An American in Portugal

For Americans living in Portugal, we watched the Portuguese celebrate their 50th year of "Dia da Liberdade" or Freedom Day on April 25th this year, marking the country’s leap from dictatorship to democracy in 1974.

The watershed event was observed with parades, concerts, and speeches highlighting the importance of democracy and freedom in Portuguese society.

50 years! 50 years of democracy is a glowing achievement! But America’s birthday – celebrating 248 years of our break from British rule under King George III's reign, makes us look like the elder statesman among democracies. “Hey Portugal, our good friend,” America might say fondly, “you keep it up – we’ll show you the way!"

But is our American democracy a model today for what to do or what not to do? Often referred to as “The Great Experiment”, the U.S. is hurdling toward a 2024 presidential election fraught with uncertainty as a highly contentious primary season and an unpredictable general election makes the outcome anyone's guess at this time. Candidates from both major parties face unprecedented scrutiny and skepticism from the public, and the media landscape is saturated with conflicting narratives and misinformation. The real test will be whether the American people will accept the outcome of the election in November no matter which side prevails.

Will "The Great Experiment” survive?

With this on my mind, I had no idea what to expect strolling into a July 4th gathering in the Algarve – in Lagos. There were about 130 people, the majority were Americans sprinkled with a few others – mostly Brits (who like to hang around with us). I wondered, would people be sitting at “red" tables and “blue” tables? Would voices be raised? Would the gathering be overshadowed by a sense of tension? Fisticuffs?

Organizer of the event, American immigrant and Lagos resident, Paul Hasenfus, intended that not to happen. "I wasn't thinking there would be any kind of political conflict between anybody. I was just thinking about putting together a barbecue for a group of people… Americans and others to celebrate the birth of our country.”

Paul, a friendly and thoughtful man, did take the precaution of not creating a seating chart. He learned his lesson in 2019, he says, when he prepared one for the popular annual Thanksgiving event he organizes. He wanted to make sure that everybody got to sit with the person they came with. It was then that he realized he did not want to be a referee. “I had people say 'I’ll sit anywhere as long as it’s not with Trump supporters or I’ll sit anywhere as long as they are Trump supporters.’”

He decided to wash his hands of that thankless task with his new reset: "work it out yourself from now on!”.

And they did. Who knows what conversations transpired amidst the numerous round tables of eight. But I did walk around to take the temperature by asking a few people what this July 4th meant to them – given everything that’s going on in our homeland across the pond.

Party guests were on their best behavior, keeping any political comments very low key. Maybe it had something to do with it being a cash bar – not free-flowing alcohol.

Or maybe as immigrants, we’re just hungry for socializing with our kind. Paul said he was expecting about 60 people to attend at most. He was floored when more than twice that number showed up. Nonetheless, there was an air of politeness in the room and even the more edgy comments were mostly diplomatic.

Bob and Tina Dameron spoke frankly of their new life since they followed their grown kids to Portugal in 2021. “I don’t miss the hassles and the polarization that happened in the last 10 years [in the U.S.] and it just seems to keep getting worse,” Tina said with Bob nodding. “I don’t understand half of my country. That’s how I feel – I don’t get it. I just don’t relate to it and I think in Europe and being a European is much easier for me to understand their way of life and values.”

Susie Barrett, a nurse, who’s in the midst of trying to figure out her next steps in moving here full time, is also grateful for being out of the fray. “I’m gonna be polite and say that I’m very glad I’m in Europe. I think things are very challenging right now in the United States … turning over Roe versus Wade, the Supreme Court deciding that the president has immunity when he is performing official acts. I don’t even know where to start. It’s just frightening to me.”

Judy Schmidlapp, an immigrant from South Carolina, asserted, “I think it’s the most important Fourth of July we’ve ever had – for our independence and our democratic state. I think we should all be singing our anthem and go back to being a real true democracy. We have to fight for it.”

Rob Trevena, here for 5-and-a-half years and sporting Uncle Sam garb, shared his sentiment, which appeared to be a theme in the crowd, "Thank God I’m in Portugal. The U.S. is a bit crazy – now too crazy for me! But I’m still proud to be an American.”

So, in the end as the event concluded, I witnessed no ill feelings, no arguments, no name calling.

Paul, the organizer, says he was aware of only one incident that smacked directly of politics that was reported to him. “When the band started,” the person told him, “they played the national anthem and some people didn’t stand up. I wish they would have”.

Becca Williams lives in Lagos, a seaside town on Portugal’s southern coast. Contact her at AlgarveBecca@gmail.com. 

Becca Williams