With such a close election cycle this year the votes of the approximately 5.5 million Americans living abroad will be vitally important, particularly in swing states. While both parties are trying to court these voters to some degree, there have been attempts to block many overseas votes in recent months. Thanks to a landmark law passed in 1986, The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, Americans living abroad have a right to vote. Usually, military personnel are given a positive response for vote counting but all those other American civilians who live abroad are viewed with some degree of contempt by small-town America. Perhaps they don’t realize that America is among the few countries which requires its citizens to pay taxes on much of their income abroad, regardless of local taxation in their country of residence. This double taxation has become an election campaign issue as well. Furthermore, if we consider the full planetary vision of what role America has played in the world, the role of these citizens living abroad becomes more worthy of our appreciation.
The bestselling author Robert Kaplan published a book some years ago titled The Good American, which is an unusual biography of a relatively unknown citizen and development professional who spent much of his career abroad. Kaplan’s subject, Bob Gersony, worked on a range of humanitarian, environmental and livelihood projects in war-torn lands that helped to promote “sustainable development” in every sense of the term. His work as a consultant for USAID followed a venerable tradition of US overseas public service that is also emblematic of the U.S. Peace Corps and numerous American nonprofit organizations as well.
I had a chance to interview Bob Kaplan for a webinar for the Foreign Policy Research Institute and was reminded of one of my late high school teachers in Lahore, Pakistan. Contrary to what you may expect, this teacher was not a Pakistani male but rather an American female who dedicated her career to educating young Pakistani men in an all-male school — Aitchison College for over three decades. Ms. Dorothy Eha hailed from Littleton Colorado but spent over four decades of her life in Pakistan where she lived in humble environs with a Pakistani family.
Even with the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the country Ms. Eha maintained her commitment to education and was not daunted by any changes in politics. She focused on her profession with dedication and her Pakistani students across the political spectrum embraced her with utmost affection. Uncommon as it was in Lahore for a woman to ride around on a motorcycle, she was able to do so without much care of harassment. Even the most conservative students saw her sincerity and it transformed their hearts and minds to respect her for who she was.
Ms. Eha’s life story is not unique but emblematic of the true pioneering spirit of Americans that made us the envy of the world. There are literally thousands of other Americans worldwide who have dedicated their lives in similar ways to causes that are more consequential than parochial nationalism. These noble souls know that America’s strength has always come from the ability of its citizens to reach out to the world with charitable conviction, but also with humility. These are the planetary citizen diplomats that have helped to cultivate America’s positive image despite many of our government’s well-intentioned but misplaced interventions all over the world. Yet their story reveals not just the humanity which Americans are capable of exhibiting but also the capacity for ordinary people all over the world to recognize positive engagement, even when it may come from the citizen of a country they might not regard as a friend. Thus, the toxic talk of thanklessness for American favors that seems to get traction on political diatribes should be set aside.
No doubt the actions of our government can impact the vulnerability of Americans abroad but if we could find better ways of highlighting the success stories of citizens like Ms. Eha to the world, and indeed at home, perhaps we would have a less polarized world. Yet the tone of even how we communicate such stories of compassion is important. They should not be undertaken with brash condescension but rather with a spirit of shared concern and compassion. Since America was not a primary colonizing country, it has been able to hold more sway in the developing world in comparison with several European colonial powers, most notably France, the UK and Spain. In this way America is similar in its reputation to Ireland, Norway and Finland. We should not squander this historical capital by showing contemporary hubris in our military posture nor our political rhetoric.
The United States hosts the United Nations headquarters which is perhaps the most palpable example of the country’s leadership in global peacebuilding. Even diplomats of Iran and North Korea, two of America’s most inveterate foes, can reside in New York city as a result of this unique host status of our country. Despite the current debates on immigration and the caustic conversations on Capitol Hill and the White House, we are a country that has learned from many of our mistakes and reconfigured our identity. Let us focus on the wonders of America’s positive global role that is most clearly enshrined in the work of ordinary Americans abroad such as Bob Gersony and Dorothy Eha. So, for those resident Americans who are being told by politicians to question the authenticity of their compatriots living abroad, I hope this story will resonate with respect for their valued votes and lives.
