You can be an ex-pat without renouncing, although I read an interesting article last week (Fortune magazine or The Economist maybe?) about ex-pats who were renouncing because they were tired of paying US income taxes even though they haven't lived here or had a business here or anything in like 20 years. heheh.
Dude, there are parts of Asia where several buildings are all Americans who dissolved their citizenship because they got tired of some sort of bullshit. Their stories are all amazing. I actually thought a collection of their stories would be a great youtube series or book or some shit. Too bad there isn't enough money to be made off it to make it worthwhile.
meh... and I sit here contemplating getting my Citizenship just for expanded job ops. But I don't want to do that until I get my kids a British/EU Passport, and make sure their dual nationality is all setup. I know I can retain both, but I don't need/want to complicate matters.
My wife keeps mentioning moving to France (I think jokingly mostly...) since seeing that Michael Moore docu Sicko. She likes the idea of all the state run programs and stuff out there. I don't feel the same way about Socialized programs like that, but honestly, if I have my family and a job, I don't care where I am... as an EU passport holder, I can live in a lot of places, and I assume I could take the family with me.