Time to leave?
Why America Has Failed...
My wife and I have been seriously talking about
leaving the country and living overseas. I've lived around the world, so I have
an idea of what things are like in other nations. Don't get me wrong, I love
this country. I love the town I live in. I love the Constitution, the Bill of
Rights and everything it stands for. However, I no longer feel a connection to
the nation. I'm no longer sure I would fight for it, because I think it stopped
fighting for me.
People might describe me as a liberal, socialist, whacko...and I find that funny. I've always been a capitalist and an entrepreneur. I'm certainly no hippie love child.
My Mother...
My mother came from a farming family in central Wisconsin. They were poor, but happy. She dropped out of college, got married, had me...then divorced and moved west...first to Colorado and later to Gillette Wyoming.
She worked hard, paid her taxes, and became a successful real estate agent and later a broker. She built her own company, and owned perhaps millions in real estate. We went from living in a crappy little duplex, to a townhouse, and finally a very nice home. My mother wanted me to have everything she did not. She surrounded me with art, music, and literature. I learned to play piano on a brand new K. Kawai baby grand piano. We had original Salvador Dali paintings on the walls. We had the only BMW in town. We lived the American dream.
But my mother had a social conscious. We never talked about money and never set ourselves as better than anyone else. We worked weekends at the soup kitchen and my mother volunteered at many charities. She founded the local hospice. At Christmas we delivered food baskets to shut-ins. My first job was working for a charity for which my mother was a board member. I spent an entire summer fixing up homes of people who couldn't afford insulation or caulk...people in wheelchairs or other disabilities.
My mother got sick one night at a dinner party. I learned the next day my mother had cancer. I was eleven. She was given six months to live. Our insurance didn't cover all the medical costs, and since modern medicine had given up on her, we tried alternative methods. Since my mother wasn't able to work, her company collapsed, and we had to borrow money from my grandparents to help pay those costs.
I spent a year watching her die, and I was there when she took her last breath.
I was also there when my stepfather had to somehow deal with all the bills...hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical costs the insurance didn't cover.. the real estate market had collapsed and we couldn't keep our buildings rented...so we had to make up that difference. I was poor, then rich, then poor. It is a shameful statement on our society that a person can lose everything they worked for, simply because they get sick.
While I was living with my grandparents in High School, I watched a case of lyme disease decimate the cattle, causing the loss of the family farm...the farm that had been in my family for generations. I watched them divide it up, and sell it off piece by piece. Then one night the current tenants had a fire which burned down the home my mother grew up in. Everything I've ever known...gone. Several years later, I watched my grandmother succumb to the same disease that ravaged my mother...my wife and now my child will never get a change to know two really great women who molded me into the man I am today.
This is the American Nightmare.
Me...
I had a similar experience to my mother. I built several companies, made some money, was an executive during the net boom...and later decided to start a writing career and move to my wife's hometown. Things were going well until I got sick several years ago. I came down with pneumonia and was unable to work for two months. This severely affected my income and we ended up going into debt. It has taken me two years to get us out of debt...and we're not quite there yet...hopefully this year. We're currently still falling behind...and once out...I have to repair my credit.
In two years I haven't had more than one day off at a time. I haven't been on a vacation. I work from 10am to 5pm...and then from 10pm to 4am six days a week. I've not taken one penny of government aid and I'm still unable to afford insurance. My wife is covered, but we can't afford an additional $1,200 a year to insure me. I have a tooth that needs repair, but I can't afford to pay anyone to fix it, so for two years, I've just dealt with it.
My wife...
Upon graduating High School, my wife did what was expected of you. She went to college. Since she didn't have any financial help from her parents, she had to pay the whole tab herself. She did this through a number of jobs and student loans. When she finished college, with her degree in design, she got her first job in DC. It paid $18,000 a year. Then she got her first student loan statement. Her payments were at least $500 a month. This meant that after rent, food, insurance, taxes, etc...she had a choice of paying her loans or eating. She chose to eat.
Fast forward years later...her payments today are now $800 a month and the loan has grown from $20,000 to almost $40,000...and if she could afford to make those payments, the loan will eventually cost her $70,000. So, she did the right thing...she got an education, not only to better herself, but to earn more money...to fulfill her American dream. What no one told her was that in order to make a living she'd have to live in a major city. However, in order to do that, she would have to make more money than the average salary for her field...just to survive.
