Ten crimes of John A. Macdonald

[Cliffy]

Indigenous-led teach-ins about his real legacy. Wilfred Laurier said that "the life of Sir John A. Macdonald...is the history of Canada," and it's true: Macdonald shows us that Canada is built on colonialism and oppression, driven by capitalist expansion, and armed with state violence. Obviously he was not singularly responsible for these policies, many of which began before or continued after him. But as Prime Minister for nearly two decades (1867-73 and 1878-91) he presided over these policies. His defenders, like biographer Richard Gwyn, claim that "to describe Macdonald as 'a racist' is pure, and smug, 'presentism,' or the judging of the past by the standards of the present." But this assumes the past was universally reactionary and the present universally progressive -- which ignores the resistance to his policies at the time, and ongoing movements against his continued legacy.


more: Ten crimes of John A. Macdonald | rabble.ca

 

[damngrumpy]

MacDonald was about building a nation out of his view a wilderness. He was obsessed
with being separate from America. He was an alcoholic, and a stern leader. he was in my
opinion a racist but more so a man who was against anything that interrupted his dream
of building a country. He dealt with scoundrels knowing they were scoundrels but they
served his purpose. MacDonald was a colonialist only until he could establish nationhood
and his dream of proclaiming an independent dominion demonstrates that. I think he was
selective in his beliefs, if he had to be a racist he was if it required him not to be a racist
he wasn't. Look at two visions from the politics of the time. I think the opposition was just
as bad. In fact going by memory only I think it was once a Liberal Slogan
"Beware of the Yellow Peril" When you think about it the business community, the church
and the parties were all racist. They are products of their time but they rightfully can be
accused of a lot of things

 

[taxslave]

Nothing like viewing the past through the rose tinted lens of the present to come up with the wrong conclusion. To hear the PC crowd tell it none of our ancestors should have ever left Europe so the locals could continue in a stone age society forever.

 

[Angstrom]

All life is the same, the strong survive and the weak die. Colonialism is the human equivalent of billions of years of survival of life. And the strong winning over the weak.

Is it wrong? Absolutely not

It's not acceptable to today's standard. Nature is unacceptable. Well aren't we sitting pretty on our high horse

Imagine if the table where turned. If people of the past could look at what we have become, they would laugh at how much of a bunch of little pusses we have become.

 

[spaminator]

crimes of John A. Macdonald

 

[WLDB]

They are products of their time

Macdonald was in favour of giving women the vote in the mid 1880s which was a generation before most people let along governments came around. So being 'products of their time' isnt a good enough excuse.

Imagine if the table where turned. If people of the past could look at what we have become, they would laugh at how much of a bunch of little pusses we have become.

We live much longer and more comfortably. Seems to be going alright.

 

[eh1eh]

Those things weren't crimes back then as heinous as some of it was.
And wtf is with 'expanding capitalism'?.
Should he have made us communist?

 

[#juan]

MacDonald was about building a nation out of his view a wilderness. He was obsessed
with being separate from America. He was an alcoholic, and a stern leader. he was in my
opinion a racist but more so a man who was against anything that interrupted his dream
of building a country. He dealt with scoundrels knowing they were scoundrels but they
served his purpose. MacDonald was a colonialist only until he could establish nationhood
and his dream of proclaiming an independent dominion demonstrates that. I think he was
selective in his beliefs, if he had to be a racist he was if it required him not to be a racist
he wasn't. Look at two visions from the politics of the time. I think the opposition was just
as bad. In fact going by memory only I think it was once a Liberal Slogan
"Beware of the Yellow Peril" When you think about it the business community, the church
and the parties were all racist. They are products of their time but they rightfully can be
accused of a lot of thing.

That was well said. MacDonald was a hero for a different time.

 

[Colpy]

As my Canadian History prof once said: "Better Sir John A. drunk than any PM since sober".

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

As my Canadian History prof once said: "Better Sir John A. drunk than any PM since sober".

You don't build a nation out of (what appeared to Mr. McDonald as) nothing without grit and force. I'm sorry he couldn't come to a better accommodation with us natives, but. . .

1. He was a product of his times, and the notion that we had little to offer besides some info on the geography was the generally accepted European idea, and

2. He and his successors did a hell of a lot better job than the Yanks did.

If you think the Canada he created sucks, I suggest moving to Somalia or Syria or Peru for comparative purposes.