Compliant, obstinate, and defiant are words used to describe a behavioral response to authoritative edicts. Authorities treat people differently based upon which behavior they demonstrate. The compliant rewarded, the obstinate coerced, and the defiant persecuted. Canadian truckers were essential workers defying covid as they delivered goods for the Zoom crowd. They were considered heroes. 

In 2020, when thousands of farmers from all over India traveled to the capital city of Delhi, Trudeau insisted, “Canada will always be there to defend the right of peaceful protest.” Fast forward two years to last Wednesday when he told the Canadian Parliament trucker, ”blockages, illegal demonstrations are unacceptable, and are negatively impacting businesses and manufacturers… It has to stop.” 

Trudeau evades the fact that he can stop it immediately. Concede to the truckers’ simple demands; end mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations and the government tracking system used to enforce them. Instead, he first resorted to name-calling. Recently he denounced those Canadian truckers as fringe, racists, misogynists, criminals, and terrorists. The hero status is fleeting when you change from compliant to defiant. 

Monday, at a news conference on Parliament Hill, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he invoked the federal Emergencies Act so that ”the federal government is ready to use more tools at its disposal.” He is not talking about more phillips screwdrivers and wrenches. He is talking hammers. Yes, and with an abundant supply of hammers, everything looks like a nail.

Trudeau justifies his action “is about keeping Canadians safe, protecting people’s jobs and restoring confidence in our institutions.” Protecting jobs is the most interesting of these. His mandated lockdowns and labeling of non-essential workers prevented many Canadian from working.  

Not About Covid

Is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the darling of liberal media and the first “Woke” democratic leader of western democracy, exposing the true nature of governmental authority? Left-wing, right-wing, liberal, conservative does not matter. The monopolistic power of government is intoxicating.

Trudeau’s confrontation with the truckers is state dictates versus freedom of choice. It is a battle between state dictates in the name of safety and security versus family, church, the community choice. It is a challenge to the “rule of law” versus responsive governance. It is a struggle between the independent workers versus the Zoom society. It’s a conflict that pits real-world human interaction against the splendors of online isolation; the experiences of working men and women versus the professional experts. It is a clash between the life experienced crew and the formula quoting, statistics referencing prognosticators. 

First, it was a lockdown, then social distancing, followed by mask mandates, its vaccine programs, and finally vaccine mandates and passports. All initiated to convince the public that only state power can make them safe and secure. They imply since the state can save, its leaders are the only legitimate source of authority. Proud men and women will not tolerate this level of arrogance for long.  

The leaders suggest that only the state is qualified to keep the population educated, healthy, safe, prosperous, and satisfied. Without their intervention, things will go badly. They believe that the family, the church, and the community, are all inadequate to secure human well-being.   

Trudeau claims he instituted the vaccine mandates to save and secure. Without him, the reasoning goes, the population would suffer and die from Covid. The political logic is inescapable. Leaders, like him, believe they alone are fit to govern and that there is only one path to follow. They insist that opponents to their mandates are just obstacles that need to be removed. 

Trucker Threat?

The truckers represent a threat to Trudeau. They have a social and political power that they independently achieved and garnered by their status amongst the working class. This socio-economic class represents the last bastion of self-sufficiency and independence in a modern society such as Canada and the United States. 

In today’s economy, the professional classes like; doctors, academics, teachers, and civil servants mostly derive their incomes and status from the state built on regulatory apparatus that only the state can provide and enforce. 

Then there is the underclass, who most often rely on the state for their needs. They pose no threat to the state’s legitimacy. The state prefers this existence and wishes all of society were that way. A population entirely reliant on the state would never question its growth of power and its legitimacy. 

The truckers are making a stand for the independent working class. They gather incomes from private sources, owners of small businesses, and employees of small and medium-sized enterprises. They are independent-minded that see self-sufficiency as a virtue and rely on themselves and their relationships with others rather than the state. They earn their money using a skill that others value and pay for their service. 

They represent a barrier to state authority because they do not need it. To them, the state frequently stands in their way. They see a problem and want to find a solution for themselves. They want to make up their minds about whether to take a vaccine, wear a mask, and assess their health-related risks. 

The modern state has waged a covert war against the independent. At every step, it seeks to regulate their business affairs, restrict their liberty, and confiscate their prosperity. There is always a purportedly good reason for this. But it contributes to a whittling away of their independence and strength. They are squeezed, squashed between the welfare-reliant underclass and the white-collar professionals who draw their wealth from the state. 

Justin Trudeau’s contempt for the truckers is genuine. He sees them as a challenge to his political future and an increasing scope and scale for governmental authority. His authority has waned during this crisis. His reaction to this protest will determine his political future. 

Trudeau and all bureaucrats derive their legitimacy from their positions of rulership. Whether elected or appointed, their number one prerogative becomes job security. Their jobs are reliant on convincing the population that they are necessary. Necessary to impose lockdowns and mandates? Necessary to freeze bank account and seize personal money based on charitable donation? Do government-enforced “necessary dictates” help or hinder? 

With no government-imposed mandates, would we have treated covid symptoms more effectively, would there be a lesser economic and social impact, would there have been fewer covid deaths? Would we have more freedoms? Yes!