So imagine my irritation when, at a party last night, a number of people stated that not only would they not immigrate to the US now, but that they're considering packing up and leaving George W. Bush's American. Imagine.

I apologize in advance for again quoting my Congressman, Jim McDermott. You might remember him; he gained notoriety by going to Iraq shortly before we freed the oil of Iraq for exploitation by the West. Oh, and the people. We freed the people too. Anyway, Mr. McDermott tells the story of how he was ready to take his family out of the US to live in some cozy Scandinavian nation with low unemployment, health care for all, and excellent dairy products but was stopped by his own conscience. I can't recall his exact words, but the gist of it was that he was not going to abandon the country he loved; he decided to stay and try to change it. Thus began his career in politics.

There was a story on the news the other day about how the populace is eschewing a life of service for the rewards of the private sector. A few years back when I bailed out of my dotcom job, I was full of fire about pursuing work in the public sector, a flame that was immediately quenched upon my learning of the wages I'd receive. It's no wonder politics are for the rich; who else can afford to participate? After a few months of aggressive research, I went back to working in technology. As a single person with a very modest mortgage payment and an 85 Toyota, I couldn't afford to live on what the alternative transportation lobby was paying. I couldn't afford to live on a teacher's salary.

It's clear to me that committing my life to public service takes a strength of conviction (and perhaps a two salary household) that I just don't have. I've gone back to random acts of volunteerism and giving a few bucks here and there to causes I believe in. Could I do more? You bet I could. But I could also do a lot less. I could sit around publicly claiming that the state of our nation has come to such a pass that I don't even care to vote any more. I could talk about how I'm getting the hell out.

A few weeks ago there was a local special election. The issue on hand? Whether we should increase property taxes by about 12 dollars a household to pay for our county parks. I wandered over to the polls right after I got home from work.
"They're pouring in now!" exclaimed the gentleman who was handing out the ballots for my district.
He sat in the middle of an empty middle school gym with five others, the same five seniors who are always working the polls in my neighborhood.
"Bit of a slow day?" I asked.
"Well, you're number 28."

28 voters. Now, I get that it's just a twelve dollar local measure. I get that. But I also get that it takes 15 minutes to participate in democracy. I've heard people spend much more than 15 minutes whining about how they're going to leave the US because they don't like the government, but I do not see them taking 15 minutes to participate in the government they are whining about.

It makes me pretty angry. Unlike a lot of the people you here complaining about the state of the nation, I actually have the legal status to pack my bags and live in Europe. I hold dual residency (as does the husband now!) and it would be absolutely no problem for me hop a plane to Vienna and take up my new life on the continent. I can surround myself with expatriates who whine about the State of the Union from far, far away.

We're a pretty easy target right now. We've got a president who can't really use the English language, a war over weapons that don't appear to exist, an economy that's in the tank, and a citizenry that's apathetic. Americans are constantly accused by Europeans of wanting the quick and easy fix. "Fuck this, I'm outta here," fits pretty neatly in to that category. The harder thing to do is to try to affect change. To try to remember what you'd be giving up by leaving.

This American is staying put. Maybe you think voting and expressing your opinion and writing to your representatives doesn't make a damn bit of difference. Maybe you think you'd be better off elsewhere. Maybe you think participatory democracy is a joke. If you act upon those assumptions, you're right. You are better off elsewhere and you should get the hell out. Because you are not helping. You can whine all you like about the demise of our country, but you know what? The local polls are empty. Nearly 70% of Americans  don't vote. If you're one of them, the state of the nation is partly your fault. I do not want to hear about how fucked up the US is right now from you unless you're one of the 28 voters that went to the polls a few weeks back.

A few days ago while I was carpooling home from work, I looked out my window to see a beater of an old station wagon next to me. There was a sticker on the window that said "Fremont Sucks Now, Thanks to You." Fremont used to be this cool hippie neighborhood with funky old buildings and a view of the canal. Now it's full of generic corporate offices and all the charm is gone. It does suck. We had a bit of a laugh about that in carpool and made up the obvious next step: "America Sucks Now, Thanks to You."

I'm not saying you have to quit your job and go poor to work for the candidate of your choice. I'm just saying you might think about going to the polls. You might think about what you like about America and share that with some recent immigrant. You might write to your candidate of choice for public office and ask her what she's driving. You might call the Republican rep in your area and tell him how they're freaking you out with their handling of your civil rights. You might give a few bucks to an educational program or join the ACLU. There are a bunch of other things you could do with that 15 minutes that would be more positive than whining about how "America Sucks Now." Yeah, you're right. What's your point? And more importantly, what are you going to do about it?