Love it or leave it: becoming an expat

A few months ago I wrote a piece for the IC critical of U.S. foreign policy. Not surprisingly, the first comment on the column was a bit of advice suggesting that I either embrace the government’s actions or move to another country. As many of us are aware, the “love it or leave it” bromide is an example of a pathetic sort of nationalism that refuses to even acknowledge the critic’s position. Accordingly, I didn’t address the comment and simply forgot about it until a couple of personal and political events related to this idea occurred recently.
After the Super Tuesday elections, several news outlets reported that search engine queries about immigrating to Canada from the U.S. had jumped by up to 1000 percent. As impressive as the number may sound, it is allegedly dwarfed in comparison to the number of similar queries that followed Bush’s election back in 2000. In fact, it seems that Americans regularly threaten to pack their bags for Canada whenever a presidential election is near. However, the threats are mostly empty and very few people actually even attempt to leave the country. But why not? If people have such serious qualms with the country, why stick around?
The simplest answer I can think of is that it’s easy to have an emotional reaction to a highly publicized and undesirable event, but in reality the problems eventually might not seem substantial enough to justify a drastic action. Everybody has a voice in a democracy, so none of us can get our way all of time. Although America might have some problems, it’s still as good a place to live as anywhere, right?
Well, as it turns out, the problems facing the U.S. are likely more serious than we care to admit. Looking at the data makes me think twice about the claim that the U.S. is a great place to live, or even a good one. In light of this host of problems, the desire to get out of the country seems more and more reasonable.
The U.S. has a horrifying incarceration rate of 716 out of 100,000, making it number one in the world, holding over a fifth of the planet’s prisoners. In comparison, Russia comes in at a distant second with 455 per 100,000 and other developed nations average around 100 per 100,000.
We are also leading in terms of healthcare costs, but not necessarily quality. The U.S. spends about 17.4 percent of GDP on healthcare while Sweden, which is number two, spends less than 12 percent. Some commentators like to claim that our healthcare system is the best in the world, which could explain the high cost. However, statistical analyses of healthcare costs around the world place us near the bottom of the 34 developed OECD countries. And as a result of the high cost of health care, about one-in-four Americans currently die in bankruptcy.
A final measure of U.S. leadership can be seen by looking at military spending. We fund about 37 percent of the world’s armed forces, which gives us a greater “defense” budget than at least the next nine countries on the list combined. Thanks to our financial commitment to militarism, we’re able to maintain 630 bases in foreign countries around the world, which surpasses any nation or empire in history. Depending on your stance, this could be good or bad, but it certainly makes you wonder what else we could be doing with that money.
I could go on with statistics that show the problems facing the United States. My purpose is not to make a comprehensive list, but to hint at the severity of the problems we’re facing. And given the direction we’re going, it could be overly optimistic to suppose that significant change is likely or even possible in the near future. Perhaps for those of you who don’t love being in the U.S., the best option is to leave it.
That sentiment became especially relevant for me when I was admitted to a Ph.D. program in Canada a week before Super Tuesday. I’ve since accepted the offer and gotten the necessary paperwork to immigrate. And why not?
Many of us are discontent with the way things are and the way they’re going in the U.S. Real causes for concern extend far beyond the results of the next presidential election. For those of us who want to address even more difficult problems than those produced by imperialism, racism, unfettered capitalism and anti-intellectualism, the best choice may be to look for a life elsewhere.

Kyle Novak is a masters student of philosophy.