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Go where you’re treated best.
Andrew Henderson
This is a reaction piece to the frequent pushback I receive from people calling themselves patriots, because I refuse to engage in activities that they define as fighting back to restore the USA to what it should be. They become particularly incensed because I am a veteran and refuse to act as they feel I should act. It seems as though they believe I am obligated to do so. I share many of their views on how things could be better, but I do not share their views on fighting back. I will explain why below.
The USA is a Constitutional Republic in name, but really now more of a Democratic Republic, the way the Constitution is being twisted and even bypassed by the will of the majority. This de facto dynamic results in the majority, an easily manipulated majority, determining the laws and even culture in the USA. Sometimes these new majority decisions even go against the established Constitution, which is being steadily eroded. The entrenched bureaucracy uses “administrative” or “executive” measures to effectively void much of the Constitution.
A patriotic person or group will sometimes loudly proclaim that you must fight for your country. Even when that country consists of a majority that disagrees with you and the Constitution. I empathize with and even support the views of the people who say this. I was one of them for decades. I even put skin in the game to stand up for what I thought was right and for what the Constitution said. It ended badly for me each time. Economically. Reputationally. Even my freedom was impacted. Now I tend to see that kind of rhetoric as myopic and unrealistic. Ideology, not reality.
The military oath I took stated that I would defend my nation against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Who defines the enemy? The previous political party said one group is the enemy, but after the election, it is suddenly people holding my values who are the enemy. They are even being jailed now for the flimsiest of reasons. Even foreign enemies are difficult to identify now, with the porous borders and popular support for people who display outright hatred for the US and act against its best interests. Does the word “enemy” even have an objective meaning anymore in the West?
More aggressive patriots will proclaim, “You need to fight!” Against whom? Using what measures? Vote? Yeah, how has that worked out? The Blue/Red system has collectively produced the mess we have. The differences between the parties are only in degrees, not values. Try getting in there and changing things, then let me know how that worked out for you. Take up arms against them? That’s called treason or sedition, and will land you in prison for a very long time. You don’t even need to take up arms today to be imprisoned for that. Don’t do it! Don’t even do anything remotely resembling it. These people are running the show and that is the reality of it. Sometimes the only choice is to leave and go where you are treated better.
They wave the flag of patriotism, but expect others to carry that flag into the fray.
Ironically, many of those most vociferously shouting for me and other veterans to rise up, are the most timid people with no skin in the game. They prefer to sit back and incite others to do the hard and dirty work, availing themselves of the option to claim they had nothing to do with it if it goes awry. They wave the flag of patriotism, but expect others to carry that flag into the fray. You know who you are. No thank you. I served my nation, fought in wars, did my time. If you want some change, it’s time for you to put in some effort. I am retired. I may not agree with my nation’s leaders, but I still respect their authority and my nation. I will work within the bounds of what is possible to improve my position. I earned it. I and the other veterans have no obligation towards you or your desires. There is a reason many veterans share my view. It is because they have seen harsh reality and know the difference between what works and what is merely foolish ideology. Attempting to shame them won’t change that.
Defending against enemies is one thing, but where, in any civic or military contract with the government, does it require citizens to live within the country? US citizenship, and by extension taxation, extends to Americans living anywhere in the world. You can be an American citizen living anywhere in the world. Many people do so. It doesn’t mean they are “unpatriotic,” just that they prefer to live elsewhere.
Patriotism sounds great, but in the modern soft-fascist governments it is about as practical as wishing on the Tooth Fairy. So, if you enjoy beating your head against the wall over and over again, you are welcome to it. My head-beating days are over. Fighting for something has the unspoken assumption that you can win. How can you win if your nation has become what you are not? Right or wrong, the majority has the right and the ability to determine the course of the nation. That is implicit in the definition of the democratic system that is now our de facto government. You can either align your values and life with the new reality, or look for someplace else where your values are still embraced and followed. I suppose you could take a third option and fight against the new reality, but I have already stated how that often ends. I will not do it.
Consider the words of Nomad Capitalist CEO Andrew Henderson:
Rather than leaving your country, why don’t you just stay and lobby to change the laws? The answer is, where I am from in the US, there are 330 million people. I’m one person and we delude ourselves into thinking that a lot of other people think like us. If you want freedom. If you are a hardworking, successful person who wants to build something, own a business and employ people … there aren’t a lot of people like you. I realized very early on that I’m not a very sympathetic person who is going to get a lot of people on my side politically. So, I’m going to go where the conditions already exist because I realize my insignificance in the scheme of things. I’m not going to get up there and convince people whose momentum is going in the wrong direction that they should change where they’re going. Momentum is really hard to stop, especially when your country has 330, or 80 or even 20 million people.
Andrew Henderson, Nomad Capitalist
Not everyone is cut out for politics or activism. Not everyone is cut out to be a soldier. Even politicians, activists and soldiers eventually want to retire. Most of them, anyway. I will continue to be sympathetic to those wanting to fight for the USA that used to exist, but pragmatically they won’t be getting any help from me. In the USA today, not choosing one of the highly polarized sides will often get a person condemned and vilified by both. I choose not to support either side, as there are almost always more options in life than two. I just grew tired of choosing the lesser of the two evils.