One weekend consensus was that nationhood, at least Canadian nationhood, is good. But the weekend’s other message was that nationalism is bad. In fact, French President Emmanuel Macron argued, in logic so ingenious it can only be categorized as French, nationalism subverts the nation. Why? Because by putting national interests first we betray “the very thing that a nation holds dearest, and the thing that keeps it alive: its moral values.” In other words, not Vive la France! but Vive les valeurs françaises! — a rallying cry you don’t actually hear very much in France. And hey, isn’t that our schtick, “promoting Canadian values?”
The nationalism Macron decries is Trump nationalism. Mr. Trump is in most ways deficient but his declared foreign policy principles, as opposed to his strange weakness for dictators, is difficult to fault. He wants the United States to consider its own interests first and he wants other countries to pay more for the collective defence — which, despite campaign braggadocio about leaving NATO, he has not abandoned. It is hard to see how either idea offends moral values. In fact, the second bit, that other countries should bear more of the burden, merely reminds U.S. allies of what supposedly are among their strongest moral values, their internationalism and their willingness to contribute to the common good, traits many of them regard (self-regardingly) as defining.
As for putting national interests first, which national leader among the 60 who marched Sunday in Paris doesn’t do that? Ours certainly does. As he should. A 2010 report by a self-appointed group of worthies including Gerald Butts, Trudeau’s chief counsellor, put it best: “The prime objective of our diplomacy must be the well-being of Canadians.” Also: “Moralism is not a policy” and “we often seem to prefer the gauzy candescence of ‘values discussions’ to the hard reality of producing a more prosperous and secure future.”
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