I'm a bit of a special case--I'm an American military brat. I was born in the US but lived overseas before I could form a memory until I was a teenager.

I, too, had dreams of America being a beacon of progress and freedom. It was my nominal homeland but one I'd never experienced. I was proud of it and loved that other nations looked up to us.

But now that dream is dead. We're perfecting the surveillance state I was told would be impossible.

Now I look at Europe, and while I disagree with a great deal of its economic policies, I wonder if the grass just might be greener on the other side.