Nature of the nation

Regarding the last line of yesterday's flaming of Doug Saunders, Mark Reynolds observes:

I don't feel Saunders' Northern argument makes a lot of sense: he claims we consider ourselves a "northern country" largely on the basis of one line in the anthem, and then proceeds to say that the north largely fails to figure in our history, art, literature or public policy. So precisely why does he think that we consider ourselves to be a northern country? I'm not saying we don't, but he hasn't presented evidence of their being much of a myth to deflate. It reads like straw-man argumentation at its finest.

He adds, "I'm inclined to be charitable: I've met Mr Saunders, and he's a smart guy." Concur!