QCOSTARICA (OP-ED by Barbara Steenstrup) A friend, who also lives in Costa Rica, asked me the other day, “What is the advantage of U.S. citizens living in Costa Rica?” There are the usual replies. It is a beautiful country with kind people. It is close enough to the United States to visit family and friends and for them to visit. It is a safe and stable country. And, of course, depending on how and where one lives, it can be less expensive than living in the U.S.
What more can one ask for as a person?
I think there is more to it. I think that living in Costa Rica, U.S. citizens are shielded from the chaos that is the U.S. at present – shootings in schools and gun violence altogether; the tension of racism for people of color sometimes no more than walking down the wrong street or driving a car; deep political divisions, especially as we near the 2024 elections.
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Still stay involved – still, we vote in U.S. elections
Nevertheless, we need to care about what goes on in the United States. We care for our own interests and for those of our families and friends who live there. And we care because the United States is big and powerful and whatever the United States does affects the world.
There are key issues for U.S. citizens. They are the issues that are key for people all over the world: a woman’s right to decide about her body, the impact of global warming on every aspect of life, the migration of poor and endangered people all over the globe, the rights to education and good health care, the right to economic stability. It is hopefully who we believe will deal with these issues better that will decide our vote this year and not a cult of personality.
That is why there are notices all over Facebook and Instagram, in online media, on posters, during in-person events, and most of all phone calls to U.S. citizens in Costa Rica and around the world to say register to vote and vote. The vote of overseas U.S. citizens can be the margin of victory in several states.
I am, however, perplexed. Some U.S. citizens I have met think that since they’ve left the U.S., voting doesn’t matter to them anymore. The result will not affect them. But they still travel on a U.S. passport – one that gives visa-free access to many countries.
They still care about family and friends in the U.S. and visit them. They still accept their Social Security pension payment every month. Many keep Medicare insurance; in case they need to return to live in a care facility or with family because of old age or illness. Thus, they, as all of us, will be affected by U.S. policies in the years to come.
Costa Rica is our adopted home. Here we strive to contribute to society. Here we shop, travel, have friends, belong to organizations, and enjoy our lives. That does not relieve us of the right and the responsibility to VOTE AND HAVE OUR VOICE COUNTED because what happens in the United States affects us all.
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The viewpoint presented in the article belongs to the author, Barbara Steenstrup, and not that of Qcostarica.com or TheQmedia.com. Sharing the contents of this message with others is recommended and permissible.
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