No matter if Kerry lost, you still have power

[Rudey]

Originally posted by Sistermadly
Permanent resident, yes. Citizen, not yet. And when that day comes, there will be much rejoicing.

That's good and great that you would be happy. Everyone should be happy. But it's unfair to say you're country has turned it's back on you as you've become a resident of another country and are seeking citizenship in it.

-Rudey

[mrblonde]

Its hilarious how many professed 'patriots' who 'love America' arent willing to stick around when things dont go their way.

Hilarious, but not surprising.

[Sistermadly]

Originally posted by Rudey
That's good and great that you would be happy. Everyone should be happy. But it's unfair to say you're country has turned it's back on you as you've become a resident of another country and are seeking citizenship in it.

American citizens who become Canadian citizens are no longer required to give up their US citizenship (and haven't been since the mid 70s, I believe). If/when I do it, it'll be by choice.

I'm seeking citizenship in Canada because I can't in good faith pay taxes in a country and have no say in how that money is spent. The only way I can legally vote in Canadian elections is to become a citizen. It's just a nice little bit of synchronicity that the turning tide in the US is happening right around the same time that I'm eligible for citizenship.

[Rudey]

Originally posted by Sistermadly
American citizens who become Canadian citizens are no longer required to give up their US citizenship (and haven't been since the mid 70s, I believe). If/when I do it, it'll be by choice.

I'm seeking citizenship in Canada because I can't in good faith pay taxes in a country and have no say in how that money is spent. The only way I can legally vote in Canadian elections is to become a citizen. It's just a nice little bit of synchronicity that the turning tide in the US is happening right around the same time that I'm eligible for citizenship.

So, if I may ask, why are you still holding onto your US citizenship?

And I thought you had to pay taxes abroad until you were no longer a citizen.

Anyway, it's your choice to find what makes you happy and where you belong. I just personally believe that everyone has a voice and I don't understand those that are upset but don't use their voices. Sure you're not a huge political mover and shaker, but you're still a voice. People in this country take that for granted and if you come from an opressive country, you see things differently.

-Rudey

[Sistermadly]

Originally posted by Rudey
So, if I may ask, why are you still holding onto your US citizenship?

Because I'm not eligible for Canadian citizenship yet. Permanent residency = US Green Card. If I gave up my US citizenship now, I'd be in serious limbo. If something were to happen, for instance, if Canada lost its mind and decided to deport everyone who isn't a Canadian citizen, if I gave up my US citizenship, I'd have nowhere to go.

And I thought you had to pay taxes abroad until you were no longer a citizen.

Only if you make money in both countries. I haven't worked in the US since 2000, so the last time I had to pay taxes there was in 2001.

Anyway, it's your choice to find what makes you happy and where you belong. I just personally believe that everyone has a voice and I don't understand those that are upset but don't use their voices. Sure you're not a huge political mover and shaker, but you're still a voice. People in this country take that for granted and if you come from an opressive country, you see things differently.

The thing is Rudey, these days I feel like I come from an oppressive country. I can't... *sigh* ... I don't know how to make people understand it without it coming out like hyperbole and so much liberal hand-wringing, but I literally feel like I don't recognize the country I called home for 32 years. I feel like everything that people in my family fought and died for doesn't matter to most Americans anymore, and I take that as a huge slap in the face.

I'm angry, sure, but more than that I just feel incredibly sad.

[Sistermadly]

I just wanted to add: thanks for the reasoned discussion, Rudey. I know you don't agree with my position, but I get the sense that you're at least trying to understand it.

It's not as if I haven't been politically active. I registered to vote when I was 17 years old, and I actually voted in my first election before I was 18 years old (you can do that if your birthday is within a few weeks of an election). I've donated time, and money to political campaigns, and I've written letters, made phone calls... you name it.

