A reader:

“Mr. Derbyshire—Your reader’s point about one advantage of becoming a citizen being that you can leave the country is a good one. It is, in fact, one of the primary reasons I have applied for my wife as we intend to retire to [name of easygoing 3rd-world country with balmy climate]. (At least I’m gaining the experience nowadays of living in a non-English speaking country).

“This makes for an interesting situation when you think about it , don’t you think? I mean Americans swapping homelands with the immigrants. Makes me glad they put all that social security money in the lockboxes for us because I suspect all the new Americans won’t be as happy about sending money back to the homeland as they are now.”