Commentary
Almost every day, someone hears my accent and asks where I’m from. The usual next question is, why would anyone leave New Zealand and make a home here?
For lovers of liberty, the United States is still the place to be. There’s nowhere to flee to, not New Zealand nor anywhere else. Americans enjoy immense economic opportunity and a community relatively deferential towards natural rights: life, liberty, and property.
Since my Green Card (permanent residence) has just been approved, now is an opportune time to address the matter publicly. After many years of consideration and international living, I’ve chosen to put down roots in the United States. My reasoning is pertinent to those eyeing a departure from what they perceive to be a sinking ship.
My case is notable because I have citizenship with and family networks in Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand. These nationalities give unimpeded access to Australia, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and the Schengen Area, so I can live and work in almost the entire Western world. I also speak Spanish and have an online business, so I could easily live in Latin America.
Although a piece of my heart will always remain in New Zealand, the decision was a no-brainer. Nowhere came close to the United States.
We the People
One aspect I appreciate about The Epoch Times is the way it highlights the best of the United States, especially the people and what they value. Even if most Americans aren’t familiar with philosopher John Locke and his arguments for natural rights—manifest in the Declaration of Independence—they’re still exceptional.This exceptionalism is written into the Declaration and the U.S. Constitution, but it’s also written into the mentality and instincts of the Americans who hold this nation dear. Legislators and the permanent bureaucracy often seek to expand their powers, but in doing so they run into a remnant of the pioneer spirit. Many Americans still resist violations of what they understand to be their God-given rights, even at great personal sacrifice.
Specifically, no nation has more support for gun rights and free speech. Both are foundational to personal sovereignty and are codified in the First and Second Amendments of the Bill of Rights. As Buffalo, New York, attorney Jim Ostrowski has
written, “The Second Amendment works to deter government tyranny and private crime and does so peacefully … [given] the mere threat of resistance.” U.S. gun ownership per capita is without peer—Canada, for example, has one-third the rate of ownership—and
73 percent of Americans oppose bans on private handguns.
Although prominent whistleblowers have suffered—
Edward Snowden, for example—respect for free speech and vigorous debate among Americans themselves is even more clear cut than for gun rights. There is
90 percent agreement that protecting free speech is important for American democracy and that people should be allowed to express unpopular opinions. Further, almost
three-quarters believe political correctness has silenced necessary discussions.
Canada offers a useful proxy. Although “freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression” is a fundamental freedom of the nation’s Charter, it isn’t self-enforcing. If the majority’s will is to violate a minority’s rights, eventually the mob will prevail. Canadians have given
tacit approval to censoring so-called hate speech, discrimination, and misgendering.
The Economic Dream
Each person has his or her own unique skills, and they might not necessarily match up perfectly with U.S. opportunities. A professional soccer player, for example, can make the most in the English Premier League. Similarly, mining executives tend to cluster in Vancouver, Canada.
However, a few advantages in the United States stand out for the ambitious professional or entrepreneur.
First, there is upward potential. The top 1 percent of Americans earn before tax almost
$500,000 annually. That is behind only city-state Singapore and a few other small, outlier nations such as the United Arab Emirates. The U.S. level is twice the likes of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
Second, there’s unmatched backing for business development. U.S. stock markets are the world’s financial nexus and have almost as much capitalization as all foreign stock markets combined.
Fifty-nine of the world’s 100 largest companies are American. The United States also provides
more than half of the world’s venture-capital investment.
Finally, the breadth of the U.S. economy—in terms of GDP, industry variation, and jurisdictional competitiveness—means an individual is more likely to find a lucrative niche. Given the federalism that still exists, albeit profoundly compromised, Americans can choose the states and localities that suit them best, including some with substantially lower taxes and costs of living.
What Homeschooling Exemplifies
An important way Americans assert and protect their sovereignty, especially when they’re in the minority, is homeschooling. It has climbed to
6 percent of all school-age children. While the rest of the Anglosphere is on paper relatively permissive toward homeschooling, no peer nation comes close.
Canada,
Ireland, and
New Zealand, for example, all have homeschooling numbers at less than 1 percent.
This American assertiveness, typified by homeschoolers, means you aren’t alone when you stand up for your own freedom. I got to experience this in an eye-opening way when I found out my vaccination waiver with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services was going to be denied. Dear friends and fellow Catholics came to my aid and helped me mount an appeal in short order, which proved successful.
No Bed of Roses
The United States of America isn’t without its problems, to say the least. As a financial consultant, I’m acutely aware of the nation’s fiscal recklessness, inflation, and deteriorating rule of law—not to mention several parasitic, anti-American bureaucracies.One book that influenced my thinking regarding the U.S. trajectory came out in 2005: “
The Coming Generational Storm“ by Laurence Kotlikoff and Scott Burns. Even back then, the pair had calculated unfunded liabilities that dwarfed the official national debt. It was $8 trillion then and has now surpassed $31 trillion. The storm they foresaw between young and old has arrived and is worsening.
As much as we might be concerned about the U.S. trajectory, there are two sobering realities to consider:
- U.S. degradation doesn’t mean the alternative is any better. America’s greatest asset is her people: the patriots who defend her exceptionalism. You will not find them elsewhere.
- Technological innovation aids freedom, and no people are better positioned to innovate and disrupt tyrants. A distinctly American bottom-up revolution is going on: a parallel economy, especially in education and medical care, with a critical mass of adherents.
My prayer is that Americans will take pride in and preserve the best of their republic—it’s one of a kind—and my American dream is to live and contribute to the mission of my adopted home.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
