Why I don't just go live in Canada or something.
I have vague memories of growing up in the late 70s and hearing the phrase "If you think America so bad why don't just you go live in (foreign country) or something?" used against critics of American politics and policy. Some consider Iraq to be this generation's Vietnam, and whether or not that's true I've noticed a resurgence in what I remember as a vietnam-era argument.
So why don't I just move to Canada? Actually, I did. The day that George Bush won the election I got a job offer in Montreal, which I accepted partly because it was a good job and partly because I was very troubled by American politics and policy. But in Canada I realized that America was still torturing prisoners it held without charge or trial. American leaders were still arguing that they could preemptively attack soverign nations for reasons they had fabricated. American leaders were still alternating between denying and bragging about burning covert assets for short-term partisan gain. In Canada I also met many Canadians who shared my concern about American politics and policy, and they scolded me for leaving. "You can run but the influence of the United States is everywhere. It's your country. Don't leave it in the hands of fascists, liars, and criminals. We're not Americans but you still are. You can vote, you can write, you can run for office, you can peaceably assemble. It is your right and responsibility as an American to do something about it while you still have the right to do so."
And so I did. I came back to the United States with the realization that America is worth fixing and that I could do more for the rest of the world *and* America as an American than as an expatriate. I'm guessing that this is why Cindy Sheehan, George Soros, Michael Moore, and other demonized American political voices choose to stay in a country where people hate them. Because even if you think it's broken America is still worth fixing, and if you feel a duty to do so it's easier to fix from the inside than from the outside. And yes, the irony beauty of the American system is that our country not only gives Americans who advocate change the free assembly, press, and speech rights to voice their political wishes but the capitalist system to raise money to support their changes and the technological advances including the telephone, the internet, cell phones, political parties, and 527 Groups to effect them.
(This is yet another post I've written once so that I don't have to keep repeating myself.)
So why don't I just move to Canada? Actually, I did. The day that George Bush won the election I got a job offer in Montreal, which I accepted partly because it was a good job and partly because I was very troubled by American politics and policy. But in Canada I realized that America was still torturing prisoners it held without charge or trial. American leaders were still arguing that they could preemptively attack soverign nations for reasons they had fabricated. American leaders were still alternating between denying and bragging about burning covert assets for short-term partisan gain. In Canada I also met many Canadians who shared my concern about American politics and policy, and they scolded me for leaving. "You can run but the influence of the United States is everywhere. It's your country. Don't leave it in the hands of fascists, liars, and criminals. We're not Americans but you still are. You can vote, you can write, you can run for office, you can peaceably assemble. It is your right and responsibility as an American to do something about it while you still have the right to do so."
And so I did. I came back to the United States with the realization that America is worth fixing and that I could do more for the rest of the world *and* America as an American than as an expatriate. I'm guessing that this is why Cindy Sheehan, George Soros, Michael Moore, and other demonized American political voices choose to stay in a country where people hate them. Because even if you think it's broken America is still worth fixing, and if you feel a duty to do so it's easier to fix from the inside than from the outside. And yes, the irony beauty of the American system is that our country not only gives Americans who advocate change the free assembly, press, and speech rights to voice their political wishes but the capitalist system to raise money to support their changes and the technological advances including the telephone, the internet, cell phones, political parties, and 527 Groups to effect them.
(This is yet another post I've written once so that I don't have to keep repeating myself.)