YET THEY ELECTED A DADDY:

Political gurus explore U.S.-Canada split (SUSAN DELACOURT, 6/15/06, Toronto Star)

"Father knows best" isn't just an old TV show any more — it's where Canada and the U.S. beg to differ, according to Environics pollster Michael Adams. [...]

One of Adams' most stunning illustrations of Canada-U.S. differences to the conference was on the question of family dynamics —— specifically the idea of the father as head of the family.

In Canada, that notion has been slowly eroding since 1992. In the United States, it's been growing.

In 1992, 26 per cent of Canadians said they agreed with the statement: "The father of the family must be the master of his own house." In 2005, only 18 per cent of Canadians agree with that notion, according to Adams' numbers.

By contrast, 42 per cent of Americans agreed with that statement in 1992. But by 2005, more than half of Americans — 52 per cent — said that dad must be the boss at home.

"If my wife heard that, she'd be mad at Americans. Heck, she'd be mad at me," joked Liberal party president Mike Eizenga, who's one of about 150 delegates to this week's Canada 2020 conference.

Conference attendees were excited by the Adams' finding.

They believed it underscores the idea that Canadians are far more wary overall of authoritarianism, hierarchy and other hallmarks of conservative politics.

Some pundits, in fact, have taken to calling Prime Minister Stephen Harper "big daddy" for his tough, highly centralized style of governing since he took office in February.

More important is that morality is fundamentally male -- a necessary precondition of freedom -- while unconditional love (relativism) is feminine.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 15, 2006 9:00 AM