A recent diary eloquently argued that because America is going to hell, we should raise our children to be prepared to leave this country in search of a better place to live. I can sympathize with that point of view, but I don't think we should be too quick to embrace it.
The fact of the matter is, there are only a handful of countries in the world that are, overall, more free and prosperous for the average citizen than the United States. That's why people from all over the world still want to immigrate here -- on many measures America is still near the top, relatively speaking. Yes, we've declined in some ways. Yes, some countries have better health care systems, more social welfare, or other attractive features. But they also have their own problems and downsides. No country on earth is a utopia.
Furthermore, the few countries that might actually be superior to the United States, in terms of opportunity or quality of life, are not going to open their borders to millions of American immigrants. A small number of Americans -- mostly those with very advanced and specialized career skills -- may realistically hope to become citizens or permanent residents of the great social democracies (e.g. Scandinavian countries) in which many liberals might prefer to live. Most of us are and will continue to be stuck here in the U.S.A. -- and so will our children, no matter how many languages we have them learn or how much we encourage them to travel -- because those other countries don't need us.
Since all but a few Americans are bound to remain in this country, it would be in our own best interest to try as hard as possible to make it a better place to live. If we fail and things continue to get worse in America -- if this country becomes less democratic, less educated, more economically stratified between the rich and the poor, and more belligerent toward the rest of the world -- do we really think other countries are going to make it easier for our children and grandchildren to immigrate to their relatively stable, peaceful, and enlightened nations? No, chances are, it's only going to get harder. So if you want your offspring to have the option of living elsewhere, it starts with making sure that America remains the kind of country whose people the better nations of the world would welcome with open arms, rather than a regressing hellhole from which most Americans will be desperately trying to escape.
Beyond the practical arguments I just made, there is also a moral case to be made for staying in the U.S. and, instead of giving up on this declining country, doubling down on the hope of making it better. If the best people try to escape from a place or situation that needs their help, those who remain behind will be condemned to suffer even more. One example of this is the phenomenon of "brain drain" from impoverished countries, in which the brightest young people all immigrate elsewhere, thus perpetuating a vicious cycle of ruin for their native land. Unless we want that to happen to America, we should share our talents where they are needed most -- here at home. If we all work as hard as possible to do this, and refuse to give in to cynicism, we could be surprised at how far we can go and what positive difference we can make.
Whenever I doubt this, I like to remember the example of my great-great-great grandfather, Senator Frederick A. Sawyer. An idealistic liberal educator from Massachusetts, he took a job as principal of the South Carolina state teacher's college in Charleston shortly before the Civil War -- the very city from which emerged the rabidly regressive Confederacy -- in the hope of having a positive influence in a place that needed people with brains and conscience. After war broke out he returned to the North, but decided to go back to South Carolina when the war was over, and was elected U.S. senator from that state when it was readmitted to the Union. Sen. Sawyer was a strong believer in the policies of Reconstruction and, while in the Senate, fought hard for the causes of education and government funding for science. Instead of giving up on the South, he worked to bring progressive values to a part of the country that had to be dragged kicking and screaming into a new era of human freedom and equality.
Today, we find ourselves fighting much the same battles. As always, there is a war going on in society between education and ignorance, conscience and corruption, freedom and slavery. Sometimes -- as it looked to many Americans in the Civil War era -- the battle doesn't seem winnable; we are tempted to give up the fight and cede territory to the forces of darkness. But if they had given up then, where would we be now?
As before, we fight to turn Red states Blue, instead of fleeing and letting the Red states rot. We fight to create an America that, with each passing generation, comes closer to living up to Thomas Jefferson's ideal that all are created equal, that all have an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Sometimes things move backwards, but people with courage and conviction rise up and demand a new round of progressive change. If at first they lose, they fight harder until the victory is won.
Now is not the time to let America secede from the community of highly civilized nations. Instead of preparing to flee, we should stand and fight for the virtues of progressive civilization here in our country, our home, so that once again we can be proud to wave our flag -- not because of the jingoistic nationalism we rightfully reject, but because of an authentic pride in America living up to its potential as a land of freedom and opportunity for all.