stolen from kyuusai

[iron_and_silver]

The Americans by Gordon Sinclair
As read on 98 Rock and aquired from HERE

a speech made in the 70s by a Canadian:

Widespread but only partial news coverage was given recently to a remarkable editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian television commentator. What follows is the full text of his trenchant remarks as printed in the congressional Record:

"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the
most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth.

Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of
the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and
forgave other billions in debts.

None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining
debts to the United States.

When the franc was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans
who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.

When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in
to help.

This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes.
Nobody helped.

The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into
discouraged countries.

Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent,
warmongering Americans.

I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the
erosion of the United States Dollar build its own airplane.

Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing
Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas10?

If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the International lines
except Russia fly American Planes?

Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on
the moon?

You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios.

You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles.

You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon-not
once, but several times-and safely home again.

You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store
window for everybody to look at.

Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on
our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws,
are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here.

When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down
through age, it was the American who rebuilt them.

When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke,
nobody loaned them an old caboose.

Both are still broke.

I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other
people in trouble.

Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble?

I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.

Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damned
tired of hearing them get kicked around.

They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they
do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating
over their present troubles.

I hope Canada is not one of those.