Quote:
Originally Posted by Mean Mr. Mustard
Why should citizenship be a birthright that you keep with you for all eternity? If you don't contribute to a nation and you only keep the passport as a get out of jail free card (literally in some peoples cases), I have a problem with that, the biggest reason being that it costs the taxpayers money. It isn't a race issue because I think that Brenda Martin falls into the same boat as those who were escaping from Lebanon only to return as soon as fighting ceased.
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Let me make sure you understood me: I'm talking about my Swiss passport. My mom is Swiss, and hence I am Swiss by birth. I'm saying that I have no 'need' for a Canadian passport because it offers me zero, ZERO benefits that the Swiss one doesn't. So the usual 'Canadian of Convenience' schtick doesn't work with me, because I'm only in Canada because
a) my parents decided they liked it better than the other place they could've settled in
b) now that I am an adult, quite simply because I like Canada the most of any place I've lived, identify with it the most, and feel I can be a productive member of this society, where I would feel alien in Zurich or Berne, and certainly alien in Arab countries where I can barely formulate a sentence in the language
I'm not here because of any material benefit Canada offers me, I'm here because I want to be. All benefits Canada offers that other parts of the world don't are intangible and immaterial. How many white Canadians cant wait to retire somewhere hot and sunny? You know where I'd like to retire? A cabin in a tiny town somewhere, on a river or on the ocean. In Canada. Yet somehow, I'm the citizen of convenience.
as for why I keep my Swiss passport, I have contemplated giving it up, but I don't see why I necessarily should. I don't feel I'm exploiting it by using up all its benefits and giving nothing back in return. If I want to go to Europe and use my Swiss passport to get around perhaps more easily, I will be pumping plenty of cash into the local economies. And that is the ONLY use for a Swiss passport, aside from simply having one, that I have. I fail to foresee
any scenario that would entail my using my Swiss passport as a get out of jail free card. Furthermore, as traitorous as many might deem it, I do plan on doing my year's service in the Swiss military, even though I don't have to because I live abroad. I feel I'm entirely justified in keeping my Swiss passport, as nothing more than a birth right. It's just not the same as someone immigrating to Canada, getting the citizenship, then leaving.