Why am I not an American citizen?
WHERE IS THAT: By Anni Moore
IV Leader Columnist, Dec. 9, 2004
In the past months, I have been asked the same question over and over again: why are you not a citizen? I know people are usually not looking for a detailed explanation, so my “one size fits all” answer is: because I do not want to be harassed at the European airports.
Well, it is not quite the truth, although it would be rather unpleasant to stand in “the other line” at the passport control and watch the EU citizens just zip through while the outsiders must wait five minutes each.
But the roots of my decision lay much deeper. At first, it was the fear of going through the scrutinizing interviews at the Immigration and Naturalization Service office where I had spent hours in a tiny, unventilated room with about 50 others waiting to be called in. Now it has become the fear of losing the benefits I took for granted in Estonia but am lacking here.
In Estonia, everyone has health insurance from the government. Health care, including dental care, is free for children up to 19 years. After that, people have to pay for their own dental care, but anything else comes out of the income tax. True, everyone pays 26 percent in income tax, but this guarantees health care for both full- and part-time workers, students, officially unemployed, handicapped and retired people, and parents of children up to 3 years of age.
There is also a contract between several EU countries that allows the patients to receive health care in those countries at no additional cost.
I have been without health care for most of the seven years I have lived in America. None of my employers have been able to offer it, or it would be at an outrageous price far out of my reach.
I pray that if I do get sick, it would either go away by itself or wait until I get to go home to Estonia to visit my family doctor. Yet there are 45 million citizens in this country who do not have this option.
For every child, parents in Estonia get monetary support from the state. This continues until the child turns 19. There are also other benefits for parents. For the baby’s first year, hospitals are encouraging parent-child swimming time in the hospital pool — for free. Parents with a child under 3 ride free in the public transport.
Maternity leave lasts for a year when the mother (or father) is paid 75 percent of his/her median salary from the past six months; she can stay home with her child for three years without losing her job. And the schools are funded equally by the government, not from property taxes.
It’s a poor country, but it is at least trying to create an environment where a young person’s future is not directly tied to his or her parents’ bank account or the lack of it. Contrary to the popular saying, we are not born equal.
Although class system allows upward movement, forcing children into this struggle (or lack of possibilities) at an early age brings with it too much bitterness later, resulting in a sick society where broken illusions and hatred toward other classes are way too common.
I am not criticizing Americans or the country where I live. I like it, and I have met the most wonderful people here whom I dearly love. In fact, nowhere else in the world have I met people who are so open and friendly.
However, “something is rotten in the state of Denmark” if ordinary people cannot afford health care and many depend on food pantries and thrift stores.
This is one of the richest and most developed nations in the world. Yet there is a large number of people who cannot afford the basics for decent life.
I am not a citizen because I’m afraid to give up those basic benefits that I have in Estonia. I don’t want to end up in the sad statistics, or be crushed by the system that doesn’t care even for its own citizens, not to mention a foreigner. Am I a coward? Maybe, but I do like to live — healthy and happy — just like everyone else.
For the end, there is a food for thought: if all the wealth in the world was distributed equally, everyone would live like middle class in Hungary. Although it means a step down for many Americans, this would clearly be a step upwards for many, not to mention the billions of people in the Third World or developing countries.
But now, even at birth, some are much more equal than others.