Diaries like this one and all the others have me spending a lot more time looking into how to best relocate out of the US and a lot less time following the increasingly depressing debate over health care reform in the US.
Am I a fair-weather fan? Am I wrong to feel that I really cannot make a difference? I just received my 6th (seriously 6th) response from Orrin Hatch via snail mail in which he told me, among other things (and this is verbatim):
Simply spending another trillion dollars of hard-earned tax-payer dollars especially when we as a nation are facing the worst financial crisis since the Great depression and major government-run programs like Medicare and Medicaid are on a path to fiscal insolvency.
Seriously, that's the full sentence. I'm no student of writing, but I think that's an incomplete sentence.
OK, I am a student of writing. But don't hold me to correct grammar please, because this is a blog (not an official correspondence from the US Senate).
And let me see if I can put into written words the sentiment echoing through my head for the past 6 months.
Let's see if I can make it into a complete sentence:
One person can't make a difference.
There. I said it. Also:
Ten people, a thousand people, a million people, or sixty-two million people — however many you've got, they can't make a difference. Just ask Iran.
And one last thought:
If you live in the US when you could be living across the pond, and you are anything besides an investment banker or a pharmaceutical rep, you're a sucker.
What it really comes down to, though, is could I be living across the pond? Could I be there in, say, five years? I'd be willing to amend my career track in order to make myself more marketable to a foreign government. I'm starting a Master's in writing and literature, and after that I'm on to an MFA or a PhD, and I'd been intending to go into plain old creative writing or literature for those future degrees, but now I want to figure out how to tweak them to make myself more appealing. Could I spend the next three summers learning German like my wife's life depends on it (which it does, since she needs health care and can't get coverage here), then write a dissertation on German-American literature or something? Go into linguistics instead and become a reasonable authority on the influence of Germanic roots on regional accents in the US (I'm pulling this all out of my Esel-Loch)
I post this on D Kos because, really, I'm actually serious. My wife is even more serious than I am. Which is to say she's very serious. I think we are fundamentally at odds with the US culture and way of life.
We are both militant atheists; we both believe that taxes should be high and that basic things like health care, food, and housing ought to be subsidized no matter what; we both believe that mandatory health taxes (for employers and for the insured) and social security premiums are critical; we both believe stability and security are more important than growth (although, like most European countries seem to believe, growth is just fine; it ought not be sought at the cost of human suffering and environmental degradation, though). We both believe that all work is equal and all pay ought to be equal in a perfect system, but that in our imperfect world (and as apes, we're doing pretty damn good), as long as we redistribute wealth to ensure that the basic needs (health, food, water, shelter, heat) of all people are met, AFTER THAT, capitalism can pick its winners and losers and make some wealthy.
We even go to bed at across-the-pond times.
I understand that every country has its problems. But I feel like I'm standing on the deck of a burning ship looking at, like, six other not-burning ships, and the crews over there are saying, "Hey buddy, we've got problems too." Sure, but we're not even on the right track over here. There's not even a group of people fighting for what I want. We can't even TALK about single payer health care over here. Jeebus.
So expats, I know you may want to burst my bubble, but I'll say that from my preliminary research into the subject, I understand it's pretty difficult to secure long-term residency in Europe. I'm just trying to figure out how to best set myself up for success in that effort. I do NOT believe that we will see the changes in the US that are needed to pull the country out of the 20th century's esel-loch. I believe it is irrational to believe otherwise, based on all available evidence.
So, I'm extremely serious, and I'd appreciate any input. I've been in contact with a few scattered expats and old European roommates, but Daily Kos is the smartest group of people I have access to, and I'd appreciate advice. Thanks.