Comment by travisgriggs | Hacker News Reader

Comment by travisgriggs | Hacker News Reader

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So this. A year ago my wife and I did a road trip up into Canada (Kelowna BC region). It was a new experience. I’ve been up into Canadian provinces many times (20+ over the years), but because of the anti Canadian rhetoric that Trump and company were putting out at the time, I was embarrassed and eager for people to not actually know I was from the states. I was hyper aware of the Washington state license plates on our car. I have never felt that way before. Ashamed to be an American. Afraid of the association it implied. Anxious that people would be reductionist, unable to realize that I was not just an American, but a frustrated helpless American.

The Canadian people I met as we travelled were all amazing. I was humbled that they took time to talk. And were less interested in identity than issues. One older gentleman, who saw us pull into the McDonalds with Washington plates approached us in the foyer and wanted to tell me that despite what others might say, I was welcome there. It was on one hand kinda weird and at the same time really touching.

I just saw this recent survey about whether or not people view their fellow citizens as morally good. Canada ranks first, with 92% respondents answering affirmatively.

It's not hard to imagine people like these extending their good will to foreigners, even "hostile" ones.

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2026/03/05/in-25-countr...

In contrast, "The United States is the only place we surveyed where more adults (ages 18 and older) describe the morality and ethics of others living in the country as bad (53%) than as good (47%)."

This is true in most scenarios, and the opposite is also true – that Americans are famously friendly, and even though Canadians may not want to visit to make a point, I think even they would agree that most day to day interactions they'd have would be warm and welcoming.

There might be a bit more hockey ribbing for the next few weeks, but I know there's a ton of respect for Canada's team.

At the end of the day, the idea of "My problem is with the government, and not the people" is as old as time.

I am also a Canadian who has decided not to visit the US until further notice, and honestly, I'm sad about it.

In my 20+ years of regularly travelling to the States, I've almost always had great interactions with the people I've met in all parts of the US I've visited, and I've been all over. "Warm and welcoming" is a very good description.

I hope to be able to visit again in the future.

Same has been true the 2-3 times I've visited Canada. I don't think that'll change. I remember how things got pretty heated during the run up to the Iraq War. And we hope that the friendship will endure.

But I'm a pretty optimistic person anyway.

I think you’re all within your right to keep your distance from us. Our disgraceful leadership, even if it doesn’t accurately represent our people, we must suffer under it but no reason for you to do the same. We just hope you’re aware it’s only a few more years and we can begin to heal the whole relationship with more sane leaders that hopefully do see the strength and value in a positive relationship with a northern neighbor.

If not, please send help or accept our political refugees because we will have become permanently screwed if this behavior continues past our current orange phase.

> [...]even if it doesn’t accurately represent our people

I beg to differ, seeing that the US had free and fair elections - media bias aside.

Most Canadians are visiting Hawaii and California, not Arkansas and South Dakota, so the point still stands for the states most people are going to. (Although Florida and Arizona are both pretty popular destinations too, which somewhat contradicts my point)

South Dakota actually has a few decent tourist attractions west river: (Mt Rushmore, Badlands, Crazy Horse).

With its proximity to Canada, and relative cheapness, likely pulls in quite a few tourists from up North.

One additional South Dakota attraction (although lessening interest as of late) is how much hunting/fishing is available, and how much the community is interested in the ‘visiting’ hunter.

https://sdvisit.com/sites/default/files/2026-01/2025-Economi...

Oh, I wasn't aware of that, thanks! I guess I was only thinking of warmer places, since that's where I tend to travel to. I personally live a bit too far north to drive to the US (in a reasonable amount of time), so I completely forgot that the US is close enough for a summer road trip for most Canadians.

Elections are not good sample of our collective values. The approval rating is quite low and is probably a better measure.

But when it comes to elections, first, somehow “we” get 2 bad choices every time. This last time, I personally feel they were 2 incredibly terrible choices. Then the fumbling from the other side basically assured orange man’s victory. It was a disaster of an election (but sadly appropriate as it seems like every thing we do is a disaster now.)

We also have a low voter turnout. So the result isn’t really complete and probably has some bias.

We also have an electoral college which means the winner can have less than 50% of the popular vote and win.

I could probably go on but I feel the point has been made that election outcomes are not the proxy you think

https://www.economist.com/interactive/trump-approval-tracker

If "both sides" are equally bad, then both sides equally represent the people, no?

> I could probably go on but I feel the point has been made that election outcomes are not the proxy you think

The purpose of a system is what it does. There are not many grassroots efforts to change the many negatives you listed. Tacit approval - whether through nor voting or not fixing what is broken - does not lessen culpability. The outcome is still accurate representation on the aggregate.

If 4 housemates always have a dirty kitchen, it's a reflection on all of them. It may fall short of their ideals, or they can blame Bob for not doing dishes, not fixing a problem whose root they know is an indictment, not an excuse.

Ironically in my experience anyways, this is true more so in parts that are more strongly "Canada should be the 51st state" politically. e.g. the south, where I find day to day interactions with people there are much more friendly than say California.

Washington has more in common with BC than with Alabama or Florida. Except for the Pig War, which was more of a disagreement between neighbors over their fence line.

maybe northwestern washington. the rest of the state is basically kentucky.

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