Leaving The Country

Editor's note; this is an unedited version of this essay. Not only did the proof reader quit, but the staff decided to take advantage of the "opportunity" to present an easy in all its unedited, unproofread glory. So here goes. Enjoy! THERE ARE APPROXIMATELY nine million American citizens living in foreign countries. This number, merely an estimate, may be inflated; some estimates put the number as low as five million. There is no way to accurately tabulate the actual number, since no entity within the U.S. government formally keeps track of them, and apparently neither does anyone else. Unless those living abroad renounce their American citizenship (otherwise they retain it, regardless of number of years outside the U.S.), they can still vote in American elections. They tend, as a rule, to keep tabs on happenings back home. These departed folks are often referred to by the term "ex-patriots",sometimes referred to as simply "immigrants". The two terms are essentially identical in meaning, although the term "ex-patriot" somehow has a more romantic, evocative ring to it, in an almost Hemmingwayan sense. "Ex-patriot" somehow has an emotional, political, ideological cannotation, as of having left the country for reasons of difficulty or discontent, for political reasons, or for the purspose of evading a dangerous or untenable set of circumstances. Beginning in the nineteen twenties, there was a steady flow of African-American writers, musicians, artists and intellectuals of all kinds to France, a country in which racism, as in most other countries, is far less in evidence than in the land of freedom and opportunity, America. Many settled in Paris's famous "left bank". One highly positioned African-American lady, a corporate executive, was transferred to France as part of her professional responsibilities, and decided to never come back. She laughingly related that in America, people tended to be afraid of her and distant towards her, while in France, she received no special attention setting her apart. She could cut in front of people in line in America without opposition from seemingly intimidated American women; French women wouldn't put up with it. American ex pats are scattered far and wide, all over the world. A large percentage of ex pats settle in Europe, all the way from Scandinavia to Italy, and points in between. Cuba and Canada are among the most popular destinations. Americans in Cuba are attracted to the relatively low cost lifestyle, vibrant culture, and cuisine, while Canada has been the destination,notoriously, of young American men who have been drafted into the armed forces seeking to avoid military service. Evading taxes, debt, or criminal prosecution motivates many to flee, especially to Mexico and other Latin American countries where apprehension and extradition is difficult and often fails to manifest. People living in eastern Europe, Hungary, among other places, report being very happy with their new locations and lives. Only a small portion of those who leave the U.S. express any desire to return for any reason to their native land, other than to visit. One startling statistic, apparently confirmed; no less than one third of Americans today say that if given the chance, they would happily move out of the country, and make a new life elsewhere. Lack of money and family ties and obligations often thwart their dreams to of leaving. This meshes with other studies indicating that the level of hapiness among Americans in general has in recent decades sunk to an all time low, especially when comapred to Europeans. In Europe, with greater economic equality and opportunity for upward mobility (yes, upward mobility in Europe is far greaer than in the U.S., despite claims to the contrary), and a far greater sense of community, contemtment is higher. Goeteh, who in the early nineteenth century saw what he considered to be troublesome trends torughout the various pre-German states such as Prussia, said that thw rold might be a safer place were people of Germanic ethnicity scatter to far destinations all voer the world, thus taking German cutlure with them, thus attenuating and softening it. It may be that this is a good prescription for American culture, what with its aggressive, overly competitive, imperialist, expansionist, violent characteristics. Preserve, but ameliorate the American cultural behemoth juggernaut! The decrease in population in the United States could esily be compensated for, replenished by the constant avalance of illigal Hispanic immigrantscrossing the Rio Grande. After all, arguably, this notorious, controversial, contentious phenomenon is, in a sense, nothing other than Mexicans reclaming the "occupied territories" as they call them, of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California,stolen from Mexicao by American imperialists so shamefully, shamelessly, so long ago.