I have lived happily in the US my entire 64 years. I love my country and all it stands for… or I should say stood for, but now it seems the lunatics are running the asylum.
For all of you that love Trump, and what he and his cronies are doing to this great nation of ours, I hope you are happy, but the rest of us now face a decision. Stick around and hope we can reverse what is happening, or seek out greener pastures? I have been fortunate to have traveled around the world and seen countries that, while not perfect, at least care about people outside of their borders. I’m not wealthy, but I have the resources necessary to go somewhere else if I want to.
I’m still a year away from retiring, so at that point I can decide to leave if I choose to, and if things continue on their current path I see no reason to stick around and see how it all plays out. Maybe things will change and we can back to who we were prior to the 2016 election, but I don’t think that’s likely to occur. I’m not a bigoted, anti-semitic, xenophobe, so how can I sit back and ignore what is happening?
It feels cowardly to think about leaving, but why stay someplace that you no longer believe in. Is anybody else having these feelings or is it just me?
I feel the same way. If this continues past the midterms, I think America will be finished or well on the way.
I could move to Ireland or the EU - my wife has dual citizenship and I could get that too, but…
I have a house that I love and would HATE to give up.
I won’t leave, but not because I love the country. I never had school spirit; never understood it. Feel the same way about country spirit. That said I’m sure less comfortable about being here than I used to be, what with how evil, bigotry, and crime are becoming accepted and normalized.
However, my family’s here; parents, siblings, nieces/nephews. And my job’s here too (I’m a couple decades from retirement). I’m tied down.
Not so easy. They have universal healthcare, so they don’t want old people retiring there. It’s pretty easy for young working-age people to immigrate, especially if you work in tech.
There are a bunch of countries that will give you permanent residency if you have enough money, but I’m not sure there are any English-speaking countries that’s it’s easy for an American to retire to.
After the last election, my wife and I half-seriously looked into moving to Canada. As best I could tell, they were looking for young, skilled workers and/or professionals.
One thing to keep in mind before leaving the U.S. is that right-wing extremists seem to be ascendant all over the world lately. An alternative you might consider instead is moving to a U.S. blue state.
I live in a Blue area of the map, so insulated from a lot of the crazy shit going on in other areas (voter suppression hijinx, right-to-life stuff, open carry, science denial, etc.). I feel like I can weather this presidency, as bad as it is. If things start going badly in my state and affect me personally, then there may be a run for the border. If I lived in a Red area, my view may be different. Maybe you should consider moving to one of the coasts before throwing in the towel altogether?
I remember during the Obama years, the mewling pussies of the right lamenting how the country was going to hell, threatening to leave; but they survived, and so will we. There is a cancer going on right now, but the nation is resilient. It will take more than what currently ails us to make me leave.
It’s not just you. I keep advising friends to make plans to get out. I understand why people are reluctant (leaving property, friends, and family; feeling defeatist). I left, and while it was hard, I am glad that I did. I was lucky enough to have another citizenship already, and I left before I was pushed, but I don’t see things turning around anytime soon. I hope I am wrong.
What’s upsetting you most? Record GDP growth? North Korea scaling back their nuclear saber rattling? lowest unemployment in half a century? reduced taxes and increased tax revenue? acknowledging Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and putting our embassy there? Renegotiating NAFTA? Cancelling the mail agreement with China that was made back in the 60’s to help them economically? Screening people more thoroughly from hostile countries? Talking Germany into building dock facilities for liquefied natural gas as a hedge against Russian energy influence that’s plagued countries like Poland?
The changes in the last 2 years have been substantial in a positive way despite an unrelenting demonization of Trump. If this bothers you then it makes sense for you to leave. The real world awaits you and a sincere “all the best”.
Oh, the Trump supporters certainly don’t want to leave. I’m actually pretty sure they (/you?) want to drive out or kill everyone else and establish a conservative utopia. (Putting aside that I’m not sure there’s a real consensus about what that would entail. Open racism? Open sexism? Open bigotry? Who knows!)
Fortunately for me, I’m white and straight and male, so there’s only two reasons I should fear for my life and security (liberal; atheist). I think I can probably weather this.
The real question is whether I should want to. Housing prices are going up, medical costs are going up, at some point they might come for liberal atheist me…
Meh. This is where my stuff is; I’ll sit in the boiling water for a while longer.
In an odd way, conservatives in blue states and liberals in red states can be more diehard than when on their own home turf. I saw surprisingly vigorous support for Trump in Massachusetts in 2016, but in many months of living in Texas still can’t recall seeing a Trump bumper sticker or yard sign here.
