Too "American" to leave the USA.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

I see a few threads here about "leaving the country".

I have to say this sentiment has hit me, too. And, techincally, I could do this as technically, through an accident of birth, I am legally a German citizen and can claim a German passport (i think).

But, heck, I'm not German. I don't speak German,. Nor am I Canadian, Brit, Aussie, Kiwi, etc etc.

I'm an American, culturally speaking.

Politiclally I'm probably close to the European social democrats or greens...national health, human rights, etc. And the rightwing drift of the USA has me particularly targeted as I'm gay and am in a relationship (gay marriage).

But, when it comes to, well, my identity and preferences when it comes to cultural things, I'm pretty sure damn American...I like the food, the music (bluegrass, rock, etc), the landscape, the citys & architecture. Even the literature (folks like Gary Snyder, Kerouac, Wendell Berry, Flannery O'Conner, and so forth), and movies.

So, heck. the politics may be leaving me behind. But I cant' say I'm ready to leave the country.

[rockymountaindem]

1. Leaving the country is letting those who want to kick us out win.

I'll never leave so long as I can still stick reality in the faces of republicans.

[LynzM]

2. I'd think about leaving.

Heck, I am thinking about it. I lived in Germany for 9 months and loved it. But I wouldn't do it for protest, I'd do it out of a desire to be there. If I prefer that environment to this one, that's my choice. If someone else wants to view that as the gov't winning by scaring me away, then they can, but I view it as my right to choose where I am happiest :)

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

3. Germany is nice

...ive been there. In fact I lived there for a summer when I was a kid.

But, its , well German.

After awhile I would get homesick...heimweh....

[mitchtv]

4. I feel that I am too old

nearing 60 , partner is approaching 68. If we were healthy we would consider it. Who knows/ I will never say never- I love Costa Rica.

[Teaser]

5. I'd rather stay here and be miserable

fighting the bastards until my heart explodes than to live somewhere else and know that I let the fsckers off easy.

Ain't no way I'm leaving, ever.

[7th_Sephiroth]

6. i'll leave for a few years

and you will all know when i havce returned

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

8. Does the ship yr coming back on have eight sails.....55 cannons.

...is it a black freighter?

[7th_Sephiroth]

9. lets put it this way

i'll be in the news for quite some time

[LeahMira]

24. Fighting against overwhelming odds?

fighting the bastards until my heart explodes

In the 1970s, they arrested the leaders of movements. Those groups then focused their funds and efforts on getting their leaders out of prison by proving that the charges were trumped up and trying to get the truth out about COINTELPRO, etc. Mumia Abu Jamal is still in prison and so is Leonard Peltier. Police brutality against people of color continues and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is still the poorest county (Shannon County) in the United States.

It's fine to want to "fight the bastards" but "the bastards" are way ahead of you. If the majority of Americans decide that they like the way Bush is running the country, I think it will take some unified force from outside the country to change things. As Bush keeps alienating the rest of the world, sooner or later the critical mass will build. It won't be pretty or nice though.

[BiggJawn]

25. You forgot the stock admonishment...

"But they have TANKS, and AIRPLANES!"

To do anything else other than plan to fight is to have your balls removed, dress in clean new blue sweats and new NIKES and lay down waiting for the Mother Ship.

I won't do that.

If you're not willing to "water the Tree of Freedom", please don't piss on it, either.

[starroute]

7. When I think of exile, I think of Bob Marley

He may have technically died of cancer, but I've always believe it was being in exile that took away his will to live. Especially for an artist -- but to some degree for all of us -- our native culture is the soil that nourishes us. It's very hard to thrive anywhere else.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

10. Or Brecht in Hollywood....

....but he did produce some good stuff while in the USA.

[pfitz59]

11. The place I called home is gone.

Subdivided and developed. The "America" I loved is no more. I'm thinking of moving to Rome! "Il Dolce Vita"

[NEOBuckeye]

12. Don't run away. Stay, and fight back!

Think about it. Running away is what the GOP-fascists expect us to do. They'd never expect us to stay, rally together and stand up to them.

That's exactly what we must do.

[Kazak]

14. Yeah, if all the liberals flee...

this country, and by extension the whole world, is fucked! Not that it's not already.

[Kazak]

13. Don't forget Vonnegut!!!

Sorry, had to throw that in there.

I, for one, ain't goin' nowhere.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

15. ???? Vonnegut?

like to hear more. I like Vonnegut...

[nemo137]

16. i've not thought about leaving for political reasons, but

i did inherit the family wanderlust. we can't seem to stay in one place for more than a generation. each bunch of kids fans out as soon as they can. from yorkshire and cork to ontario and virginia and new hampshire out west to illinois and missouri and then to the west coast and mexico. me thinks it's time to fan out overseas.

sorry for being a bit off topic.

[izzie]

17. I am an American and will stay. Like other countries but....

besides Canada where would I fit in? No place as I am to old to be any thing but this.

[yorgatron]

18. i don't have any way to go anywhere

no money,no prospects.most of us will have to stay and fight,with words or fists or bullets.you want to be candy-ass and run go ahead,but if you stay here it'll be the REAL democratic underground.

[depakid]

19. I imagine that's how a lot of European Jews felt, too

in the mid to late 1930's. While it may never get that bad here in the states, if the Republicans maintain control of most of the government and the media, you can bet it's going to be Social Darwinism and misery for a whole lot of Americans.

Personally, I think the wisest choice to get out if out if you can- though it's admirable that many would rather stay and fight what may well be a losing cause....

[BlueCollar]

23. the analogy

made me stop and think. Thankyou.

[Piperay]

20. I want to leave, I am beginning to

do research on other places where I could possibly go. I know though that I will always be American, it's so much who I am that I don't think I will ever consider any other place really home the way I do the USA. I'm not making plans to leave because of chimp or the repukes, I have family and personal reasons for wanting to leave. I just hope that in the end I will be able to tear myself away and actually move, it will be hard. :shrug: :-(

[sweetheart]

21. Only if it is your fate would you leave

It was my fate, and the fate of others.

I don't find those cultural things "lacking" in the UK. Rather i love the local theatre. Things that i grew up admiring in american
culture are not as american as one might think: computers, shakespeare, led zepplin, beatles, pink floyd, rolling stones.

Sure i had to learn to drive on the other side of the road, but
i did not have to learn a new language... however, it would be a
good thing to do so.

I think living outside the country for a period enriches an american
greatly by giving them a tactile understanding of a different culture. In the worst case if you "leave" for a while, you'll learn
something and go back wiser.

Its not so black and white. Airplanes go around the world every day.
Leave come back. The world is one place. My home is where i am.

[RandomUser]

22. I'm not surrendering my country

not to the Bush cabal.

[JCMach1]

26. Jeesh, you don't have to surrender when leaving...

You can still vote...

It is a beautiful thing to live in a truly blooming and vibrant multi-cultural economy.

Don't knock it until you have tried it.

As an economic refugee, I am REALLY enjoying my exile.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

27. I'm not going anywhere

my family has been here since long before we were a country. They apparently left the Wales/England area because they were Protestant at a time when it was reallllly dangerous to be Protestant and heard about this dangerous scary new world and took a GIANT chance and left their home and we've never been back.

(Lotsa geneological research!)

Been in TX since before it was a state.

Not going anywhere. No way, no how. I'll travel. But I am NOT leaving this country for good. No one is pushing me out or scaring me off. This is OUR country, too, dammit.