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I was in Orlando recently.
I love the US. I love the people. I love the optimism. I am always excited to go. As a kid, watching Knight Rider, the A Team, Airwolf, the sense of space, optimism, and possibility was irresistible. Coming on holiday as a kid only served to reinforce this. People seemed happy, willing to help. Things seemed to work well.
Over the last 20 years, as an adult visiting for both work and pleasure, I have noticed the shine fading.
I still love the place, but I don’t think I would want to live here. The sense of optimism has eroded in so many ways. Political polarisation has dismantled a sense of a shared narrative and separated people. You can see it as you drive down the road, with attorney offices advertising themselves as Anti-Woke.
Then there’s the fact that I have a son. If I did decide to come and live here, I would have the stress of worrying about the healthcare system. It’s something I simply do not worry about in the UK, even with the NHS in its current poor state. If we are ill, we go to the doctor and the hospital and they help us. It’s not so here.
And if my son Alex went to school there would I ever be able to truly relax? They shoot kids in schools here and enough politicians don’t seem to care.
How can a country run by people unmoved to take action by murdered children survive?
I still love this place. I still love the people. I still think the world is better for having the United States, but I miss the exciting place I remember from my childhood. It probably never existed the way I think it did, but something has changed, and not for the better.
The hope I do have is that if anyone can fix this insanity, it’s the American people, if they pull their heads out of the sand