also, the US is a massive country. there are probably more highly educated, latte-sipping elitists in the US than Canadians in all of Canada. but there are 300m total, and many people simply aren't given the same access to education and, more importantly, the tools to become more sophisticated. i'd argue that intelligence is one thing, and it's manifested in myriad different ways, and that is found in all groups and all places and has nothing to do with environment or to whom you were born. but sophistication is something that is hard to acquire without some money and motivation, and not everyone has that.
finally, it's impossible to compare 300m Americans to 30m Canadians, 60m Brits, 10m Swedes, or 25m Australians. you just can't have any meaningful comparisons.
that said, for all my frustrations, i'd be hard pressed to really want to live anywhere else.