One of my favorite bands is Electric Six. Kossacks with a rock-and-roll taste might want to check them out. They've got a song called "Germans in Mexico" that went through my head as I began to write this diary.
My fiancee is part German, I guess why. Both she and I are part Scottish. I read a depressing diary the other day about end-of-life in America, and I had a conversation with my parents about retirement. They're Republicans and have no concept of community whatsoever and it was kind of depressing. I realized then that I have no retirement to look forward to in America if things don't dramatically improve in the next 10-15 years. I am not thrilled at all with the idea of working until I'm 70 (I just turned 40) and even though I've had a good job for the last 15 years I have nothing to show for it for retirement. I should, but life doesn't work that way. Medical expenses wreaked havoc with my finances for the most lucrative years of my career.
I got divorced 6 months ago. Luck and the Internet conspired, and I met a wonderful girl not long after and we started planning a life together. One of the things I love about her is that she's open to moving wherever we want to once we've raised our kids. So last night, I asked her if she thought living in Mexico would be enjoyable. She didn't seem too thrilled with it, low cost of health care/living all aside.
I'm an IT guy. My skills are in demand all over the world. I know 8 programming languages and I'm easily trained to be conversant in any system I want to learn. I had heard that IT folks could find jobs very easily in Germany (that's why the E6 song was in my head), so I proposed that to my fiancee. She said we probably should visit there sometime. I also wondered if Scotland would be an option.
At any rate, it seems telling that I'm having these thoughts and conversations. I will probably watch with some trepidation for the next 4-5 years to see if the political environment becomes more kind to working people in this country, and if it doesn't I'm going to start planning my exodus. I can't leave the quality of my life up to the self-centered jackholery of a bunch of skinflint sons of bitches, a.k.a. the Republican Party. I fought and worked and contributed and prayed for a Democratic majority. I hoped for 16 years running that things would really, truly, seriously change. But it seems as if Republicans still run America, even though 80% of the public disagrees with their stated positions.
I'm a patriot. I love my country. But this is about me. I am not going to die alone, impoverished, attached to some giant machine designed to suck up my net worth while I lay helpless and unable to cut it off, and leave my wife living on ashes and misery in my wake. Fuck that shit.
If this country can't figure out basic human dignity I'll go somewhere where they have.
This is my opinion, on the eve of the healthcare reform showdown.