An Unexpected Discussion

[adderslj]

Last Saturday night, over dinner in the bar of our hotel, Lorna and I had a discussion I never thought I would have. We talked about emigrating. In particular, we talked about moving to the US. (Lorna is a US Citizen, with long-term permission to reside in the UK. She's technically dual nationality.)

People who have known me for a long while will probably be surprised by this. I love Britain and have always been proud to be British, However, I'm seriously beginning to wonder if the Britain I love exists any more. As I watch gun crime spiral, social security abuse increase and any sense of pride in the UK vanish, I start to wonder "why?"

Why do I stay? Why do I love this country? Why do we put up with this? More and more of my friends grow frustrated with the way the tax money they've worked hard to earn is being spent. They grow more and more frustrated with politicians who seems unable to do anything but chase short-term popularity or line their own pockets. When you start missing Margaret Thatcher, you know something is deeply wrong.

Our Government seems not to have the guts to deal with growing crime, fraud, managerial incompetence within the public services and immigration. We seem unable to make a judgment about what is right and wrong, and make decisions based on practical expediency rather than moral standards or any degree of political philosophy. Society is breaking down because nobody thinks in term of society any more. They merely think in terms of their own pleasure and convenience. That doesn't work in the long-term, though. If you put no work into maintaining the society that facilitates your own pleasure and convenience, you'll soon find that your ability to achieve them is compromised.

Do I want to sit through that painful process, or would I rather be somewhere that has already found some answers to these problems?

Don't get me wrong, I think America has some serious problems. However, I think, as a society, it seems to be fundamentally more honest than the UK at the moment. Yes, Americans are extremely interested in themselves and their own pleasure, but they are open about it and, wonder of wonders, they seem to love their country for giving them the freedom to pursue their own happiness. More, they seem to be happy to fight to protect those liberties.

It was only a discussion. We're very far from making any form of decision. But, for the first time, the option is on the table.

Comments

[tenzil.livejournal.com]

The prospect of someone moving to the US because gun crime at home has gotten too bad is like a punch right in the Irony Kidneys. :-)

[inscrutable.livejournal.com]

OK, one question. You'd move away from Britain because you dislike the rising crime and change in culture, and you'd move here?? Have you seen our crime and culture and the current administration's crusade against personal freedom? While the US is nowhere near as bad a place to live as say Afghanastan or Zimbabwe or Cambodia or something, it seems to me that you're saying "Well, I dislike the X, Y and Z that's here. I think I'll move somewhere with more X, Y and Z."

[maliszew.livejournal.com]

I've got to confess the stories I've been reading lately about both the crime rates and charging of individuals who protect themselves in Britain have surprised and appalled me. I'm not much of a gun nut, despite being an American, but I can't imagine a place where the fear of guns is so great that the government would treat a man who shoots an intruder into his home as a criminal no different -- or even worse -- than the burglar himself. Canada is going this way too, which is one of the many reasons I can't stomach the thought of staying here much longer. That and the candy is no good. :)

[aquamarcia.livejournal.com]

We'd love to have you and Lorna here in Portland, should you decide to move to the US. And I know where you can get good tea (and coffee and beer, too).

[trekhead.livejournal.com]

DON'T DO IT MAN!!!

Not that I wouldn't like to have another friend around the U.S., but the U.S. is a festering hellhole these days. Didja know that under the modifications to FISA by the USA PATRIOT act, the FBI can wiretap anyone and you can't even find out who ordered the tap or approved it, and the Supreme Court says that it has no jurisdiction to look into the case?

Jess.

[point5b.livejournal.com]

I can only say 1)that you'd be welcome here in my book and 2) you have my very real condolences that things have gotten so bad, there.

[ladyjestyr.livejournal.com]

Have you looked at the problem of a visa for yourself? I'm not sure about the visa conditions for partners in your situation, but I do know that a resident's visa for a non-American in the process of marrying a US-resident US citizen is not that easy to get. (There went my plan to be a mail-order bride.)