Let’s talk about moving to Canada
Sidney Johnson | Staff Writer
What would you do if you felt the country you called home didn’t represent you as much as you knew it should? Do you pack up and abandon everything you’ve ever known to begin a life abroad? Or do you stubbornly stay put out of your patriotism to your nation to fight it out?
Many Americans are rightfully asking these tough questions.
Google reported searches for “how can I move to Canada” rose 350% in four hours following Super Tuesday three-weeks-ago. This certainly isn’t the first time the topic of fleeing a country has been brought up, but it opened the eyes of Americans to the trend developing currently.
The current presidential race is proving to be divisive. On one side of the political spectrum, we have the duo of a 74-year-old democratic socialist hell-bent on extreme reform as well as an established, well-connected former first lady/secretary of state that could be the first female president of the United States.
On the other you have a persuasive, orange billionaire who’s presidential rallies foster violence coupled with a Bible-throwing, overly-conservative Senator that supports war crimes (carpet bombing) and recently indulged in a little “nose candy” on a national debate.
There are nations that have many programs and privileges we aren’t afforded in the U.S.: Canada’s free Healthcare system, Norway’s free state education and our (little) big brother, The United Kingdom’s acceptance of a legal drinking age of 18-years-old.
These are modern policies I wish we had, but it isn’t as if they aren’t being discussed. There are running candidates that advocate for many of the demands we have as citizens on both national and local levels, but none of these initiatives will be implemented if we – as registered citizens – don’t vote for a more progressive Congress that will represent our voices.
To put this into perspective, there is a total of 469 seats in our Congress (34 Senate seats and all 435 seats in the House) that are up for election on November 8th of this year.
If we all decided to leave our respective nations rather than fixing the systems we detest, we would eventually become political nomads constantly shifting kinship as we shop the best bargain in a prospective nation.
Moving to Switzerland or Canada doesn’t benefit the people (family and friends) you leave behind. It also doesn’t make you a revolutionary, but rather a pessimist that — quite literally —is willing to give up on everyone and everything you know.
Be the change you want to see in the world — by voting for more progressive policies while respectfully persuading as many others as you can to do the same. Voting is an indispensable cog in the wheel of democracy and we must use it.
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