This August is my 10th year of living in the United States of America. Every year that passes I quite honestly know less about what is happening in Canada, in the government, the political backdrop upon which my family layers the complexities of their lives.

Living in the States as an expat is starting to feel pretty irresponsible. Taxation without representation has an upside, if you like your head in the sand….like not my country, not my fault.

Sigh.

Damn Ira Glass. Whether its giving money to public radio or joining another country, he always has the compelling argument. This week the TAL episode was called “The Audacity of Government” and it was in part the story of the worst aspect of having a government formed around the notion of a cult of personality [my perspective]–the part where the President [one person] can decide that treaties and international law don’t apply when he doesn’t want them to….and a bunch of lawyers work damn hard to make this true.

Umm, not my country, not my fault??

America is the land of opportunity and I’m enjoying the opportunities. [Infrastructure like healthcare, childcare, social safelty net is a different issue….for a different post….something about the false infrastructure | opportunity dichotomy].

That said, I was raised to believe that opportunity and responsibility are ethically quite good friends. Even to me it seems counterintuitive, but the more disappointing and confounding I find the practices of the current government, the more I realize that I’m no longer just visiting.

Bring on the paperwork.

Share This