But at some point I just realized that I'm not Fannie Lou Hamer. I'm not Martin Luther King. The political climate that made social justice and equality a defining value of America largely doesn't exist anymore. Politicians -- on both sides -- have shown that they will take any stance, no matter how radical, just to get elected. We don't look at people as neighbors anymore - it's a game of "us" versus "them". We find it so hard to look beyond party affiliation to try to find common ground -- our only aim is to dehumanize our opponent, because it makes destroying them that much easier.

There's a president in office who will make it impossible for my brother to marry his longtime partner of 15 years. When my brother finally succumbs to full-blown AIDS, his partner won't be able to visit him in the hospital because he doesn't have visitation rights. Legally, his partner doesn't have any right to the property they own together.

The president is poised to appoint supreme court justices who are "strict Constitutionalists" - those people who look at this document not as something that is flexible and open to intepretation, but as a fixed document that is unchanging. If every supreme court justice felt this way, Brown vs. Board of Education never would have been passed. Never mind that - I wouldn't have been able to vote, because the Constitution originally said that black people were only 3/5ths of a human being, and that women weren't allowed to vote.

Rather than looking out for its poorest and most vulnerable citizens, the president wants to take money for social security and invest it in a volatile stock market. Sure, it could work out for the best - but a lot of really poor people could end up in even worse financial straits should the market take a downward turn. I don't believe it's the responsibility of private investors or corporations to take care of American citizens - I think that's our shared responsibility.

I support the troops in Iraq, but I just can't believe that a majority of American citizens believe that Saddam Hussein had anything to do with September 11. I can't believe that people voted to support a war on a country that didn't have weapons of mass destruction, and that lacked the capacity to even build new ones. I can't believe that a majority of the American public thought that the deaths of 1100+ of their fellow countrymen and -women mattered less than whether gay people would be allowed to marry, or that stem cell research be held back to 'protect babies'.

So I sit here in Lotusland, shaking my head, feeling powerless to change the direction that the neoconservatives are steering my country in. I mostly feel powerless because I don't have faith in the Democratic party either. I'm just really tired of beating my head against the wall. How long should a person have to do that until she realizes "Hey, my head really hurts and it's bleeding and maybe I should just stop what I'm doing?"

American citizenship is a huge responsibility. I'm just honest enough to admit that these days I just don't think I'm up to shouldering that responsibility anymore.

[Rudey]

I can't disagree with how you feel. I can disagree with facts but not how someone feels.

Personally I think the grass is greener on the other side.

I also see things as more dynamic than you might...I don't know. A representative is only in power for so long. Certain issues are supported for so long...etc. And if in 20 years gay marriage is all of a sudden legal in America, then what? That is an example.

To me a citizenship isn't just about one or two issues. It carries the weight of history. An American citizenship carries the strength of the longest experiment in the world - we are not descendants of an old empire, America did not have a king or dictator.

So I hope that whatever country you end up in, you feel like you belong and have a voice.

-Rudey

Originally posted by Sistermadly
I just wanted to add: thanks for the reasoned discussion, Rudey. I know you don't agree with my position, but I get the sense that you're at least trying to understand it.

It's not as if I haven't been politically active. I registered to vote when I was 17 years old, and I actually voted in my first election before I was 18 years old (you can do that if your birthday is within a few weeks of an election). I've donated time, and money to political campaigns, and I've written letters, made phone calls... you name it.

But at some point I just realized that I'm not Fannie Lou Hamer. I'm not Martin Luther King. The political climate that made social justice and equality a defining value of America largely doesn't exist anymore. Politicians -- on both sides -- have shown that they will take any stance, no matter how radical, just to get elected. We don't look at people as neighbors anymore - it's a game of "us" versus "them". We find it so hard to look beyond party affiliation to try to find common ground -- our only aim is to dehumanize our opponent, because it makes destroying them that much easier.

There's a president in office who will make it impossible for my brother to marry his longtime partner of 15 years. When my brother finally succumbs to full-blown AIDS, his partner won't be able to visit him in the hospital because he doesn't have visitation rights. Legally, his partner doesn't have any right to the property they own together.