Why America Gets an F
I believe a civilized society:
-Has a responsibility to it's citizens to provide for their medical well being.
-I believe a civilized society must provide an education to anyone who wants one.
-I believe that a civilized society would promote a sense of cultural identity.
-A civilized society does not tax the poor and middle class more than the rich.
I find it a serious fault that in this, the richest nation in the world, we only tend to pull together in times of crisis. What about the rest of the time? While our nation has a strong emphasis on self reliance, it has created a culture where the "everyone for himself," mentality rules supreme. The other problem is that our nation has no cultural identity. What does it mean to be American? Seriously...point to something that tells me what it really means to be an American today.
There was a time I felt that connection. It was when I had more money...and therefore, had access to all of the freedoms that the nation provides. When you are poor, freedom of speech doesn't mean much to you when your cabinets are bare and you're unable to get medical treatment. You can speak all you want, no one is listening. When you are poor, it is hard to watch other people live the American Dream, while you have to make a decision of whether to pay your rent or pay your utilities...or eat. It sure is easy to point to the American Dream and say, "this can be you." In reality, it is a much harder path to follow.
There are over 20 million uninsured Americans. Most of these folks are the working poor. They work several jobs to make enough money to survive, but are unable to dig themselves out of poverty. People like Bill O'Reilly talk about how the poor just need to lift themselves out of nothing, like he did.
Something is very wrong with this country.
Some people will tell you that this nation doesn't owe you anything. There should be no sense of entitlement. I'm not talking about entitlement. If you want me to participate in society, if you want me to lay my life on the line, to fight for you...you have the responsibility to fight for me...and this isn't just about dying on the battlefield...this is about ensuring that people don't get left behind. My mother paid her taxes, paid her dues to society and government...and at the end when she really needed them, they were nowhere to be found.
I just don't know if I can continue to live in a nation that is obviously going in a direction that is not progressing. I will gladly pay more taxes for better services. I will pay more taxes to ensure no one loses their home or health. I will pay more taxes to ensure every child gets a good education. But I can't sit here while folks like Bill O'Reilly bitch and moan about the government taking more of their money, while my fucking tooth is rotting in my head.
People might describe me as a liberal, socialist, whacko...and I find that funny. I've always been a capitalist and an entrepreneur. I'm certainly no hippie love child.
My Mother...
My mother came from a farming family in central Wisconsin. They were poor, but happy. She dropped out of college, got married, had me...then divorced and moved west...first to Colorado and later to Gillette Wyoming.
She worked hard, paid her taxes, and became a successful real estate agent and later a broker. She built her own company, and owned perhaps millions in real estate. We went from living in a crappy little duplex, to a townhouse, and finally a very nice home. My mother wanted me to have everything she did not. She surrounded me with art, music, and literature. I learned to play piano on a brand new K. Kawai baby grand piano. We had original Salvador Dali paintings on the walls. We had the only BMW in town. We lived the American dream.
But my mother had a social conscious. We never talked about money and never set ourselves as better than anyone else. We worked weekends at the soup kitchen and my mother volunteered at many charities. She founded the local hospice. At Christmas we delivered food baskets to shut-ins. My first job was working for a charity for which my mother was a board member. I spent an entire summer fixing up homes of people who couldn't afford insulation or caulk...people in wheelchairs or other disabilities.
My mother got sick one night at a dinner party. I learned the next day my mother had cancer. I was eleven. She was given six months to live. Our insurance didn't cover all the medical costs, and since modern medicine had given up on her, we tried alternative methods. Since my mother wasn't able to work, her company collapsed, and we had to borrow money from my grandparents to help pay those costs.
I spent a year watching her die, and I was there when she took her last breath.
I was also there when my stepfather had to somehow deal with all the bills...hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical costs the insurance didn't cover.. the real estate market had collapsed and we couldn't keep our buildings rented...so we had to make up that difference. I was poor, then rich, then poor. It is a shameful statement on our society that a person can lose everything they worked for, simply because they get sick.
