Trip to Toronto via the United States

Over the past week, I drove through several states en route to Toronto from Vancouver. For those asking why I went through the US rather than Canada, my reason was two fold, 1. their interstate highways allow you to drive faster than the Trans-Canada Highway and 2. I wanted to visit Chicago. I passed through Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan before entering Ontario. Even though I went through both red and blue states, pretty much everywhere except Seattle, Chicago, and Detroit was Bush country where I drove and likewise from Windsor to Mississauga every riding I went through was Conservative. A couple of my highlights were visiting Chicago where I took a guided tour of the city and went up both the Sears Tower and John Hancock Centre. I also got pulled over in Rapid City, South Dakota for doing 72 MPH in a 65 zone, but thankfully I only got a warning. Interestingly enough when the cop found out I was from Vancouver, he asked if I had any marijuana in my car, but I said no since I have never smoked marijuana even though I do support legalizing it. My reason for this is much like tobacco, I don't approve its use, but believe controlling it through regulation rather than outlawing it is the proper solution.

While going through the United States, I saw several political ads and most were negative although surprisingly none were as nasty as the Liberal ones last election, although I suspect that had more to do with the fact the nastiest ones tend to be only in really close races just before election day. One of the funniest ones I saw was one in Montana, which said John Tester is too liberal for Montana. Going based on the signs, it was tough to say how things were going since most signs made no mention of the party or the party was only a small print and they tended to focus on the individual, so when going 80 MPH down the highway I could only read what was in big print. I suspect this has to do with the fact there is less party discipine, which is one of the few things I like about the American system, but also that both parties are seen as liabilities so one has a better chance of being elected running on their own merit than under the party banner. I did see several support our troops bumper stickers, but ironically I also saw several here in Ontario too, while I never have seen any out on the West Coast. Off course the American ones were probably referring to the Iraq War, while the Canadian ones to the Afghanistan conflict. I didn't talk much politics with the locals since I just generally don't discuss those issues with strangers, but one man I met in Montana seemed like your typical Republican voter since he thought our gun laws in Canada were ridiculous, yet interesteringly enough he absolutely hated Bush. His main beef with him was over the Iraq War. If people like him are unhappy with the Republicans, this may be a sign that they will take a pounding this November. I don't plan on endorsing anyone at the moment since I believe it would be inappropriate to comment on a foreign election, but I will give my opinion on the results once they are in.