A minor rant

"If you don't like it here so much, why don't you leave."
"If you have such a problem with this country, go someplace socialist or something."
"If they feel so oppressed, why are they staying here?"

I'm about to blame conservatives here, because they're the ones I keep hearing say stuff like this. Maybe other people do it, but I've only ever gotten it from my conservative friends, and only read it from conservative writers. What I'm ranting about today is this: people who tell me that if I don't like something about my country, I should go live someplace else, as if that's a logical point to make. Mad that gay people can't marry? Move to Europe! Annoyed at racism and sexism? Get out! Think we have screwy economic policies, a scary tendency to try to run the world, bad public education, and a growing healthcare issue? Pack your bags and get your dissenting voice the heck out of the US of A. I get it a lot in incendiary emails from my uncle, suggesting that if those damn socialists don't like it here they should leave.

To start with, this is such a pointless argument. I, and other people who see problems with this country, can't exactly just flee. Can't afford it, can't get the paperwork to live in another country, can't leave our lives behind. Nor is there really any guarantee that anyplace else is better. But really, we don't want to leave. I don't want to leave my home, I want to make it better. I think it's a great country. Not necessarily the best, or the only one worth thinking about, or anything like that, but it's great, and it's mine. And as such, I would like to see it and its citizens thrive.

I know some people disagree with me about how that should happen. Apparently some people think it should happen by not changing anything. It just seems so weird to me, offensive even, to think that because there are some problems I should abandon ship. It's like suggesting that since there are a few, fixable problems in a marriage, I should get a divorce without looking back. Oh wait. People do that. Maybe it's just that the conservatives want people like me to go away!

And yes, I did jokingly threaten to move to Canada after the election if things turned out differently than they did. I didn't mean it though, and what type of American would I be to abandon my country when I thought it was in trouble?