[The Horrible Esthete]

It's not. Is it hard to understand that a large number of us feel it's wrong and that corruption comes not from structure, but from leaving things to the business elites and the invisible hand?

Not it's not hard to understand, and that's why from this point foreward, debate on this topic will just swirl round and round without making any real progress. You love your country, and believe in it. The same goes for me. I don't don't see any problem with that, since we are all entitled to our opinions

Here, however, is what I don't understand. I think your opinions and perspectives are valid regarding this subject, and clearly see how your views are different than mine. Different, but not necessarily wrong. In contrast, the attitude that you, as well as many other Canadians I've endeavored to discuss this topic with, seems awfully accusatory and villifying towards American ideals. You even said "a large number of us feel it's wrong" when you commented on my perspective.

Canadians have every right to be proud of their nation and believe in the principles it is founded upon; why do I always find myself defending the pride I have for my country and its foundations? The quality of life is good here, too, and if you seriously try to tell me that the US has historically had a negative overall impact on the quality of life for people elsewhere around the globe, it will surely fall on deaf ears.

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Oh, and by the way - corruption doesn't come solely from "leaving things to the business elites and the invisible hand"; corruption comes from any type of soverign power, combined with a lack of checks and balances over such authority. Still, it pervades our system; but I think that there is greater opportunity for corruption to be exposed and punished in this system than in any other system on the planet.....