When I read about President Obama’s veto of Congress’s approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline (proposed in 2008), I was reminded of the fact that the U.S. announced the construction of the Alaska Highway, most of which is within Canada, prior to obtaining approval from the Canadian government. No wonder they hate their arrogant neighbors to the south!
[Separately, it is worth comparing the productivity of North Americans then and now. The 1700-mile Alaska Highway was conceived in earnest late in 1941. It opened less than one year later. We’re seven years into the Keystone XL project without a single mile of pipeline having been constructed. If it ever is finished it will be less than 1200 miles long.]
We don’t all hate you! I think it’s safe to say you’ve (collectively) learned a thing or two about unilateral thinking and actions. Sometimes you have acted like the playground bully, but thank god (it was you)! There are lots of other far less moral playground bullies which would have filled the vacuum if you weren’t there.
Yours is a complex society, sometimes we marvel, even scratch our heads, from up here on our moral high icebergs, at how (arguably the most advanced country in the world) can be so disparate in so many ways. It seems one half of Americans are the most generous, intelligent, supportive and caring people and the other, some of the most parochial and bigoted (the word exceptional is tossed around a lot) people in the world.
America is an enigma. Is it slowly figuring itself out? I think so. Are there better places to to live on the planet? in many ways I doubt it.
In a perfect world, Canada would become the 51st state. We could offer you lots of natural resources and maybe we might (highly unlikely) swing the vote on some of the social problems we think you have like guns, abortion, same sex marriage, capital punishment, high incarceration rate, universal health care and others.
But make no mistake, as your astute president says, we are glad to be your friend and neighbour.