Ah, America.

[pyat]

Currently occupying two foreign nations, dealing with ongoing violence in both, with a worrisome economy, a major port city still crippled by natural disaster, more than 1 in 100 adults currently in prison, tax rolls supporting a defense budget larger than that all the other nations of the world combined, spending more per capita of state money on healthcare than any other nation yet no socialized healthcare and a declining life expectancy, serious questions about the conduct of the military and CIA, the perpetrator of 9/11 basically forgotten, and there's an election in a few months.

And of course, the most important topics in that election are gay marriage and abortion.

Comments

[paka.livejournal.com]

And yes, we're dumb fucks.

I lived through Reagan, remember? I SAW the US governed by warmongering saber-rattling that claimed to be small-government while it dismantled the last remnants of our "war on poverty," bashed the fuck out of trade unions, bankrupted small farms, and racked up the national debt. Heck, Reagan's Secretary of the Interior is on record as having said nothing environmental mattered because Jesus was gonna show up and resolve everything soon. This was LOUSY government. Less than ten years later and Americans idealize it as this wonderful thing no matter how dissatisfied they are with Dubya. So in 20 years or 50 years or so, if I stay here, will I be seeing Americans do the same dumbassed things where the Bush Administration could do no wrong and they want a repeat?

Technically I could get to Britain whenever. I'm lucky that way; I fall short of the qualifications needed to move to Canada. But the USA is all I've ever really known. This is home. And I kinda still have that Scouts/Civics Class/Co-op background where this is my community, and I should stay and make sure it prospers. But this is no country to grow old or get sick or have kids, not if we keep going this way. I have to wonder whether I'm doing the equivalent of all my relatives who stayed in Europe because Ukraine was home or because Germans were decent people who'd eventually come to their senses.