The Problem With America… and the Solution

I’m not the only who feels it.

I mean, I never really thought I was the only one, but it’s nice to know officially that I am not alone.

What I’m on about here is a letter to El Jefe that landed recently. It was from Tony. He wrote to thank me for my recent dispatch on the Portuguese word saudade—an emotional word with no direct translation into English, but it’s essentially a deep longing for a lost yesterday, even if what you think you lost never actually existed.

I referenced saudade relative to me having just finished watching the entire West Wing series on Netflix, an inside-the-White-House drama that ran for seven seasons starting in 1999—back when America was, well, normal.

From Tony (and I have cut out some stuff to preserve anonymity).

Jeff, thank you.

Your West Wing article nailed it on the head for me.

THIS is not my America. I am very Purple politically. I don’t bash anyone or start arguments over politics. I match your timeline about when I became an “adult” politically, and I truly miss folks that actually work together for the good of the American people.

I am with you 1,000% and am seriously experiencing Saudade over America, and not sure what it means for our country’s or my future?

My biggest concern about going abroad is medical insurance and treatment for my existing conditions. If I can find a place in Europe where I’m comfortable with all that… I’ll be outta here!

Thanks again, Jeff! 

Tony “Streaming West Wing”

These are the kinds of letters that really get me. I admit that I’m exceedingly hard on America these days—often to the consternation of readers who assume I’m bashing America or bashing Trump.

Neither is accurate.

I’m just nostalgic… flavored by a touch of rage at the politicians and the courts that have allowed this version of America to exist. The hatreds. The lies. The inability to agree on simple, verifiable facts. The idiotic and senseless conspiracy theories. Allowing corporations and the obscenely wealthy to dictate laws that help them steal from the middle class. The need to ensure equal outcomes rather than champion equal opportunity.

I am not anti-Trump or anti-America.

I am 1,000% pro-America.

Just not this America.

This America is a function of politicians and Supreme Court judges who have criminally failed the country since at least the Reagan administration.

One example: Right now, everyone on the left or right is paying attention to the tariff issue and the impacts that are beginning to show up. And they’re fighting over it as though it’s a Red/Blue litmus test with its roots dating back to, maybe, the Obama administration.

Absolute horse hockey.

The lost manufacturing that Trump hopes to return to America is not a function of Obama or Biden, as many on the right scream. It’s not even a function of Baby Bush.

It’s a function of the cabal in the Capitol Building in DC selling out America to stuff their own pockets over many, many decades.

The inflation of the 1960s and 1970s, and the Federal Reserve’s response to it sent manufacturing prices soaring in America, and that started the offshoring trend. Heck, I remember my stepfather in the early 1980s—more than 40 years ago!—working for Texas Instruments in Houston and being transferred to a new maquiladora (an offshore manufacturing plant) in Chihuahua, Mexico.

The original Bush presidency in the late ’80s, followed by the Clinton administration in the ’90s (presidents on different sides of the aisle) were responsible for the original North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that saw US companies decamp for lower wages and cheaper operating costs South of the Border.

And, really, we can go all the way back to Harry S. Truman, who signed the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, GATT, that shaped the modern American economy by fostering international trade liberalization.

All this Hatfield and McCoy malarkey in America today between Red and Blue is what DC wants. They and their propaganda bullhorns are the ones orchestrating this faux divide. They need Red and Blue at each other’s throats because it’s good for the brand, good for business, good for squeezing ever more dinero and anger out of the base.

Create the diversion… then rob the cash register while everyone’s focused on a fight that should never have existed and which ultimately means nothing.

That is the part of America I now loathe.

That is why I despise pretty much all politicians of every stripe.

They don’t govern.

They instigate.

Then they referee to facilitate the outcome that best serves the needs of those who give them the most money—all done legally, of course, because of a compliant judiciary that finds every way under the sun to bastardize the simple laws the Constitution lays out.

It’s a cynical way of looking at American politics, but then again, if I see a huge gray animal with massive gray feet and long gray trunk… I call it an “elephant,” because that’s what it is. I don’t call it a “heffalump” just because lying politicians have convinced their base that that’s what it’s called and that anyone who says differently is an enemy of our team.

Alas, I could go on and on and on… but I’ll wrap this up with a direct message to Tony (and to anyone else wondering the same):

You can find healthcare all over Europe that covers pre-existing conditions. Some of the private-pay plans might not in certain countries, but I don’t think I have come across a single public insurance plan that rules out pre-existing conditions.

In Germany, in France, in Portugal, in the Czech Republic, and beyond, state plans generally cover pre-existing conditions. Some private plans cover them, too, though premiums might be higher. And note that higher premiums in European terms are not higher premiums in American terms. Healthcare in Europe is shockingly more affordable than the US, and the healthcare outcomes are statistically better.

You just need to establish residency in a country that offers pre-existing coverage. In some places, that’s easier than you might suppose.

Portugal’s D7 visa is aimed specifically at retirees who can prove monthly passive income of at least €820 (about $965).

With the D7 in hand, you are a Portuguese resident, eligible for the state healthcare system, which covers pre-existing conditions, even for immigrants, so long as you obtain a so-called Número de Utente (basically, the number that allows you to access the state healthcare system).

So, there are options for you.

If the saudade becomes too much… come to Portugal.