Outside the United States, few people are as interested in American politics as Australians.  Understandably so given our peace and prosperity remain closely tied to America.   

The US is our principle defence ally, largest source of foreign investment and major cultural influencer.  We share the same language and many values. 

Without America, Australia might not have been settled by the British.  It was the American Colonialist’s victory in the Revolutionary War in 1783 that forced the British to find a new destination for convicts leading to the First Fleet’s arrival in Botany Bay in 1788. 

It is the American system that gives us our Senate with its six-year terms, half senate elections and fixed representatives per state; the model former prime minister Paul Keating called unrepresentative swill. 

America is family...