Places To Go

Once again, the people have spoken, and once again the people have said they would like to be governed by Republicans. That is nice, but it is increasingly clear that Republicanism (if that's a word) is the permanent de facto governing philosophy of the United States. For those of you who are Republicans, congratulations; I wish you many years of happiness living with the consequences of your ideas and actions. For those who are not Republicans, or even those who are thinking about trying something new, the real question is about where we are going to move. I don't think Canada will work. Outside of major cities they can be just as conservative (i.e., Republican) as we are, and the oil sands of Alberta mean their energy policies are worse than in the United States. Scandinavia seems pleasant, but somewhat insular (at least from my experience in Denmark) and not as multicultural as I would prefer, and in winter, except for the salmon and herring, the food is not fresh. It would be a worthy adventure to go to Argentina, El Salvador, Ethiopia, China, or any number of other developing economies, but the purpose of this exercise is to find a place where one's own beliefs are in accord with the governing philosophy of the majority. There is Germany, but I still have a grudge against the entire country because of the Frankfurt airport. And anyway, they don't have a beach. Eliminating all other countries that are either too conservative or too dysfunctional, I suppose that leaves Spain and France. Don't tell me to go to Japan. I couldn't handle it. I confess to not having a complete grasp of French politics and culture, and their lack of anything like a first amendment leaves me wary, but on the other hand, I just saw on the news that they are trying to institute a quota system to require that women constitute a certain percentage of the workplace. Or some particular workplace, or a government agency; I wasn't clear on the details. Anyhow, what an outlandish idea that is. If I lived in France, I would probably be a conservative Republican. In Spain, gay marriage is legal, but the economy is even worse than in other places (or so I hear) and jellyfish are overrunning the Mediterranean. But we can't have everything.