I watch the Daily Show with Jon Stewart regularly and this past week has seen Jon at his best because of one other person - Donald Trump.
For those who are not keen observers of American political theatre or even the general news, the Donald has decided to throw his hat in the ring and seek out the Republican nomination for the president of the United States.
Seriously.
And before anyone could make a joke out of his "you're fired" catchphrase, his New York accent, or his bizarre hair style, the Donald seemed determined to make a joke out of his own candidacy.
His announcement speech seemed to be unscripted - indeed, let's hope that it was entirely unscripted - and consisted primarily of off the cuff attacks on just about everything and anyone. No one, in the eyes of the Donald, can lead America except the Donald.
But the real zinger was his reference to illegal immigrants from Mexico in which he said: "They're bringing in drugs. They're bringing in crime. They're rapists." Realizing what he had just said, he did try to soften his rhetoric by pointing out he assumed some were also good people.
Still, it is a little hard to pull back from a statement such as "They're rapists" and the Donald made no attempt to. Indeed, in several interviews afterwards, he defended his statements, going so far as to point out that 70 per cent of the women coming across the border claim to have been raped and "Somebody's got to be doing the raping."
The Donald is such a character. It is hoot and holler listening to many of his positions. One might even think he was doing this as a send up of the Republican Party if he wasn't doing so well in the initial polls.
But considering the antics of the Donald does bring up an interesting contrast with Canadian politics. Where are our Donald Trumps? Where are our totally outrageous, say anything and don't make sense candidates?
If American politics is good political theatre, Canadian politics is like listening to your friend's daughter sing "The sun will come out tomorrow" one more time. We are too polite.
In the United States, the theatre of the absurd isn't even restricted to politicians.
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia called the court's decision in King v. Burwell "pure applesauce" pointing out that it was "interpretive jiggery-pokery" and that "words no longer have meaning." Amusing but not too crazy.
However, King v Burwell was only about upholding the key subsidies under the healthcare reform legislation. It was only about ensuring that millions of Americans wouldn't be denied basic levels of health care.
Where Justice Scalia really got into the world of the bizarre is in calling down his colleagues in their decision over same sex marriage: "Today's decree says that my Ruler, and the Ruler of 320 million Americans coast-to-coast, is a majority of the nine lawyers on the Supreme Court.
"This practice of constitutional revision by an unelected committee of nine, always accompanied (as it is today) by extravagant praise of liberty, robs the People of the most important liberty they asserted in the Declaration of Independence and won in the Revolution of 1776: the freedom to govern themselves."
So, according to Justice Scalia, the Supreme Court is not supposed to interpret law based on the U.S. Constitution. Really? Considering that is the Supreme Court's job description, it is kind of bizarre that he would argue that he shouldn't be doing what he is doing.
Of course, using his argument, the world would not have had to suffer through eight years of George Bush being president, so maybe he does have a point.
In any case, Canada also has a Supreme Court with pretty much the same responsibility - interpreting the "constitution" - but they go about their business in a mostly unassuming fashion. No outrageous tirades or references to mumble-jumble. Just reasoned discussions and decisions.
So why are we deprived of this great theatre? Why don't we have Donald Trumps, Antonin Scalias, Mike Hucklebees, and Chris Christies? Is there something wrong with us?
Is it that our water is too pure and clean so our politicians don't suffer from some form of neurological deficit? Is our air too rich for this sort of folly to emerge?
Except if it was an environmental factor, wouldn't you expect to see just as many crazy Democrats as Republicans?
No. It is not environmental factors. Personally, I blame it on the political right. The Canadian right wing parties are just not living up to snuff.
They are not doing their job. They are not providing us with candidates who say and do outrageous things.
So, come on Mr. Harper, find us a nice wacky billionaire or two. We deserve some political theatre, too!
