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I love the USA, what it stands for, and it's history as one of the most generous nations on Earth. Wouldn't have minded you showing up a bit earlier in WWII and WWI mind you......
What I don't like is the celebrity obsessed, polarizing, loudest talking head, materialistic U.S. Media. To my mind, no one does more to dumb down arguments (and dumb down people) with their non-stop rhetoric. If there wasn't all this posturing and preening for the media, the US Congress might actually get something done.
Problem is, Canadian politicians are guilty of playing the anti-US card on a regular basis in Canada. "US style health care" carries the same connotation as "Adolf Hitler" in a debate. Think of the level of anti-US rhetoric that flew around during the "Free Trade" election in 1988. The false superiority and arrogance that some Canadians adopt through this attitude is the least appealing part of the Canadian identity.
Plus, as a multicultural nation saturated in American culture, it is sometimes difficult to describe ourselves, other than through a comparative to the US.
As a good neighbor, I don't look down on the racial problems created from the legacies of slavery, emancipation, and segregation. Instead I weep when I see American cities like Detroit, Gary, Flint, Baltimore, and Camden dying, and the disasters of suburbanization, white flight, and deindustrialization. There but for the grace of God goes us. And I realize looking in a mirror that Canadian hands are not clean either, and there is still a bill to be paid with our First Nations people.
I also empathize with those who are born into a strata of society they would likely never choose, for whom the Canadian/American Dream is as unattainable as the moon. And I wonder with heavy heart, when, oh when will leaders step up in these communities, and say enough is enough, and end this cycle of crime and poverty. Because, it is not the adults who've made choices who suffer....no, it is each successive generation of children born into this, scarred by this, and murdered by this, unless they are one of the lucky few who escape.
Common human decency isn't and never will be separated by a border. And our mutual belief in this is one of the most important things we share.
And as a Canadian, I am proud to have the U.S.A. as a best friend. And like most best friends, sometimes you do things that surprise me, sometimes you do things that make me shake my head, and sometimes I wonder why you can't just get some of your problems cleaned up. And as my best friend, I'm sure you wonder the exact same things about me.
On the sixth day God turned to the Gabriel and said:
"Today I am going to create a land called Canada, it will be a land of
outstanding natural beauty. It shall have tall majestic mountains full
of mountain goats, and eagles, beautiful sparkling lakes bountiful with
bass and trout, forests full of elk and moose, high cliffs over-looking
sandy beaches with an abundance of sea life, and rivers stocked with
salmon."
God continued, "I shall make the land rich in oil so as to make the
inhabitants prosper, I shall call these inhabitants Canadians, and they
shall be known as the most friendly people on the earth."
"But Lord," asked Gabriel "don't you think you are being too generous to
these Canadians?"
"Not really," replied God "just wait and see the neighbors I am going to
give them."
On the sixth day God turned to the Gabriel and said:
"Today I am going to create a land called Canada, it will be a land of
outstanding natural beauty. It shall have tall majestic mountains full
of mountain goats, and eagles, beautiful sparkling lakes bountiful with
bass and trout, forests full of elk and moose, high cliffs over-looking
sandy beaches with an abundance of sea life, and rivers stocked with
salmon."
God continued, "I shall make the land rich in oil so as to make the
inhabitants prosper, I shall call these inhabitants Canadians, and they
shall be known as the most friendly people on the earth."
"But Lord," asked Gabriel "don't you think you are being too generous to
these Canadians?"
"Not really," replied God "just wait and see the neighbors I am going to
give them."
That is my favourite Abraham Lincoln quote.. As a matter of fact I find this more prolific than the Gettysburg Address! As a President, he sure was ahead of his time!
From my experience, Canadians love America... Just not the government.
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