We wish to live in a republic, in which the people rule. Canada is not such a country. We have reluctantly concluded that it has no realistic prospect of becoming one. Instead, we find ourselves members of a beleaguered, corrupted, manipulated society. Vested interests and sacred cows make meaningful reform impossible. Canada is a country in retreat, more interested in redistributing wealth than in producing it, more resolved to administer than to build, and more prone to languish than to strive.