>> if he moved back to Brazil one might have >> even called him a patriot that returned. > > Maybe. Maybe he'll re-apply for Brazillian citizenship, and then we'll find > out. I could become quite the soap opera!
He does have a brazilian passport - you can't be a citizen of no-country, so when you renounce one you have to have another citizenship. See, he didn't choose to take up a Sing passport, so the tax purpose may not altoghether be false. >> > Well, I think you've put your finger on where some of the anti-Saverin > outrage is coming from. I expect that the logic goes something like this: > "Mr. Saverin made his fortune in America, and that was only possible because > of the American system -- its laws, its infrastructure, its culture. But > those laws, infrastructure and culture did not come cheap. They were > purchased by the proverbial blood of patriots, from Lexington and Concord to > Gettysburg and Omaha Beach. To regard the privilege of US citizenship as a > merely mercantile arrangement is to disdain something precious that he got > for free; it's an insult to every American who has served his or her > country." I confess that I see some validity to that point of view, although > I'm not outraged myself. But I'm a silly little naif who suffered dysentery, > worms, homesickness and a knife assault while serving my country as a Peace > Corps Volunteer, with that old John F. Kennedy soundbite ringing in my ears > "ask not what your country can do for you, ask etc." Yes, I know how > sentimental that makes me sound, especially on this list. > > Mr. Saverin is evidently somebody who asks what his country can do for him, > not the other way around; citizenship is fungible. Well, hooray for him. I > know some people who feel the same way about marriage; hooray for them too. > Myself, I'm a sentimentalist about my marriage, but I don't think I'm > superior to anybody on account of it. I don't pass judgement on people who > marry, for example, for money. But neither do I particularly care if they get > taken to the cleaners when the divorce happens. > In this case, you only care that he isn't getting taken to the cleaners? :) Just yanking your chain, sorry The patriotism argument works in every nation - the IITian that used my father's taxes to go contribute his life's taxes abroad (and I am no less, I studied in a govt funded college, but I have the tiny excuse that I stayed willingly). Or those that made their fortunes in India and became NRIs. And so on. There's the ungrateful wretch in each of us - to our parents, to our society, to our country, and in some sad cases, to their spouses and children. I don't ever intend to ditch my citizenship - it's a weird loyalty I have to a nation that despite its failings, its ridiculous laws, its insensitivity...holds me dear. I adore my wife and kids. But that doesn't mean I offer others no choices when their situation is different. Having said that I would love to have 2.8 billion dollars and no chances of a US visa :)
