That distance gives us room to think. Back home, each new outrage competes with the last for our attention. Here, looking out across the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, I find myself thinking about what remains after the headlines pass: who holds power, who is protected, who is made afraid, and whether the people can still demand an accounting from their government.
Eventually, we will board the ferry and begin the journey to our next stop. The islands will recede behind us. The questions will travel with us, all the way to November.
Here, we are “from away.” The country we are watching is still ours, and so is the responsibility for what happens next.
Footnotes
¹ Heritage Foundation, Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, Project 2025, especially Chapter 2, “Executive Office of the President of the United States,” by Russell Vought, 2023; U.S. Office of Personnel Management, “Schedule Policy/Career” and “OPM Finalizes Schedule Policy/Career Rule to Strengthen Accountability,” February 2026; Reuters, “The new kingmakers: Crypto, AI and betting firms fuel record spending on the 2026 midterms,” August 20, 2026; Reuters, “US Supreme Court formally reinstates pro-Republican Texas voting map,” April 27, 2026. The sources document Project 2025’s plans for stronger presidential control of the executive branch, subsequent changes to protections for policy-influencing career employees, extraordinary political spending by wealthy and corporate interests, and the partisan fight over congressional redistricting.
² U.S. Office of Personnel Management, “Schedule Policy/Career” and “OPM Finalizes Schedule Policy/Career Rule to Strengthen Accountability,” February 5–6, 2026; Reuters, “Judges block Trump orders targeting two law firms as Skadden cuts deal,” March 28, 2025; Reuters, “Trump unlawfully canceled Harvard’s research grants, US judge rules,” September 3, 2025.