Well, I am, actually. I am in England and it’s April. But that’s a recent update. I was in the US for the first ten days of this month, and I could not wait to get back.
Apparently 5.5 years in England are enough to make a girl sufficiently European that three weeks in the US was just a bit too much. Or maybe this year’s presidential election really IS nastier than in previous years. And perhaps partisan politics HAS reached a new low.
Things that became too much for me, in no particular order:
- Irrationally blaming Obama for fuel prices (which are, of course, elevated all over the globe due to crude prices)
- Unbelievable sexism.
Santorum may be out of the race, but he succeeded at making it cool to riff on 1950s Leave it to Beaver stereotypes. - People thinking that universal healthcare was evil, and that they somehow had a RIGHT to NOT have access to affordable health care (link should be to USA Today article but I read it on my iPad and can’t find the link in the millions of articles I read on healthcare reform in the last month…)
- People using the whole “how to lie with statistics” thing in shameful ways
- Every time I tried to point any of these things out to a Republican, they responded with something along the lines of “OH Yeah, well, Obama did x in the 2008 campaign” as though it was a playground battle and deflection from the issues was the real game.
I am clearly no longer as American as I once was. Because these things really bother me and I can’t seem to let them go. And I would consider myself to be not terribly political, but the politics in the US right now pits left vs right in a way that I don’t really understand.
Not From Around Here 
Every time I go back to the US I feel more and more like a stranger…
It’s funny to see that Spanish equivalent to US Republicans (now in the Government) act exactly the same way.
What bothers me most is the obvious fact that it’s more and more to do with money. Politicians at all levels have to spend a huge proportion of their time raising money, instead of doing their jobs. Money buys media research, media time, lobbying resources, and therefore votes. America is so proud of its democratic heritage – rightly so – but it’s getting a bit thin, I think.
You’re clearly suffering from a bout of expat syndrome. I spent three years in France (I speak the language with some fluency). When I returned to the United States I was outraged because strangers called me by my first name, instead of Monsieur.Acculturation sneaks up on you.
Its not just you. In the US things can get ridiculous and are right now. Republicans are going at the Dems in a crazy way. Wish some days I could easily become an expat at least my HD does 🙂
I have been back in the US for 4 years now and cannot wait to be able to move back to the UK for these very same reasons. I just can’t take anymore of the BS here.
I know, I feel the same way. I cant even read the ‘news’ from America anymore.
Sympathies … sort of: your post rings some rather mournful bells for me. I’m English-born and have recently returned from living (very happily) in France. Not my choice (ahem!); but am battling to try and make sense of life in my home country – and failing miserably!
That said, I share your concerns about the way things are in the US, and understand why you may feel dismayed (I feel much the same about how the UK is governed).