While I was living with my grandparents in High School, I watched a case of lyme disease decimate the cattle, causing the loss of the family farm...the farm that had been in my family for generations. I watched them divide it up, and sell it off piece by piece. Then one night the current tenants had a fire which burned down the home my mother grew up in. Everything I've ever known...gone. Several years later, I watched my grandmother succumb to the same disease that ravaged my mother...my wife and now my child will never get a change to know two really great women who molded me into the man I am today.
This is the American Nightmare.
Me...
I had a similar experience to my mother. I built several companies, made some money, was an executive during the net boom...and later decided to start a writing career and move to my wife's hometown. Things were going well until I got sick several years ago. I came down with pneumonia and was unable to work for two months. This severely affected my income and we ended up going into debt. It has taken me two years to get us out of debt...and we're not quite there yet...hopefully this year. We're currently still falling behind...and once out...I have to repair my credit.
In two years I haven't had more than one day off at a time. I haven't been on a vacation. I work from 10am to 5pm...and then from 10pm to 4am six days a week. I've not taken one penny of government aid and I'm still unable to afford insurance. My wife is covered, but we can't afford an additional $1,200 a year to insure me. I have a tooth that needs repair, but I can't afford to pay anyone to fix it, so for two years, I've just dealt with it.
My wife...
Upon graduating High School, my wife did what was expected of you. She went to college. Since she didn't have any financial help from her parents, she had to pay the whole tab herself. She did this through a number of jobs and student loans. When she finished college, with her degree in design, she got her first job in DC. It paid $18,000 a year. Then she got her first student loan statement. Her payments were at least $500 a month. This meant that after rent, food, insurance, taxes, etc...she had a choice of paying her loans or eating. She chose to eat.
Fast forward years later...her payments today are now $800 a month and the loan has grown from $20,000 to almost $40,000...and if she could afford to make those payments, the loan will eventually cost her $70,000. So, she did the right thing...she got an education, not only to better herself, but to earn more money...to fulfill her American dream. What no one told her was that in order to make a living she'd have to live in a major city. However, in order to do that, she would have to make more money than the average salary for her field...just to survive.
Why America Gets an F
I believe a civilized society:
-Has a responsibility to it's citizens to provide for their medical well being.
-I believe a civilized society must provide an education to anyone who wants one.
-I believe that a civilized society would promote a sense of cultural identity.
-A civilized society does not tax the poor and middle class more than the rich.
I find it a serious fault that in this, the richest nation in the world, we only tend to pull together in times of crisis. What about the rest of the time? While our nation has a strong emphasis on self reliance, it has created a culture where the "everyone for himself," mentality rules supreme. The other problem is that our nation has no cultural identity. What does it mean to be American? Seriously...point to something that tells me what it really means to be an American today.
There was a time I felt that connection. It was when I had more money...and therefore, had access to all of the freedoms that the nation provides. When you are poor, freedom of speech doesn't mean much to you when your cabinets are bare and you're unable to get medical treatment. You can speak all you want, no one is listening. When you are poor, it is hard to watch other people live the American Dream, while you have to make a decision of whether to pay your rent or pay your utilities...or eat. It sure is easy to point to the American Dream and say, "this can be you." In reality, it is a much harder path to follow.
There are over 20 million uninsured Americans. Most of these folks are the working poor. They work several jobs to make enough money to survive, but are unable to dig themselves out of poverty. People like Bill O'Reilly talk about how the poor just need to lift themselves out of nothing, like he did.
Something is very wrong with this country.
Some people will tell you that this nation doesn't owe you anything. There should be no sense of entitlement. I'm not talking about entitlement. If you want me to participate in society, if you want me to lay my life on the line, to fight for you...you have the responsibility to fight for me...and this isn't just about dying on the battlefield...this is about ensuring that people don't get left behind. My mother paid her taxes, paid her dues to society and government...and at the end when she really needed them, they were nowhere to be found.
I just don't know if I can continue to live in a nation that is obviously going in a direction that is not progressing. I will gladly pay more taxes for better services. I will pay more taxes to ensure no one loses their home or health. I will pay more taxes to ensure every child gets a good education. But I can't sit here while folks like Bill O'Reilly bitch and moan about the government taking more of their money, while my fucking tooth is rotting in my head.
Posted: Tue - June 24, 2003 at 02:38 PM
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Published On: Jan 29, 2004 01:35 PM
Total entries in this category: 10
Published On: Jan 29, 2004 01:35 PM