Well, our southern neighbour has just blown its last chance to preserve its democracy. We Canadians now enjoy the dubious distinction of sharing an 8,891-kilometre border with the largest and most heavily armed banana republic on the face of the earth.

I feel genuinely sorry for the millions of decent people in the U.S.A.; most, because of financial or family realities, will never be able to leave the country. If I were a woman or a member of a minority population, escape would be first and foremost in my mind.

There will never again be a free and fair election in the U.S. With four years of unfettered control of the executive, legislative and judicial branches and a kangaroo supreme court composed mostly of political hacks and toadies, Donald Trump will succeed in his quest to disenfranchise all who oppose him. Future U.S. elections will be no more legitimate than those of Russia.

I am now an old man. When I was a child, teenager and young adult the U.S.A. was quite properly the most admired and respected country on earth, a beacon of freedom and liberty to the world. Its democratic tradition, its commitment to stand up against oppressors and the opportunity for the little guy to rise to wherever his talents and his hard work would take him were surely a game plan for our entire human race.

I have watched in sadness and horror as this noble experiment has inexorably deteriorated into a theocratic, fascist oligarchy.

O tempora! O mores!

John C. Simpson

Oak Bay