@McTag,
Well the question is frequently asked by Englishmen (less frequently by Scots), and we do get a bit weary of it. Its sort of like the ritual stuff we would get from the Royal Navy types on joint exercises - it appeared to be on their minds more than ours.
I did spend some time in one of the last RN air arm Buccaneer squadrons (including a couple of at sea periods on the old Arc Royal. All that stuff went away after a few days: they were great guys and I remember them fondly.
The fact is that most Americans are descended from immigrants (or slaves) who arrived here after the revolution, and who therefore don't identify with it as much as perhaps do most Englishmen. My parents were from Ireland and they certainly did not like British imperialism, but there was no real grudge against the English. Indeed it was kind of a love/hate thing.
I recall once in the mid '70s during a port visit to Gibraltar I was a luncheon guest at a British Regiment stationed there (I don't rcall the name:the other one was Gurkha). My host (a good guy, but a bit unctious) did the colonial thing and, as well, entertained me with his collection of Irish jokes on our way to the Mess. Just ouside the dining area there was a low table with a glass covered display of the duty officers logs from one and two centuries ago: evidently they turned a page on each daily. I bent over to read the older one and found a report of the court martial conviction of a private O'Reilly, convicted of assaulting an officer's wife. He was sentenced to 300 lashes. "Of course they were dead after 200", my host said rather oddly. "I assume you gave him the last 100", said I.
But Madam seems to like it 
