Its pretty simple really. We have the best of both worlds. We are capitalists and socialists. We are the USA's closest friend and ally but still manage to be on pretty good terms with Fidel, Hugo and just about anybody you can think of. We are generally pacifist, but our military has a reputation for kicking butt when called upon.

We have free medical care, which, trust me, is really, really cool. We can send our kids too a top university like McGill for under $10k per year. A top rated private high school costs $5k per year. We nationalized electricity decades ago and now have one of the best grids (barring ice storms) and the lowest costs in the world. Yes folks. Nationalization can work.

But we only get to do this because we live under the security umbrella of sharing a continent with you.

Its fascinating.