nestork wrote:

and still we're treated like North Koreans at the US/Canada border.

Home Guy:

That's because there are very many different Canadians with very many
different agendas.

The most absurd thing is that people and goods can cross national
borders in Europe without having to submit to ridiculous
customs/immigration checks even though those countries were at war with
each other 60 years ago. Countries with different languages and
histories. And yet back here in North America, we have a bitterly
defended border between US and Canada (defended far more vigorously and
seriously on the US side), with every mile, every foot under video
surveilance, every person's papers checked, every letter or package
bogged down by customs proceedures AND EXPENSES.

The vast majority of Canadians consider Americans to be friendly
neighbors

That's a fuzzy idea that does not speak to the fundamental issue here.
The US thinks it's a fortress - even in terms of it's "friendly
neighbor" to the north. I know what it was like to cross the border
before 9/11. There was talk of having a single facility at every
crossing, jointly staffed by both countries, to handle cross-border
traffic. You could drive into the US just by showing a birth
certificate (with no photo!) and just say you were going shopping for
the day, and you weren't asked if you were carrying more than $10k worth
of currency and other bull**** questions.

The border has "thickened" since 9/11. It's been well documented.