The president is poised to appoint supreme court justices who are "strict Constitutionalists" - those people who look at this document not as something that is flexible and open to intepretation, but as a fixed document that is unchanging. If every supreme court justice felt this way, Brown vs. Board of Education never would have been passed. Never mind that - I wouldn't have been able to vote, because the Constitution originally said that black people were only 3/5ths of a human being, and that women weren't allowed to vote.

Rather than looking out for its poorest and most vulnerable citizens, the president wants to take money for social security and invest it in a volatile stock market. Sure, it could work out for the best - but a lot of really poor people could end up in even worse financial straits should the market take a downward turn. I don't believe it's the responsibility of private investors or corporations to take care of American citizens - I think that's our shared responsibility.

I support the troops in Iraq, but I just can't believe that a majority of American citizens believe that Saddam Hussein had anything to do with September 11. I can't believe that people voted to support a war on a country that didn't have weapons of mass destruction, and that lacked the capacity to even build new ones. I can't believe that a majority of the American public thought that the deaths of 1100+ of their fellow countrymen and -women mattered less than whether gay people would be allowed to marry, or that stem cell research be held back to 'protect babies'.

So I sit here in Lotusland, shaking my head, feeling powerless to change the direction that the neoconservatives are steering my country in. I mostly feel powerless because I don't have faith in the Democratic party either. I'm just really tired of beating my head against the wall. How long should a person have to do that until she realizes "Hey, my head really hurts and it's bleeding and maybe I should just stop what I'm doing?"

American citizenship is a huge responsibility. I'm just honest enough to admit that these days I just don't think I'm up to shouldering that responsibility anymore.

[_Q_]

To echo some of the other responses, I think this is the best post by Rudey that I've ever read. Writing letters is a fine thing to do, and there are also some other options, like demonstrations. It seems like the keys to success with activism are planning and publicity. For example, if you organize a march, work with the police to get the permits you need, and try to partner with other organizations to improve turnout. For large rallies, trained peacekeepers are valuable - if anyone breaks the law, it can make all the protesters look bad. Petitions can be effective too, and again, cooperating with other organizations is a great way to get signatures.

As an example, I've heard really good things about SOAW (http://www.soaw.org). If GC'ers are close to the Columbus, GA area, it might be worth going to see their vigil this month.

[AKA_Monet]

Sistermadly--

MLK and Malcolm X said not to give up on the "struggle"... It is for your children's grandchildren. Our generation will never see the planting of the seeds done only 30-50 years ago... So we cannot expect to see any huge change when enslavement was legal 150 years ago...

The fact is we all need alternative thinking with radical and aggressive ideas given at the appropriate time...

Yes, a letter writing campaign with grassroot organizations could work. Been there, done that, got a T-shirt...

But, we have to risk something we are willing to DIE for in order gain something to LIVE... That is at the heart of activism--ANY activism...

And we have to go for it soulfully and willingly because if we do it half-assed, we will NEVER gain the peace we are willing to give for our great-great grandchildren...

The irony is the terrorists are willing to die for their causes...

Many Americans may not want to die for their own causes--like fighting against abortion or stem cell research...

Just like not ALL Americans over in Iraq are dying for their country... And there are plenty of our service personnel that are wondering what is going on and they still do their jobs, WELL... And guess what, these service personnel will be coming back to the US and we will have to be their caretakers...

The scariest part about this story that is unfolding is the man or woman who has nothing to live for is willing to die for anything... And a few in our military--hopefully not many--will be coming back with post traumatic stress disorder--or whatever they will call it this time and still be nightmaring to fight... Mature or not, a kid, 18 years old will be a man at 21 years old when he comes back... Given this war on "terrorism" might last a few more years...

I will still be involved with organizations that have social discourse and implement change. I will always stand for justice and peace. But, I will not give up on myself, lose my resolve and not fight the good fight. That is just me and my opinion. We do not know what the future may hold, but we can make an effort to plan for it and work in and out of the system...

"To walk with Kings and not lose the common touch"

Rudyard Kipling