Ever since the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, I have found it increasingly curious to understand why the Make America Great Again (MAGA) crowd, who largely condone the skirmish at the U.S. Capitol, accuses those on the left of being anti-American. Politically, I would label myself as a Progressive Democrat, and although I voted for Hilary Clinton in 2016, I was fervently hoping that she would choose Bernie Sanders as her running mate! Additionally, as the descendant of a combination of Native Americans, enslaved people from the African continent and Irish immigrants I am (I believe, justifiably) critical of some of the darker moments in American history. However, I never thought that this meant that I hated America.

Since the 2024 election, I can’t seem to break the habit of tumbling repeatedly down the TikTok/YouTube rabbit hole, trying to make sense of what is happening to our country. Unfortunately, despite (or perhaps, because of) following everything from independent political content creators like Occupy Democrats (@occupydemocratsyoutube) and Heather Cox Richardson (@heathercoxrichardson) to more “New Age” creators such as oracle Gia Prism (@giaprism) and Trevor (@scryingoutloud), my attempts to convince  myself that “everything is going to be ok – eventually” have been mostly unsuccessful. On the contrary, I feel more and more like Alice, the hapless heroine from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass books.

Unable to find satisfactory answers through the current political commentary, I thought, perhaps that the answer might lie in our nation’s past. I recalled John Kerry’s 2004 presidential bid against George W. Bush and how Europeans had much preferred Kerry to the impetuous Texan known as “Dubyah” (Harding, 2004). So, I decided to ask my newest best friend, ChatGPT, its opinion of the differences between European and American culture and whether those differences had any bearing on why Europe was so dismayed as to why the U.S. re-elected Bush instead of choosing Kerry. This is what I found.

Individualism vs. Collectivism

While American culture places high value upon rugged individualism, personal achievement, and self-reliance, Europeans prioritize community welfare and collective responsibility. Many European Union (EU) countries have significant social safety nets (including universal healthcare systems), are more welcoming to immigrants, and in 2004 many still had mandatory national service programs in place. Kerry’s opposition to privatizing Social Security, providing programs to offer undocumented immigrants a legal path to citizenship, more funding for education and science, adding a community service requirement for high school graduation and increased funding for the Peace Corps and ROTC scholarships fit with the European collectivist view.

Communication Styles and  Social Interactions

According to ChatGPT, Europeans communicate in a way that is more indirect, subtle, and nuanced as opposed to the direct, assertive, and often brash way in which many Americans communicate. They also tend to be more reserved in interactions, valuing privacy and deeper relationships over meaningless small talk. Kerry’s communication and social style fit with the European model while many Americans criticized him as being aloof and even snobbish.

Unexpected Realization

ChatGPT also revealed other factors about European culture, which, while not directly related to my original question about John Kerry, revealed why my own value system, and I strongly suspect, those of others on the left, rendering us as completely alien to the views of MAGA conservatives.

• I believe that we are stronger when everyone does well. Gains by one group doesn’t mean that other groups lose. Whether it is in regard to universal healthcare, establishing a higher minimum wage, providing free college, free childcare, and social safety net programs to eliminate homelessness and food insecurity, or establishing either paths to citizenship or special “guest worker” visas for immigrants, taking care of those at the bottom don’t mean that I get a smaller piece of the pie. When everyone is adequately housed, clothed, fed, educated and in good health, together we can bake a bigger pie which all can share.

• Sharing the minutiae of our lives with strangers doesn’t bring us closer. As an introvert I remember receiving criticism, often cloaked as “career counseling” regarding my quietness, which was regarded with something akin to suspicion among my colleagues and superiors in the corporate world. However, I never took this “feedback” to heart. Feeling that “less is more” or that “depth over breadth” is preferable in human interaction doesn’t make a person unfriendly or aloof, it simply means that to some of us, deep connections require a lot of effort and we want to reserve that hard work for the relationships that mean the most to us.

• Working longer hours with fewer days off doesn’t necessarily mean that the quality of work is higher. Long before “Facetime” became a popular video call app, my corporate mentors stressed the importance of having “face time” with the bosses in order to demonstrate my commitment to my work and the company. Since leaving the corporate world, however, I’ve noticed that when I am well-rested, not engaged in mindless small talk, or arriving early and staying late just so that a boss can be convinced that I am “really working,” my curiosity and creativity have reached higher levels than ever before and the happiness that a flexible schedule brings me in my personal life results in more pleasant and productive interactions with the clients I now work with on a freelance basis.

• Consumerism is a Scam. I have long understood that I don’t fit the stereotype of women who love to shop. I can think of nothing more unappealing than tramping around a mall with an armload of shopping bags. I have also realized that women’s clothing often seems to be of a lesser quality than men’s and I’ve often wondered if that is a ploy used by retailers to feed into the idea that since women supposedly shop more, their clothing doesn’t need to last as long. I also don’t run out and get the newest phone or electronic device (it’s 2025 and I’m still using my Android 12 from 2021!) Additionally, with the current boycotts of Target and Wal-Mart because of their discontinuation of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives I have had no trouble in avoiding these retailers and have actually discovered some fantastic black-owned and female-owned small businesses online to support.

So, my ultimate discovery has been that, while I don’t hate America, it is pretty obvious that I probably don’t belong here. My values and those of the MAGA and conservative political factions in the U.S. clearly do not align. With parents who came of age during the Civil Rights era of the 1960s in the past my inclination would have been to stay and seek to change this society from within. Sadly, I think the divisions now are so deep, I don’t know if that is even possible.

What does the future hold for me and others like me? Well, I recently received a residency visa to Mexico and will relocate to Mazatlán this fall. Trying to fight against a culture that is so much at odds with my values is exhausting. However, I realize that I am in a privileged position as I am able to afford to make this type of move, but I worry about my kindred spirits who don’t have the resources to leave. Even ChatGPT seems stumped on this one – the rather wimpy advice to “avoid the media and practice mindfulness and self-care” doesn’t sound like a long-term strategy.

Personally, I think my relationship with the United States is similar to that which exists between bickering spouses or parents and their teenagers, “Even though I love them, I just don’t like them right now.” Perhaps, things will improve with time, but right now, I think it’s best to give one another some space.

References

Harding, G. (2004, October 22). Analysis: Why Europe Would Vote Kerry. United Press International. Retrieved June 6, 2025, from https://www.upi.com/Archives/2004/10/22/Analysis-Why-Europe-would-vote-Kerry/6201098417600/