kookaburras1The first time you hear a kookaburra call is pretty damn spooky. Here, have a listen. But when I hear them now, cackling madly in the Australian sun, I sprint outside for a look. There’s something about these birds, something quintessentially Australian.

And in the height of the Australian summer, on the eve of Australia Day, that’s what I’m basking in – all things Australian.

When we moved to Britain in 2005, I made the mistake of hanging on to lots of trappings of ‘home’. I took comfort in things American. I basked in my very different-ness. And I spent three of the four years we were there hating the place. In that last year, I finally sought what made Britain so, well, Great. Just as I figured it out and came to love the place, it was time to go.

So, this time around I’m leaving all that American nonsense behind. Yes, I am an American. Never try to hide it. But barring anything unforseen and earth shattering, I’m going to be an American living in Australia. My boys are going to be raised as Australians and I’m going to do my best to insure that they get the best of that.

noarlunga4We’re Australians.

And every day that I listen to the news from the country of my birth, I’m more convinced that this is a good thing.

Like tens of millions of other Americans, I got infected with Obama fever back in 2008. Full of his particular brand of Hope™, I bought into the idea of a transformative politician that would take my creaking country forward into a new progressive behemoth. Tears rolled down my cheeks when his victory was announced. I walked a little straighter as an American abroad after that, full of hope and pride in my country.

A year later, I feel worse that I did at the height of the Second Bush Dynasty.

Worse, because I’ve come to realize that Obama, like Clinton before him, has chosen to govern as a “pragmatic” centrist. That despite all the high flying rhetoric, he has to deal with the same right wing opposition that Clinton had to deal with and as a result, nothing truly transformative is going to get done.

harrynoarlungaWorse because I now realize how nasty some of my countrymen can be. Worse because I realize that despite massive majorities in two of the three branches of government, real change is not an option in American politics. Worse because I see the vitriol becoming more vitriolic, the polarization becoming more polarized, the black becoming more black, the white becoming more white and the gray? What gray?

I feel worse because I know that any kind of real health care reform is dead. That the system is rigged against real change. That banks and insurance companies and investment firms are more important to those who govern – Republican or Democrat – than you are. Beautifully illustrated by the Supreme Court granting huge multinational corporations the same rights as you and I. And guaranteeing America’s fate as an oligarchy. “Jennifer Government“. Read it. It’s our – well, your – future.

I feel worse as I realize that the nasty, hate infused post-9/11 nationalism wasn’t just a passing trend. That it has blossomed into a particularly vicious sort of populism that loathes the ‘elite’, the educated, the thoughtful, the well-spoken. A sort of populism that feeds on sound bites and half truths and ignorance.

I feel worse because nothing ever changes. Because Barack Obama is no different that George II, Slick Willie, George I or Crazy Ronnie. Because the system is rigged.

noarlungaI feel worse because I can’t go ‘home’ again. That I’ve had a taste of the alternative and it’s too sweet on my palate to give up. I spent 33 years as an American in America, becoming more and more frustrated and disillusioned. Feeling more and more powerless. Now every day I’m gone, I feel lighter. Happier. I can watch American politics from afar with mild amusement. I can enjoy it for it’s entertainment value. It’s the best reality TV show that nobody has thought to produce.

When it doesn’t affect you.

Go ‘home’ again?

Nope, I’ll take my adopted Antipodean island. I’ll take her languid climate and her blithe people. I’ll take her byzantine cricket and her bizarre ‘football’. I’ll take her dotty, drunken politics and her genial socialism. I’ll take her genial patriotism and inflated sense of international importance. Hell, I’ll even take her unfortunate penchant for mullets and coupe utility vehicles. Because it is summertime in Australia and the living is easy.

I’ve probably managed to piss off my American readers and offend my Australian readers. Ah well, what the hell. I’m going to the beach before the cricket starts and I have to fire up the barbie.

Happy Australia Day.

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John Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things” is available from John Coltrane - My Favorite Things.

 
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