Dear Kampigne,
I love the DR, and I'm not going anywhere. I do however understand your frustration, especially if you live in Santo Domingo. There are two key thing that bother me about this city. But these things exist a lot less depending on what social class and what city you reisde:
1. The lack of 'collectivism'. People don't think of 'us', they think of just 'me'. This is what causes corruption, the lack of a functioning 911 system, and the inability of ambulances to be effective, and the constant cycle of police impunity. I suggested to my vecinos - let's all take an afternoon and some shovels and fix the potholes on our road, nobody showed up
. no mi faulta everyone says... grrr.
2. the fact that several times i've seen people fighting after a car accident, and they're not fighting to clear the way for the ambulance - but fighting to steal stuff from the car of the victims. so sad
But don't let these negative things weigh you down. there are negatives all over the world, and on balance, DR positives outweight the negatives - especially if you have a bit of cash!