Justice as fairness: we can do better than we are

[betenoire]

Originally Posted by Apocalipstic

One, I think when we call the United State of America, "America", it discounts all of the other Americans living in North and South America and sounds very privileged and dismissive.

Honestly, while I do know some people who make this argument - I'm just not on board with that. I am okay with people from the US calling themselves American and me not calling myself American. I like calling myself Canadian because I like being Canadian. I like being Canadian to the degree that (no offense intended) it hurts my feelings a little if someone thinks I am an American.

Two, I think North and South America should be more united, possibly as a single entity.

Oh god no! Please no. No. Just no. No.

Originally Posted by dreadgeek

Are you saying that we should impose Canadian laws on abortion and birth control on, say, very, very, very Catholic Mexico or Nicaragua which might have some definite feelings about it?

Side note: Canada actually doesn't -have- any laws about abortion. No, I mean it. There are no laws on the books about abortion at all. No rules about how or where or when or at what point during pregnancy. All abortion is legal in Canada, full stop. I could get an abortion at 9 months pregnant if I felt like it (and could find a doctor willing to go along with it, but that's another story).

But anyway, no. I have no interest in EVER merging with any country in North America. I'm not even okay with the US and Canada becoming one country. Not even a little bit okay. We're fine, thanks. We do not need to join forces with you. We're very likely better off -not- joining forces with you.

The whole EU thing, I get. A little. I do think that, for example, Belgium and France have more in common than not and so certainly have a better shot at making it work than the US and Mexico do. Maybe Canada and the US have as much in common and Belgium and France do - maybe. But I just don't see it working for us.

For starters the US is, to my understanding, pretty stoked about being independent from England. And we LIKE that the Queen is our (mostly symbolic) "head of state". We're good with it. It's part of our heritage. How do you reconcile that between two countries?

Then add on top of that the very different ways our governments are run, certain laws we have in Canada that would never fly in the US, certain lacks of laws we don't have in Canada that would make heads spin in the US, health care and equal marriage in Canada, all that free speech right to carry a gun stuff in the US.

It'd just NEVER work. Our countries are far too different.

Maybe Canada should join the EU.

ETA - I do not want to join the EU either. I do want Canada to buy a warm island somewhere that I can move to legally so I never have to see snow again, however.