Raskal mentions a new PR campaign urging foreigners in Germany to apply for citizenship. Although I can respect one’s decision to become a citizen of the country in which they live and work, I won’t be doing it anytime soon, or ever. I got too much pride in the the old Red, White and Blue to go and do something like that. Yeah, she’s all fucked up right now, but she’ll pull through. Well, maybe.
If I were to have children and raise them in Germany, and they decided at the age of eighteen to give up their US citizenship, I’m not saying it would break my heart, but I might have to drink that one off. If I understand correctly, children that have dual-citizenship because of one of their parent’s country of origin, will only be forced to give up their non-German citizenship, if they join the German military or get a job in the German government. The reason is because they are required to swear allegiance to Germany. There may some details there that need to be corrected but after my discussions with other expats with kids, that is the gist of it.
But my main reason for planning on always keeping my US citizenship, is that when the petroleum-based economy and all of its infrastructure comes crashing down, I don’t want to wait in the longer non-citizen line on my way to my tricked-out Atlas missile silo/bunker where I will await the coming of the post-nuclear Mad-Max society.
That, and being foreign is exotic. Oooooh.