Well said, Katrina, as always. I agree with you on every single point. I am quite patriotic and, like you, love the founding principles of the USA. But they're long gone. It's a place barely recognizable anymore. Realization took a while to dawn on me after I left, but England with its kings and queens and whatnot is more American than America these days. France is in a mess, but I think the people will prevail, and I still feel a thousand times safer here than in the U.S. I dread having to come back to the States later this year to tie up some loose ends there. If what I'm afraid might happen happens, I guess I won't. Maybe ever. Sooooo hard to even think about.

I'm also left to consider the militant border control the U.S. has for incoming flights, how even Americans are treated like shit by border police (at least I have been,) when other countries do their jobs but don't make travelers feel like criminals. And I see now that all those tight security measures were in vain, because the biggest threat to America came from inside America...its own people. Heartbreaking.