I don't understand why everybody is so against Mexico joining our theoretical NAU. Sure, the first decade might hurt a little, but in in the long run it would be beneficial to both Americans and Mexicans. Especially Mexicans. And why stop there? Central America would be an obvious next step. I'm not sure if going into South America would work, but maybe a few decades after Panama joins up...
Mexicans ought to have a say in the matter. First, they do not necessarily consider themselves North American. In the weird Spanish (and French) geography system, there aren't two continents here. They just have Africa, Antartica, Australia, Europe, Asia, and America. Why they would separate the Eurasian continent into two, but not the more obvious two American continents, I don't know, but they do. (Obviously it harkens back to a time before even those European cultures existed, when the Mediterranean was the world. By the time people understood the planet's geography, it was too late to change the language. English, being a newer language, adapted more easily.) We have the English geographical system ingrained in our heads: There is a lamb chop-shaped South America and a pork chop-shaped North America, joined at the Darien rainforest in southern Panama, and it seems reasonable, but the Mexicans do not see it that way. Moreover, when they do think about North America (as opposed to Latin America), they see its southern border as the Rio Bravo del Norte (what we call the Rio Grande). In fact, Mexicans usually refer to our country is Estados Unidos de Norteamérica (Spaniards do so to a lesser extent, but that name also exists there, alongside Estados Unidos de América). In all cases, norteamericano, when uttered by a Mexican, refers specifically to gringos.
Why would any self-respecting Mexican politician support such an idea? The Mexicans have a history distinct from Spain, and as old as Spain, and much older than that of the United States. They have a culture distinct from the United States as well. They also have a political ideology that generally is to the left of that of the US. In general, they are more collectivist. Their biggest problems arise from European colonialism and the huge US appetite for drugs. Why in the world would they want to be a part of the imperialist system that shat upon them and has caused so much grief for so long? I would want a good relationship with the US, of course, but I do not think I would want to join the United States if I were a Mexican.
Canadians, on the other hand, are like us. They really don't have a culture or history distinct from their European identities. Not really, since most indigenous peoples in both our countries were killed off by disease or herded into reservations. But why would we want them. Their country is huge, but mostly it is an uninhabited, uninhabitable wasteland. Less that five percent of the Canadian landmass is arable. It would just be more land to defend. Moreover, our workforce would not be particularly well augmented by the addition of Canada. They, on the other hand, would have tremendously more economic mobility if they joined us, but there would be huge disadvantages for them as well. For one thing, they'd be dragged into foreign entanglements and power projectionism, and they'd instantly become the targets of those who seek to harm the United States. I do not think I would want to be part of the United States if I were Canadian, nor as a gringo do I want to annex that country. We already have a over-sized country. If anything, it might be better off if allowed to chop up into manageable, bite-sized chunks.
As for the idea of a loose confederation, those never work. The "eurozone" is a band-aid. Their Peer Review system ostensibly maintains a budgetary enforcement mechanism, but it really does not function. One day the European Union will fall apart if it doesn't take the big step and make itself one country proper, with a central government as well as a functioning central bank. I do not really think that will happen. Frankly, I think that in the long run richer countries of the northwestern part of Europe, especially Germany, would be better if they cut loose the impoverished ones. And the only reason those rich countries like France and the Scandanavian and BeNeLux countries wanted a European Union in the first place was because of a deep and abiding mistrust of the Germans. Reasonably so, I might add. We really don't need or want that sort of arrangement here, and I suspect more than a few Europeans are tiring of that arrangement as well.
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