Quote:
Originally posted by KillarneyRose
The thing I honestly don't understand is why the people who think this country is that terrible don't move elsewhere and leave it for those of us who are happy here.
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1) Since "patriotism" is the topic: there's a good argument that it's more patriotic to try to improve the country you call your own than to move to another.
I can tell you that I definitely think that we can improve on a lot of things here. I think that some other countries handle some things better than we do (though I don't necessarily think that we should or could emulate them). There are probably also lots of things that we could do better than anyone else if we tried, but we don't try.
I haven't gone through the trouble of becoming a lawyer because I think that we're just the greatest and we've got the best policies and everything here is just wonderful -- as you can already tell, I don't think that. I did it because our ways of going about governing are
pretty darn good compared to alternative systems, and I want to contribute in some small way, to try to improve things where I can and to temper the problems when I can't.
I think it is a great virtue of this country that people are free to dispute what makes good policy and good government. I think that if we are to maintain that virtue of our government, we cannot say, "if you don't like it, then leave." Fortunately, our political system is engineered against that tendency.
Oh, there are a few practical reasons one might choose not to leave, too.
2) Practical problems 1: family, friends, and jobs are here.
3) Practical problems 2: immigration and alienage laws may forbid it.