Viewing My Country From Abroad

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/18/opinion/country-from-abroad.html

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To the Editor:

Re “What Living Abroad Taught Me About America,” by Janine di Giovanni (Sunday Review, Feb. 11):

Like Ms. di Giovanni, I am an expat, an Australian living in Switzerland. I deeply empathize with Ms. di Giovanni’s feelings about her native country. Living abroad taught me to love Australia, and also to be deeply conscious of its defects.

I once lived in America, just before the Reagan era. I have always defended America from the criticisms of my European friends, even my daughters. Criticize away, I said, but to what other country can you turn for hope?

Now, like Ms. di Giovanni’s friends, I have given up on America. Not only because of President Trump, though he could hardly be worse, but because of the stinking morass he has uncovered in the heartland. And this morass has been perpetuated by the egoism, greed and arrogance of the vulture elite. Its liberal wing, broken, trumpets its sympathy for the left behind, but does nothing. Its illiberal wing is in heaven.

All this exists in Europe, too, of course, but we have not sunk so low. Here I feel there is hope, and Europe will be able to show the way. You Americans, even if you get out of this crisis, will never again be the beacon on the hill for the rest of us. At best, you will be just one of the lights on the lower slope; at worst, you will be a broken lamp in the crevasse.

“I know we can do it,” Ms. di Giovanni says. “Yes, we can,” Barack Obama said in 2008. No, Barack, despite your decency, you couldn’t.

IAN GREEN, NYON, SWITZERLAND

To the Editor:

I have lived in Sri Lanka, Colombia and Taiwan and had the luck to get my degree from one of the early university programs that focused on cross-cultural learning.

Let’s look at the facts. The United States is no worse than any other country in history and better than many. Sure, our politics are messy. We have people who are prejudiced, and some heinous things have been done in the name of that prejudice. However, we are a work in process, and if you look at history, we step by step make things better.

The innovations that drive much of the modern world were born here. We are an ongoing experiment in representative democracy. As a country we have many times looked in the mirror and changed for the better. As a Jew I will find few places where I can thrive as much. The same is true as an entrepreneur.

Is it easy and a bed of roses? No. However, for all the people seeking the greener grass, all I can say is that the shining city on the hill can be a beacon only if we work to keep the lights on. The Op-Ed author clearly has made that choice. So have many of my fellow progressives. We do it with eyes wide open.

ALAN R. WITTY, FORT COLLINS, COLO.

To the Editor:

I am a Brit who has been living in the United States for over 35 years. I can understand wanting to go “home” no matter how long ago we left. However, is my adopted country the one that I sought out when I came? The America I came to had freshness and positivity. It also had upward mobility, a sense of excitement and the awareness that despite individualism, American generosity would not let anyone “fall through the cracks.”

Maybe there is still a sense of economic excitement, but for many the middle class is now out of reach, entitlements are seen as “socialism,” while health care and college education are not rights but privileges.

I came here to experiment with my life, to find new openings, but also to live in a compassionate society. We Brits always considered gentility to be a bit lacking in the New World, but we expected social responsibility. I am deeply disappointed in my adopted country as the fundamental values that should underpin any developed society are being eroded. So now should I go “home”?

ANNE SHEMER, LAKE WORTH, FLA.

To the Editor:

Thank you so very much to Janine di Giovanni for reminding me about the fundamental goodness of America. Her article brought me unexpected tears of pride in my country. My travels beyond our borders (to countries like Britain, Canada, China and Honduras) have always seen me return home grateful to be an American. The kind of stuff we are made of cannot but help us resist the current political madness.

ROSEMARY BARRETT, CAMP HILL, PA.