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Canada or Bust …
Taking the lead from an entry on Caterina’s site, the thought of moving to Canada, at one time unthinkable, now seems no so bad. There’s even an article on CNN.com that discusses how more American’s are giving serious thought to making the move. Something that didn’t happen much in the past, according to a 2001 report that shows “5,894 Americans moved north, while 30,203 Canadians moved south”. But the tables are turning.
And it’s no wonder. With Bush in office our country is in horrible shape. We’ve got a record deficit on the books, we’ve been sent to war to safeguard ourselves from the “weapons of mass destruction” … of course none have been found, and all the jobs seem to be heading over our eastern border across the ocean. What’s the point of living here?
Here’s what I don’t understand: How can one of the largest, wealthiest countries in the world not have enough money to pay it’s bills? How are we not able to provide services for all of our citizens? I just don’t see where all the money being taken out of my paychecks is going. It’s ridiculous.
There are times I seriously think that our government is a big joke. Those that hold offices are just in it for their own well being. They trade votes to get laws passed, they take bribes and those that benefit are the ones that put the most money in their pockets. The rich continue to get richer, while the others are left out in the cold. And we’ve got a President that is so obviously promoting his own agenda with rich, oil companies that it’s not even funny. The mess that Bush has managed to create in four years is going to take more than a decade to get out of.
And then there’s Canada. National health care. No death penalty. No abortion controversy. The idea of being able to go the hospital and getting treated the same whether you are rich or poor is definately an idea that the United States needs to continue. I remember Hillary Clinton trying to reform health care and not getting far, but maybe she was on to something.
Let me clarify, I’m not anti-America. I’m sure Canada also has its problems, but they’ve also come up with a lot more solutions than we have, it seems. I can only speak about my experiences living in the U.S, although I’m sure Wifey™ could enlighten me on how great Canada is (as she does often). All I know is that things here keep getting more and more expensive and I’m seeing less and less from our government for the money I’m giving them.
They raise taxes but I still probably won’t get any social security when it comes time to retire. They raise taxes but I’m still driving over the same potholes in the street week after week, month after month. They raise taxes but companies are still not giving raises after three years “due to the economic situation”.
I think a lot of Americans are just frustrated and tired of fighting to get, but giving so much. As Clayton recently commented, “I say yes to a flat tax. No details. No loopholes. No paperwork. No returns. Uncle Sam gets X% of your income. Period. If you make zero income, you don’t pay taxes. If you make $100.23 a year, that bitch government of ours gets X% of $100.23. If you make $5 million a year, they get X% of $5 million. You don’t get it back … you don’t file a return … you don’t get charged more than X% and you don’t get charged less than X% … ever.” I agree. Take X% of my money and then show me what I’m getting for it. Let me walk into a damn hospital without having to pay for it because the government foots the bill. Let me know that the people in political office aren’t just a bunch of overpaid baffoons running around trying to get their own agendas taken care of.
Ugh. I could go on for hours. But that’s the point. Maybe packing up and moving to Vancouver isn’t such a bad idea. Then I wouldn’t HAVE to go on for hours. I could just live my life and KNOW that the government was taking care of business.
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4 Responses to 'Canada or Bust …'
I’ve thought about moving to Canada myself. I haven’t been real proud to be an American for a long time.
I’ve felt and thought pretty much these same kinds of things my whole adult life. In 1972, my husband and I were beginning to pack to move to Toronto. He had been admitted to the University of Toronto for graduate studies. We had friends who had already moved, and we were planning to apply for what I think was called “landed immigrant” status in those days. Then, after a couple of years of trying, I got pregnant and we just decided it wasn’t a good idea. My husband applied for, and got, conscientious objector status (difficult to do by then), and everything worked out o.k. Except American society and politics have moved further and further down a road of which I have never approved.
I still wonder what my life would be like today if we had gone through with it.
You are right, most poliiticians are crooks. Its hard to deny that Bush is an ass. But AHEM, you point out problems with the government, and yet you still want to make the government bigger by nationalizing the health care system. You seem to forget your own words…that the government is the problem, not the solution. You seem to neglect the plain fact that by law a hospital in the United States cannot deny medical care to a patient by their ability to pay. That law is reasonable and fair. Nationalizing the medical system will only reduce the standard of care to everyone, not just a few people. Your straight tax idea is a good one, but I am sorry, if you believe in socialism, please do move to Canada as fast as you can. This country was founded on the pursuit of happiness, not the guarantee of happiness. If everyone should be on the same dole irrregardless of their ability, choices, or work ethic, we will have a completely unprogressive country. Our country thrives on ability and possibility, not the guarantee of it. It’s not perfect, but making the government bigger will certainly make it less so. If you love pure socialism, check out Sweden and Denmark.
I don’t think that nationalizing the health care system would necessarily make the government bigger. In my opinion, there is a lot of money being wasted in our government that could go for programs that benefit the people of our country. Instead of spending billions on OTHER countries, we need to focus our dollars on our own people. I’m not saying that national healthcare is the answer, but it’s more of a step in the right direction than what we currently have. True, hospitals can’t discriminate, but you can’t tell me that people with more money don’t get better healthcare than those without.
You mention that the country was founded on the pursuit of happiness, not the guarantee of happiness. I don’t need any guarantees, but I do need to know that there’s a chance of happiness in this country. I need to know that our government really is looking after our best interests. Seems like the only people that have a chance at happiness and wealth in this country are the politicians and the immigrants that come over here for their free hand-out provided by or government so they can start up businesses and make a life. However, those of us born here are pretty much left out in the cold. I’m just feeling that no matter how hard I work, I’ll never be able to catch up and it’s frustrating. Maybe moving to another country and being the recipient of some free hand-outs would make me feel better. Who knows.