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R.I.P., My American Dream
Saying Goodbye to Bernie, Hoping America Can Survive as a Nation While Welcoming a New Vision
I don’t believe the United States of America as a political entity will survive this decade.
I didn’t want to write that. I’ve been putting off writing it for a while.
But this is not exactly an idea that just popped up for me. No, I’ve been feeling since the late 1990s that it was likely that the US would fade away in my lifetime like other empires, or more recently, the USSR.
It was (and is) all a matter of timing.
Now, before I go on, let me say something: I’m sorry. I really am. I know this is going to be a very challenging decade for people living in America and, likely, the world. I think Covid-19 is just the first blow in this “new reality.”
The reason I write it like that is because I left America in summer 2004 to move to Japan. At the time, I intended to marry my fiance, a Japanese native who I met in the United States, and teach English here for 3–5 years.
But I think I knew even then that I’d be here longer. And then in spring 2011, the East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, which led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster happened. Many of my friends who seemed to be more committed “lifers”…
