>Canada hasn't fallen into the same sort of divisiveness the US has
Canada is, politically, even more harshly-divided than the US is. We even have specific political parties for it: the Quebec Party, the Western Party, and the Largest Cities Party (the latter two will deny this, but that's the truth). Quebec has tried to separate from Canada twice in the last 50 years, and was within a Brexit's margin of their latest attempt not succeeding- for all Texas' bluster, they haven't even come close to this.
What makes the division worse here is that the stakes are raised higher- our legislature is unicameral, the executive is formed as a consequence of the vote breakdown for the legislature, every single vote is along party lines, and there's effectively no constitution (as an American would understand it).
The rough equivalent in the US is if there was no Constitution, and NYC and DC picked every single representative, senator, and the President.
The difference is that the average American would go to war if that happened, and the rhetoric downstream of that property makes their division look worse than it is; it's the opposite in the other parts of the world that are more stereotypically concerned with looking polite and respectable.
Under the electoral college system if California had the majority of the population they would pick the president. Wouldn't matter if it was 51-49 percent in California and 0-100 in every other state.
Under a popular vote California or NYC or DC wouldn't pick anything. States wouldn't vote, people would. One person, one vote no matter where you live.
Canada is, politically, even more harshly-divided than the US is. We even have specific political parties for it: the Quebec Party, the Western Party, and the Largest Cities Party (the latter two will deny this, but that's the truth). Quebec has tried to separate from Canada twice in the last 50 years, and was within a Brexit's margin of their latest attempt not succeeding- for all Texas' bluster, they haven't even come close to this.
What makes the division worse here is that the stakes are raised higher- our legislature is unicameral, the executive is formed as a consequence of the vote breakdown for the legislature, every single vote is along party lines, and there's effectively no constitution (as an American would understand it).
The rough equivalent in the US is if there was no Constitution, and NYC and DC picked every single representative, senator, and the President.
The difference is that the average American would go to war if that happened, and the rhetoric downstream of that property makes their division look worse than it is; it's the opposite in the other parts of the world that are more stereotypically concerned with looking polite and respectable.