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A serious look at why being a Canadian is good for you.
Longevity, infant mortality rates, levels of educational attainment, net personal wealth, upward mobility, and universal health care, are all on this comprehensive list assembled by the leading Canadian new magazine. There are direct statistical comparisons to the American stats.
It's neither better nor worse to be Canadian - or of any nationality. Every single country on the planet is the perfect place to be for a great many people.
There's a descriptor called the 'ugly American', referring to the arrogant, nationalistic self-absorption of too many of my countrymen. This phenomenon is undoubtedly most notable coming from countries that wield the most political, economic, military and cultural influence, such as the United States, and also from countries with particularly large populations, again such as the United States.
But the OP reminds us that a country need not be inordinately influential or populated to have the same sort of characters in its ranks, folks who think they're advocating for their homeland but are really just besmirching its good name with their preening nationalism.
Jim B is going to catch a lot of hell over starting this post. However, I wish Americans would at least read the top 30 reasons why life in Canada is better than in the USA.
They deal with things like lower unemployment rates, health care that only costs 60% as much per capita, stronger banks, less income disparity between the poor and the wealthy, greater mobility between classes, and more liberal (I would say fair) attitudes towards LGBT people. In every one of these categories Canada looks better than the USA does.
The truth is that if this same survey had been taken forty years ago, I suspect the USA would have come out either equal or better than Canada did in virtually every one of these categories.
We Americans don't like to admit there is anything wrong in "The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave", but the reality is that there is plenty wrong. We've let a huge amount of wealth in this country trickle to the top. We've allowed our health care system to become totally out of control when it comes to costs. We have a high rate of unemployment among our young people. We have an astonishing number of people working for minimum wage or just a little better.
Now, there are some realities to be faced. Canada may simply be better situated than the USA in some ways. Canada is the second largest country in the world and as such sits on a cornucopia of natural resources and mineral wealth. Its population of about 30 million is only one tenth of that of the USA. Because Canada does not share a border with Mexico, it largely escapes much of the problem of illegal immigration that we have.
Even so, though, the climate in the USA is more favorable to economic development and progress than most of Canada is. Climate-wise the only Canadian city that I could imagine living in is Vancouver.
The point really is though that if we would give up being ethnocentric for one minute, Americans could learn a great deal from Canada. Everything in America isn't automatically better than every other country in the world. In fact, some things in this country are in dire need of changing.
So, even if everything in the article isn't either on point or very important (I could care less about hockey) it should be food for thought for us. Sometimes, criticism is necessary for self-improvement.
Canada's pretty cool. America's not bad. I think we're currently having a cultural crisis where we can't decide between modernizing (in our own way) or continuing to think we're the best country on Earth, which really isn't true anymore. Without seeming to biased, we're basically trying to decide between being decent or being stupid. Stupidity sometimes appears to be winning.
America still has a lot of great things going for it and I think we just need to sort some things about.
I also don't want America to be number one. Just in the top 10. It's not a competition, and while another poster basically said Americans are better because we don't feel the need to prove it, I have to disagree. A lot of people love how American they are.
Quote:
Originally Posted by froglipz
And how about those great Canadian beaches! In Florida we are over run with CANADIANS as soon as the snows fall!
I'm an American and I prefer cold weather to warm weather...
Jim B is going to catch a lot of hell over starting this post. However, I wish Americans would at least read the top 30 reasons why life in Canada is better than in the USA.
They deal with things like lower unemployment rates, health care that only costs 60% as much per capita, stronger banks, less income disparity between the poor and the wealthy, greater mobility between classes, and more liberal (I would say fair) attitudes towards LGBT people. In every one of these categories Canada looks better than the USA does.
The truth is that if this same survey had been taken forty years ago, I suspect the USA would have come out either equal or better than Canada did in virtually every one of these categories.
We Americans don't like to admit there is anything wrong in "The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave", but the reality is that there is plenty wrong. We've let a huge amount of wealth in this country trickle to the top. We've allowed our health care system to become totally out of control when it comes to costs. We have a high rate of unemployment among our young people. We have an astonishing number of people working for minimum wage or just a little better.
Now, there are some realities to be faced. Canada may simply be better situated than the USA in some ways. Canada is the second largest country in the world and as such sits on a cornucopia of natural resources and mineral wealth. Its population of about 30 million is only one tenth of that of the USA. Because Canada does not share a border with Mexico, it largely escapes much of the problem of illegal immigration that we have.
Even so, though, the climate in the USA is more favorable to economic development and progress than most of Canada is. Climate-wise the only Canadian city that I could imagine living in is Vancouver.
The point really is though that if we would give up being ethnocentric for one minute, Americans could learn a great deal from Canada. Everything in America isn't automatically better than every other country in the world. In fact, some things in this country are in dire need of changing.
So, even if everything in the article isn't either on point or very important (I could care less about hockey) it should be food for thought for us. Sometimes, criticism is necessary for self-improvement.
There is a group of people that keep holding us back and prevent us from achieving the same greatness as Canada. And they do so through fear mongering. I would love to live there!
The citizens of both countries are very fortunate to be who they are and live where they live. Any time I need to unwind, I take a Canada break (I live near the border, and our relationship with Canada is cordial: heck, we even play -- and sing -- both anthems before sporting events, and not just hockey!). The Canadians I know visit the US to experience the weird energy of being back in the goofy old USA.
It's win-win, folks.
P.s. I do have a slight quibble with Reason #14. Canadians may have 6% more weekly sex, but I would be willing to wager that Americans lead Canada in daily sex. Which is logical, since Canadians have more layers to remove.
We don't have such an inferiority complex that we need 99 reasons why we're better than any other country.
I'm Canadian-American, and I gave you rep points. You're absolutely right!
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