking out. Most of us have had close friends or relatives who fought for our freedom from dictatorship. One of my close relatives who fought in WWII all across Europe until the liberation of Holland once spoke of a superior whose family had bought his position.

After the first several confrontations with the enemy, the losses of lives in that battalion were enormous.

Finally, the soldiers realized that their leader had no knowledge of fighting a war, and approached him to lead the next encounter, since all their leaders were dead, and he agreed. Well, he was one of the first casualties in the next skirmish and from then on, there were very few casualties in my relative’s fighting group. Sometimes the leader must be changed.

Even before the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and the Freedom Convoy on Parliament Hill about a year later, some of those seen on both occasions, and at the border blockages between the U.S.A. and Canada, were an active part of that anti-democracy movement. Although only a few of those anti-democracy leaders wore swastikas and waved the swastika flag, there were many more working silently in the background and directing operations from a home base. Something that everybody watched on TV was that when the truckers arrived on Parliament Hill, both Putin and Trump congratulated them, and Poilievre handed out coffee and donuts.

In both cases, a popular cause was found to get the public riled up. In the U.S., Trump kept repeating that the election was stolen, and almost half the country was still very upset that their party had not won. In Canada, many people were still recovering from cabin fever caused by being locked down at home, while the world was still trying to decide what the best way was to fight off this pandemic.

Some believed the pandemic was a hoax. Some jobs required workers to be vaccinated regardless of what they believed. Many had to work remotely from home or were laid off altogether. Some were never vaccinated and survived but, in some cases, their brains just didn’t work after, and some later died from suicide. Many dollars were spent trying to keep some very fragile businesses and workers alive.

At the same time, most countries in the world, including China, set part of their budget aside to fight climate change, though there were still many people who remained disbelievers. But during the pandemic, when planes stopped flying and other transport using fossil fuels decreased drastically, scientists noticed there had been a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Many people realized that maybe there is something to “that climate change thing.” Any old farmer who has watched a gradual change in our growing seasons could have told us that.

Any time there is an imposed change to our financial state, our lifestyle, or our social habits, we want to blame someone. The government in power at such times is an easy target, and some go so far as to say democracy doesn’t work. Maybe we didn’t all know that dictatorships, communist countries, and even military regimes were shut down by the covid problem too.

Most countries with less densely-populated areas and lower levels of social interaction were hit the least. Even before the freedom convoy entered Ottawa, some locals knew that the truckers were being used as a distraction to the larger aim of showing that “democracy don’t work.” Same at the international bridges and land border crossing disturbances. When there are local branches in every province, there is always someone who knows someone.

Since a new president took power in the United States, there seem to have been a lot of major changes made in many very critical departments by the advice of unelected people who have very little knowledge of what those departments do. There seem to be some extremely serious changes being made in international relations, even including how and where nuclear arms are stored and looked after, without any approval or even knowledge by either the House or the Senate. Now that the Conservative Party is leading the Canadian poles, Elon wants to cozy up to Pierre?

Then there’s the free trade and tariff problem. I bet that Donnie doesn’t know that every Big Mac that’s eaten in New York City is subsidized by a Canadian dairy farmer. Donnie never mentioned the $1,300,000,000,000 U.S. farm bill that Donnie says is not subsidy? More about trade next week.

Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations.