Michael Cust ⚛️🇺🇸🗽

PhD Candidate @YorkUPhilosophy. Graduate of @LSEPhilosophy @PSCIuWaterloo @UAlberta. @YorkUBaseball alum. Dual US-Canadian citizen.

[Michael Cust ⚛️🇺🇸🗽 @CustMichael]

"Individuals have rights, and there are things no person or group may do to them (without violating their rights)." -- Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia, 1974

[Michael Cust ⚛️🇺🇸🗽 @CustMichael]

@OleTimeHardball Bo Jackson

[Michael Cust ⚛️🇺🇸🗽 @CustMichael]

It isn’t Trump’s flag. It’s America’s.

Torontonians booed America.

[Alleria 🇨🇦 Content Creator @alleria_eh]

Canada doesn't boo the US flag and anthem because we hate america.
We boo it because we hate trump and all that he represents.
We hate being attacked and threatened.

Never the 51 state

[Michael Cust ⚛️🇺🇸🗽 @CustMichael]

@CanadianPolling 1 in 3 Albertans not wanting to be part of Canada is something to wave a hand at?

[Michael Cust ⚛️🇺🇸🗽 @CustMichael]

Paternalism is a well-established value in Canada’s political culture. It’s documented in one of the best works of North American political sociology — Lipset’s _Continental Divide_.

Paternalism explains why Canadians are polite. They fear the judgment of their countrymen. Think about someone owning a handgun in Ontario. They’re likely to hear, “why does anyone need a handgun?” It’s a common paternalistic judgement in Canada. Instead of gun owners saying this is my right, they say, “but I follow all the rules!”

I’m presenting something original to you — Canada’s treatment of native people is worse than in the US. It’s unsettling. Canadian nationalism is “not-American”. Canada is less successful than the US, so Canadians compensate with moral superiority. But, here, and I would argue overall, Canada is not morally superior to the United States. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but it’s true.

[Michael Cust ⚛️🇺🇸🗽 @CustMichael]

@colintaylor772 @Steve_in_TO @Noahpinion I bet you regularly equivocate between the two countries, that you don’t believe Canada is better, and that you’re not just equivocating now because Canada’s record on the native question is worse.

[Michael Cust ⚛️🇺🇸🗽 @CustMichael]

Andrea, your take is bigoted. That is, you are intolerant of people with different beliefs on this issue.

You’re not constructing arguments — what PhDs are trained to do. Instead, you’re attempting to shut down opinions you find offensive through public shaming and attacks on an individual’s livelihood.

The one denying human rights is you. People should be free to advocate for reducing the power of existing institutions without fear of career reprisals. Further, separation comes from a right to collective self-determination.

I welcome good-faith replies. Blocking will taken as an admission that you know you’re advocating both an abuse of power and a violation of liberal rights.

[Andrea Dekeseredy @AndieWinnipeg]

🧵There is a lot of talk on here about Jack Mintz, his multiple roles in the Alberta government, and his articles on separation.

But this year, something bizarre happened. And everyone in Canadian humanities/social sciences missed it.

He was named a Trudeau Foundation Mentor.

[Michael Cust ⚛️🇺🇸🗽 @CustMichael]

For Alberta federalists, authoritarian efficiency matters more than democracy.

[Alberta Working Forward @ABLabourToday]

Danielle Smith has picked the U of C to study the potential costs if the province were to leave Canada.

😡
JFC.
Haven't you wasted enough taxpayers money on this separation fiasco?

We know what the cost will be!
Frickin' more than Alberta can afford.

https://t.co/NVZaSyc9aS

[Michael Cust ⚛️🇺🇸🗽 @CustMichael]

That’s not what I’ve claimed. It’s a strawman of my position.

Protecting the emotions you feel toward Canada is not more important than a rational evaluation of right and wrong.

If you’re not willing to entertain the possibility that you might be wrong about Canada, you’ll struggle to put my argument in its best form.

[Michael Cust ⚛️🇺🇸🗽 @CustMichael]

Think like someone with authority, not someone who hates the UCP. Reputation is #1.

It’s not that the UCP supports separatism— the party is divided. It’s that the UCP doesn’t want to be embarrassed. Mintz does good work.

The UCP wants to be able to say, “we held a referendum, which only some of us want. But look, even if separatism wins, this report says it’s not a terrible thing.”

[kyall glennie @kyall]

The UCP know Mintz’s position is pro-separatism. And that’s his right to have that wrong belief. But why would he be handed this role unless the UCP want the separatist referendum to pass?

[reason @reason]

While inflation grew by 4.2% in the past 12 months, wages have only grown by 3.4% in the past year. What does this mean for America’s cost of living?

Read more: https://t.co/pU6RjzIODc

[Michael Cust ⚛️🇺🇸🗽 @CustMichael]

Trudeau participated in the 60s Scoop. Family separation continues to this day.

Native resistance to ending the Indian Act doesn’t mean it’s okay.

Many tribes have little else to turn to, having spent generations under the thumb of the federal government.

They want a clear alternative before it’s gone. Yet, and for good reason, they also don’t trust the federal government.

[Michael Cust ⚛️🇺🇸🗽 @CustMichael]

Agree

[Ken Boessenkool @KenBoessenkool]

Enormous mistake by @policy_school to do contract work for the Alberta Government.

This should have been done in-house by the Government of Alberta’s Department of Finance. Leave academics to do their own analysis independent of government contracts. https://t.co/9d4a2VzIPC

[Michael Cust ⚛️🇺🇸🗽 @CustMichael]

What it means is that speculators speculate that Space X is more productive than Canada.

Way to pull a number out of ass and lie to your followers. Canada isn’t having an IPO

[Co-op Tory 🍁 @CoopTory]

SpaceX is being valued based on speculative future expectations.

Whereas Canada “value” is simply measuring annual economic output.

If Canada were valued in a similar way to SpaceX then it would be worth about $325 Trillion.

[Michael Cust ⚛️🇺🇸🗽 @CustMichael]

Canada depends on the US military for peace and thus the stability of its economy. So Canada, like Space X, is subsidized by the US government.

[Mykhaïlo Golub @golub]

Only Canada is turning a profit

[Michael Cust ⚛️🇺🇸🗽 @CustMichael]

@colintaylor772 @Steve_in_TO @Noahpinion You’re missing the point. How many of the those does the US have today?

The Indian Act is law _right now_.

[Michael Cust ⚛️🇺🇸🗽 @CustMichael]

Anti-separatist politician ironically posts reason Alberta should be a US state.

There are no Space X’s in Canada and because of the country’s risk-averse political culture, there never will be.

[shirish @shiri_shh]

bro immigrated from Mexico and took a $28/hr contract welding job in 2015.

didn't even know what SpaceX was.

they gave him $10,000 in stock and let him buy more through payroll deductions.

that stake is now worth $880,000.

and he's one of 4,400 employees who became millionaires on Friday. welders. technicians. cafeteria staff.

[Cory Morgan @CoryBMorgan]

Pure class indeed.

[Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 @Noahpinion]

"I know because I live here"

Sorry to deny your "lived experience", bro, but Canadian supermarkets make dick-all profit.

https://t.co/CA3tCLC8kF https://t.co/EkvEBMfpqP

[Michael Cust ⚛️🇺🇸🗽 @CustMichael]

Probably because WE was shady.

Even if the media was imperfect, WE was still bad.

You’d have to write two books. One defending WE. Then a second about media malpractice in their demise.

[Mark Bourrie @MarkBourrie]

Yesterday, a book publisher told me writing a book about media malpractice that killed WE Charity would hurt my reputation. I don’t care. I’ve never tried to be popular.