We don't get tied up trying to control other people's turf. We defend ours and respect the turf of others, unlike the USanians.

Then I guess next is China.

We don't get tied up trying to control other people's turf. We defend ours and respect the turf of others, unlike the USanians.
Why would Canadians want to be too closely identified with the most hated nation on the planet, people who are so embarased by their country that they feel the need to wear our flag on their backpacks when they travel. How many other people are so ashamed of their country that they would feel the need to wear a US flag on their backpacks.
You are lucky to have us next door , so your republicans have a place to buy their Cuban Ciguars.
Brent

We don't get tied up trying to control other people's turf.

I think a member of the First Nations might disagree with you on that point.

Yeah I always find that argument about the US protecting Canada very funny. We need protecting from the US!! Economically for sure, and also, it's always been the US that's been bent on invading us throughout history, not other countries.

And Yup Bart, Streaker's right, the whole point is that Mulroney wasn't just friends with the US President--he practically licked Reagan's boots. That's not a friendship because it isn't an equal relationship. It's a subordinate one (master and servant). And you seem to be saying that kissing up and bootlicking US leaders is ideal in Canadian leaders, while most Canadians tend to feel differently. (Again, see Mulroney's extremely low popularity by his second term.)

Yet if we say so, then you slander us by labelling us "anti-American", which is no different than calling someone a communist back in the day. It's not an argument, it's an insult, meant to conveniently discredit without actually answering the substance of the argument.

Meanwhile, haven't you noticed that the US doesn't treat Canada any better even when we bend over and do what the US wants? Having "free trade", Harper (and going to Afghanistan) didn't prevent the US from appealing every NAFTA decision on softwood lumber. Or putting protections up at the border. Being "good friends" and doing what the US wants never wins us any better treatment in any way that counts (I personally couldn't really care less if Bush visits while the Canadian softwood industry tanks for example).

Even US reps understand that Canada shouldn't be kissing more US ass to improve our situation--we should be negotiating from a stronger position, being tougher, such as by putting oil and gas on the table and using that as a way to gain some leverage in trade agreements like NAFTA. If we act like doormats, then the US will treat us like doormats, not suddenly decide to make sure Canadian sovereignty, interests, and resources are protected. And that's been the story so far.

Lastly, Canada might be "just another blue state" to most Americans, but that doesn't mean it's true. It's an insult, and an ignorant one at that. We do still have our sovereignty. That attitude is what drove me out of working for US progressive organization MoveOn--even the progressives I worked with in the US didn't get that not everyone thinks the US is the greatest democracy in the world. Because, guess what! We're not Americans! We're Canadians!

But it's disturbing how far that ethnocentric rhetoric has really penetrated into the US consciousness.

I think a member of the First Nations might disagree with you on that point.

Indeed, an angel cannot live under the wing of a demon.

Because light is the child of darkness.