Overton Street meets Overton Window.

On our recent father-and-soni post-Heleneii tour of the Mid-Atlantic – cruising through rural Georgia,iii Virginia, and the Carolinas in our rented GMC Yukoniv – it was hard to ignore the clear political shift underway. Yes, Bitcoin just hit USD $100`000… but that somehow seemed like small potatoes compared to what else was afoot. Indeed, a newfound confidence was in the air, one that now seems certain to spread farther and wider than almost anyone could’ve predicted just a few short months ago.

Now, like the most intentional flirting,v we’re seeing Overton Window shifts (ie. shifts in “acceptable” public discourse) start out all too tongue-in-cheek. And should we expect anything less from the finest flirting/joking political figure of our era?vi Sure enough, the incoming standingvii Confidence-Man-In-Chiefviii has pulled this exact trick out of his bag with Canada’s faltering Yogi-In-Chief at a recent meeting between the two at Versaillesix Mar-A-Lago. Essentially, STFU or we’ll conquer your pathetic “anti-colonial” asses!x

And just like that… *POOF* new possibilities are being born. Alberta, Saskatchewan, and mayyyybe Manitoba are suddenly very tempting and equally plausible morsels for Washington to gobble up. Indeed, the Canadian Prairies would make a fantastic combined 51st State (the rest of the country is beyond saving) and we could then connect Montana and North Dakota up to the Pacific Ocean ports in Alaska, creating a contiguous resource powerhouse with world-leading access to oil, gas, uranium, lithium, and potash.

Of course, Rudyard deserves plenty of credit for breaking the seal here, but when 2.5 years later this exact proposal becomes a “joke” at the highest political levels, you just know it’s now anything but. Hardy-hardy-har eh!

And yes, we’ll absolutely welcome our liberators.xi Veni, vide, vincete nos!

  1. In which I was the son… ↩
  2. I swear I’m not hunting for these hurricanes, but with Debby finding us earlier this year, either my timing is shit at the moment or the poles are legit shifting and my anthropocentric ego should just STFU and enjoy the ride. ↩
  3. In Augusta GA, home of Augusta National and The Masters (my favourite golf course and tournament in the world, respectively), we saw the clearest evidence of the recent Hurricane Helene that ravaged the state and further polarized a nation against a (clearly communist) Democratic Party more interested in providing aid to Ukraine and Israel than its own citizens. ↩
  4. I’d actually booked a Rolls Royce Wraith on Turo for the 10-day trip but it hit a concrete pillar in a parkade 24h before we landed. An Escalade was Plan B but of course Enterprise baited-and-switched us and we ended up with a Yukon LT… Its big beefy tires, meaty V8, and long cruising range have actually made it pretty perfect for this trip, other than the seats lacking quite enough adjustability and thigh support. But for street parking outside of our Airbnb in DC, and generally classlessly blending into this part of the world, it really could be a lot worse, though a Yukon Denali would also  just be a little bit better! ↩
  5. Ask me how I know! When we first met in Physics Lab in undergrad, I used to tease The Girl about the fact that she would eat tunas subs in the lab and that she must therefore lack so much self-control that she must weigh 200 kg but that she was also almost certainly too dumb to even convert that into imperial pounds (~440 lbs). Needless to say, a few months of this laser-like focus, an opportune rebound later, and she was blessedly mine. ↩
  6. He gotta a million ways to get it, choose one:

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  7. Who’s waiting for the “formal” inauguration on January 20, 2025? Not world leaders!

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  8. And yes, you do actually want your leaders to “have the look” and inspire confidence. If that makes them “confidence men” then I think we denigrate that description to our detriments! Kenneth Clark would certainly agree vis-a-vis this critical civilisational building block:

    Of course civilization requires a modicum of material prosperity, enough to provide a little leisure but far more it requires confidence. Confidence in a society in which one lives, belief in its philosophy, belief in its laws, confidence in one’s own mental powers. The way the stones of that bridge are laid is not only a triumph of technical skill but it shows a vigorous belief in discipline and law, energy, vitality. All the great civilizations or civilizing epochs have had a weight of energy behind them.

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  9. History rhymes:

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  10. 51st state!

    Followed with this social media post:

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  11. Marc knows:

    Can you think of a more entertaining outcome??↩

One thought on “Overton Street meets Overton Window.”

  1. In search of higher octaves. | Contravex: Essais de Pete D. says:
    December 15, 2024 at 11:22 PM

    […] else), but I’m sure I’ll be able to get the hang of it once we’re living in the 51st State. […]

    Reply

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