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: A Public Defender's Life in Alaska

So, happy Canada Day! Today I celebrated being a citizen of the greatest country on Earth. I know that characterization always drives Americans crazy. I almost always get the comment "then why are you here?" Great question. There are, of course, two answers. First, my life is here. I work here, my children were born here. My home is here. It is not easy to leave. That being said, the United States I moved to in 2000 is not the same country after 8 years of President Bush. I came here to be more free. Now, the US has extraordinary rendition. Torture camps and black prisons. Phone calls are monitored and mail is opened. People are drowned over and over in the name of "freedom". The list of abuses goes on and on. If it had been this way in 2000, I would have never come here. In addition to that, when I moved here I was getting 40 cents on the dollar paying off my Canadian student loans. Now, the US dollar is worth less. Other than guns (thank you Supreme Court for the Heller decision by the way), there is no real reason for me to stay in the United States. Which leads to my second answer. I am not really in the United States. I am in Alaska. Sure, it is technically in the US. But it is, in some ways, the way America used to be. The courts here still have some respect for the Fourth Amendment. We have a defined right to privacy. Plus I like to think that if the crap ever hit the fan that Alaska would just drift away from the decay of the United States. Besides, it just feels different. It feels wild. Here is a picture taken a few days ago by a friend of a friend here in my neck of the woods. Tell me that this is America......and this is why I am here.

Full post as published by A Public Defender's Life in Alaska on July 02, 2008 (boomark / email).