Onion News-in-Brief

Man Who Threatened To Move To Canada Before Election Still Here

November 29, 2000 | Issue 36•43
CEDAR FALLS, IA– Despite repeated pre-election threats of expatriation, area resident Ron Glick remains a U.S. citizen, acquaintances of the 43-year-old reported Monday. "For weeks leading up to the election, Ron kept saying, 'I swear, if that clown wins, I am moving to Canada,'" coworker Paula Vogel said. "Well, he's been at work every day since, so unless he's commuting from Winnipeg, he's still here." Glick has threatened to renounce his citizenship every four years since 1980, when Reagan's victory was supposed to have precipitated his emigration to Spain.

I love this little blurb from The Onion. I think it is a hilarious jab at all those people you'll hear threatening to move to Canada or Mexico should the candidate of their choice lose an election. We all know those people and we've all heard those people shoot their mouths off before, and such threats are not only annoying but utterly ridiculous and empty. The quality of life in America is so high - not many people want to leave.

Beyond it's satire, this little blurb also provides insight into the American electoral process. Americans have long been jaded and confused by national elections. Such feelings and public opinion are not a recent phenomenon that's only developed since 2000. The electoral college has confused generations of Americans, and anger and disgust with the American electoral process has always been a part of presidential elections. Like Ron Glick, who's been disgruntled since 1980, American disillusionment with the electoral process reaches far back into this country's history and is much more than a recent, 21st century phenomenon.