Tuscany seems reasonable. My musician friend splits her time between L.A. and Rome, and she has friends there. IIRC, there’s a U.S. military base nearby, and my wife is a vet. The proximity to archaeological sites is attractive to my wife (and me, to a lesser extent), and the proximity to other EU nations is attractive to me (and to my wife, to a lesser extent). Realistically, we’re four miles from Canada; and I understand that BC has relaxed their requirements for RNs so my wife could work. I work remotely all but one day a month, and Canada has Internet. If we had to ‘bug out’, Surrey looks attractive. But Italy would be cool; both from an experiential aspect, and as a political statement.
ETA: @eschereal a couple posts ago …
The Feds will be useless and will allow / encourage red-state Amerika to devolve to horrid theocratic racist backwards hellholes.
Federalism, so beloved of the Right, may be the savior of the blue states if they’re brave enough to live the courage of their convictions.
It’s probably the only avenue to preserve civilization within (some of) the 50 states.
Yep. Looking at Oaxaca City or somewhere in Baja California as alternatives. Mostly for cost of living and ease of visiting family back in the US. San Miguel de Allende might be okay but I have the impression it is getting more expensive.
Portugal would be my preference but it would be more expensive going back and forth.
Ref the other recent posts …
IMO anywhere Americans resettle in quantity will rapidly converge to USA-equivalent cost of living. It’s happening now everywhere I’ve visited.
Don’t look at other countries as a way to live cheaply; that window is rapidly slamming shut. Look at it as a way to live in freedom, not under a corrupt authoritarian autocracy. Priceless.
TBH, I think emigrating from America would be worse than useless. If America gets that bad, then there is not a place in the world that will not feel it. You will not be safe anywhere, particularly as the US inevitably flexes its muscles abroad and promotes far right candidates in the sort of countries you’d like to flee to.
Here is where I will make my stand.
All he or his successor would need to do to justify war is scream “Liberals! Satanic gay pedophile traitors! Kill the men, kill the children, rape the women! Show them their place!”
There are all manner of middle income countries with middling levels of freedom. Examples include Mexico, Peru, India, Indonesia, and Albania. It would be distressing to lose our 240 year experiment with democracy, but not the end of the world. To be sure for those with disposable income, keeping an up to date US passport is only prudent.
How does one acquire hip-pocket authorization? Visas typically apply for only a fixed period of time, right? Maybe this belongs in its own thread. I’m not sure how to frame it though.
ETA: Investopedia has a Nov 2024 article on Golden Visas. Golden Visa Countries: Everything You Need to Know.
If such a thing happens, then I’d say we need a Dopefest in the Lower Mainland. Hell, I’d be willing to drive there from southern Alberta.
Italy is under a fascistic government already, run by a transphobic hater. I could get birthright citizenship there… but I won’t go there the way it is now.
There are no houses in Tuscany, but I know a guy that can help you out.
We already have multiple threads on people emigrating, where to go, and how to get authorization to live there. No need for another.
I laugh at “go to the moon in this da CADE”. I never knew there was an alternate pronunciation.
Italy, aide from the aforementioned being fascist, has a worse justice system than 2025 America.
That’s how brainworms say it.
Tuscany is probably the most expensive Italian province, all things considered. Not that you can’t get a reasonable property there, but other provinces are much more reasonable. If you really want a bargain, look to southern Italy, like Calabria or Puglia.
Isn’t Venice begging for people to move there given its young people moving away?
Venice is already half underwater. When trump gets through destroying the climate, it could be fully underwater.
I am not aware of any begging and there certainly is not a crash in housing costs due to people leaving. According to this article, Venice is one of the three most expensive cities in Italy, which tracks with what I’ve heard elsewhere.
Venice is a dead city; locals have been displaced by tourist services. Which is ok by me, but no they are not begging for people.
Well, as a counter you need to remember that Republicans (who also gerrymandered things and disregarded democracy too back then) in the 1930s still thought that prohibition, tariffs, and how ineffective they were fighting the Depression, were a great thing.
It was hubris of Napoleonic proportions and it led to the landslide victory of FDR.
Even more to the point made above, Hoover… despite having the Great Depression start just 6 months after he was sworn in, despite having 3.5 years of failed policies which only exacerbated the situation, despite sending in the military to break up homeless camps comprised of veterans and their families… despite all of this, in 1932 still received almost 74% of his 1928 vote totals even though he had amply demonstrated his unfitness to lead the country out of the GD.