@luinil, although the question was not directed at me, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to answer it aswell.

I'm against the American government, because I feel that corporations have way too much influence over the American government.

The voting, in itself, is fine. I just have a problem with the whole 'counting' part. You know, like in Florida 2,000.

About the foreign policy, I just don't like the way the government flings America's superior wealth around, and it's financial influence to get it's own way. (read: Coalition of the willing; the signing up of Australia, the not-signing of New Zealand, and the results of that).

I just don't agreee with the whole conservitism ethos in general. I just don't like the whole "I'm ok, Jack; pull up the ladder" attitude. Conservatives generally class themselves, and close friends/family as much more important than anyone else, and they don't want to spend THEIR hardearned cash on OTHER PEOPLE that they don't even know.

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Now for my own, general thoughts on America:

- Easy going. From my experience, Americans are very fun, happy, and easy going people. People are much more able to talk to each other, and start conversations with strangers (eg, in a cue).

- Great attitude to challenges. If presented with a challenge, or a competition, an Englishman would say "I'll give it a jolly good shot", an American "I'm gonna do this, and I'm gonna win".

- Well done. When I went to Florida, all of the theme parks seemed to be perfect to the exact detail. There was never any skimping on the budget, and the places were always very, very clean.

- Fat... but I can see why. When I go to America, I was hard pressed to find a restaurant that isn't either a) fast food, or b) buffet. Not only that, but the food was so cheap. That may have been down to the strength of the pound, though.

- Ignorant about the world. I think that the average American's history, and geography abilities are terribly low. It seems to me that the schools don't seem to teach about much beyond the boundaries of the US.

- A shit media. Not only were SDTV's of a poor quality (480p, pal = 576i), but the content on them wasn't much better. The average American comedy was boring, had weak storylines, and relied on sex jokes and slapstick comedy to make for cheap laughs... which it didn't get (of course, there are exceptions, three guesses). Also, the news was always biased, reporting on crap, and again; if the US wasn't personally involved, then the news didn't bother reporting on it.

- Far too patriotic. I think that this is down to a combination of the above two points, and the amount of propaganda that the US government shoves down your throats'.

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And, for the record, I do believe that the 2000 elections were fixed. But the 2004 ones were not. And I can see why, as well. The US was in a war, it's generally common sense to keep with the same leader during a war. It helps boost morale, and keeps you looking strong in the eyes of the enemy.

@strategyking92 - You obviously do not fully understand the value of oil

Lets not turn this into a left v right debate guys =P

I probably shouldn't have bought up my political views in the first place but I couldn't resist.

one word... Recession (Is that how you spell it?)

@Rath, out of my whole post, only one paragraph is dedicated to the whole conservative thing, and I didn't realise that either you or luinil had posted responses after luinil's first post (if you get what I mean).

I wasn't really trying to make a big thing out of it.

 It's not just the US, you know. We're in pretty deep shit aswell... there's a reason why the economy is now Gordon Brown's number one priority.

omg.

most canadians dont even do anything brits do!

obviosuly we will be influencd by the usa because your right below us and have like everything you need.

but you still want more...  

@rath

Wow. Do you visit here often? Its amazing that somebody from so far away can hit the nail square on the head like that.

 It really amuses me when foreigners bring up our struggling economy. What they don't realize is that it causes a chain reaction throughout the world's economy and everyone gets screwed. One Americans consumes enough food and merchandise for ten people elsewhere (yea I'm exaggerating a little) around the world and when he doesn't have money to spend on imported goods what do you think happens? The exporter isn't making money. A little bit of basic economics.