Why, in America, Don't People Travel Even Outside of Their State?
January 19, 2018
Alex Henderson, Periodista and Technical Writer
How much Americans do or don’t travel, either domestically or internationally, can have a lot to do with their finances. The full-fledged assault on the U.S. working class by Republicans, and many neoliberal Democrats as well, has resulted in millions of Americans being in such bad shape financially that they don’t even have enough in their savings to cover a $400 emergency expense. A 500-mile trip within the U.S. or a journey to Europe, South America or Australia is cost-prohibitive.
That said, those with the means to travel should do it. 64% of Americans don’t even own passports, and most Americans don’t speak any language other than English. Result: the U.S. is full of people who are ignorant about life in Sweden, Italy, Switzerland or France but have very strong (and uninformed) opinions about places they will never visit and have no desire to visit. This works out well for the bankster corporatist ruling class because keeping people ignorant, uneducated, poor and unhealthy is an excellent control mechanism.
An interesting phenomenon I’ve seen in my part of the U.S. (the Northeastern Corridor) is Americans who have traveled extensively in Europe or Latin America but seldom travel really long distances within the U.S. Their view is that for what it costs to costs for a Philadelphia or Boston resident to spend a week in Seattle, San Francisco or Minneapolis, they are better off saving their money for a trip to Paris or Rome.
There are others who have the means to travel but have never left the U.S. because they lack intellectual curiosity. And typically, those are the indoctrinated “American exceptionalists” who love to insult countries they will never visit. But having actually visited Paris and seen the French health care system first hand, the last thing I need is a lecture from Sarah Palin on how awful she thinks French health care is (in fact, the French health system is far superior to the hellish nightmare that is health care in ‘Murica……which is why the French are living longer).
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