A handful of well-known Hollywood leftists (Barbara Streisand and Billy(?) Baldwin) have announced their intentions to leave the country should Bush get elected. Good riddance, I say. But that’s another thread.
So, where should I go if Gore gets elected? (DISCLAIMER: I’m not really going to move. This is just for discussion. I love my country too much to leave because of morally and intellectually deficient leadership.) I’m looking for a country with a level of freedom and prosperity that equals that of America. A reasonably conservative government would be helpful. I would also prefer a place where English is the official language, but I suppose I could learn another tongue in a pinch. Oh, and they have to be friendly to immigrants/resident aliens.
Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:
Japan is out. Although they have many of the same freedoms we Americans have (at least on paper they do), their culture is a bit oppressive, what with their obsessions with conformity and all. And I couldn’t deal with living in such cramped quarters.
Cayman Islands would be a tropical paradise, and I’ve always wanted to live in a tropical paradise. But job opportunities are probably slim apart from banking and the hotel/tourism industry.
Australia No dice. From what I’ve heard, they are very squeamish about letting anyone except tourists onto their shores. And then there’s double-digit unemployment and unacceptable (from my standpoint) gun laws.
Canada Too freaking cold.
The UK Very beautiful, very friendly, and very historically-rich nation. But high unemployment, high cost of living, and a very left-leaning government scare me off.
I guess that leaves Switzerland, but I don’t think they’d have me.
Well, between the requirements for both conservative government and welcoming to foreigners, I believe you’ve eliminated most of Europe, though you might give the Benelux’s a look. It’s been a long time since I looked into it, but I’ve heard good things about Eritrea (no, really), and Kenya has some very good points to go with its bad ones. If you’re a Jew, there’s always Isreal, but, uh, well… Back to Europe, the Czech Republic has a lot of opportunities, and a decent expatriate (sp?) community, though many of them are people looking to be Bohemian at the source
Double-digit unemployment? No. It did hit 10% in the early 1990s but has been falling albeit slowly since. IIRC it’s mid-sixes now. Given differences in prison populations it is probably not that different from yours. The job market is pretty buoyant and has been for professionals for more than half a decade. Colleagues of mine who are US citizens love it here, have no problem finding a job and find that lower wages are more than compensated for by cost-of-living and lifestyle considerations.
There is significant immigration. It is by no means impossible to come here permanently, although it is not easy. IIRC we have a little under 100 000 a year, which given a population of under 20 million is a fair few.
Gun laws. Hmm. A couple of things, one of which is that our political systems are radically different. It is true we don’t have anything like your 2nd amendment. There again we don’t have a bill of rights at all. There are no real rights enshrined in our Constitution. Bear in mind that many civil libertarians (me included) would fight tooth and nail to prevent us ever having one because, well our system just doesn’t work like that and in many Australians’ not at all humble opinion our civil liberties are at least as well protected as anywhere else. However, if you’ve heard that you can’t own guns here, you’ve been misinformed. There are lots of guns here. People hunt. People keep shotguns and rifles in their homes, and this is very unlikely to change.
We do currently have a bland conservative Prime Minister, if that’s what you’re looking for. Just to confuse you the main conservative party is called the Liberal Party.
Can’t say I see the logic of that…I endured the Reagan and Bush administrations, so I can’t see being all that off-put by Gore, who will at least be competent.
But if I weren’t married to a Southern woman, Dubya’s election would have me packing for Canada. The guy knows about two sentences’ worth on each issue, and that’s it. He’s a one-man Potemkin Village of a candidate: all facade, and nobody home behind the eyeballs. He’s wilfully ignorant even about the state he’s ‘governed’ for nearly six years, let alone about national affairs. And yet, he may be a few days away from being elected President, simply because he ran a better PR campaign for himself.
If this site is dedicated to fighting ignorance, I think we should declare war on this guy.
My, if you think there are leftists in America, then you’re going to have a problem in other countries. If Al Gore is too far to the left for you, then the other countries in the West must be nothing short of Bolshevik paradises to you.
If you want a conservative nation with rigidly-defined rights where you can own guns, you might want to look into Israel or Pakistan. As a bonus, anyone who’s willing to carry a gun will have no problem finding work!
Israel conservative? Is that why the Green Leaf party (who advocate legalization of marijuana) fell about 1000 votes short of getting a guy into the Knesset last year? Have you heard of Peace Now? Of Dana International? We may have a large portion of society which defines itself as religious conservative, but we also have an equal amount of die-hard liberals. And we allow bare breasts on broadcast TV.
Rigidly-define rights? Nothing in Israel is rigidly defined; we’ve lasted this long by winging it. We’re a lot like Australia in this sense - no Bill of Rights (no Constitution, actually), and we’re pretty much fine without it.
Shattering another myth here - it is not easy to get a handgun in Israel. You have to present a valid reason, there’s a 3-month waiting period and full background check, and the govmt. isn’t eager to hand out permits to people without 3 years of military service. Rifles are issued to soldiers (regular and reserve) and people don’t really get excited about them - they’re just tools, you know?
Hey, I just spent some of August in Nova Scotia and I was freakin’ broiling for most of it. Everyone’s whining because they haven’t had decent snowmobiling weather in about three years. Halifax is a nice medium-size city and NS always needs people to work there, although the province is not quite the emigration capitol it used to be.
Semi-tropical, stable, prosperous, English-speaking, scenic, Jamaica-influenced Bermuda might be nice.
But if some idiot took over here I’d rejoin my grandmother’s old family in Mabou, Cape Breton Island. It’s gorgeous.
I spent one winter in Iowa, and I’ve been to Toronto in the winter, too. Hell, Iowa was colder by a longshot. I understand that Minnesota is colder still. I guess Winnipeg would have a worse winter than most places in the lower 48 states, but it’s not exemplary of Canada, I’m sure. My trip from New York to Cape Breton Island this August exhibited no variation in temperature at all. I understand it gets cold in Nova Scotia before it does in New York, and that the winters are a bit more severe, but whaddya want when you’re going from south to north? Hell, Boston winters are colder than those in New York, as are those in Bangor.
I guess Canadians need their single-payer health care because with more severe winters, more people are likely to get sick. Here in the warm-weather United States, we don’t need effective, affordable, universal health coverage, so if the poor people get sick, our climate will cure them as they ride out their rheums. The weak ones will simply die; no big deal.
I think the Democrats are right of centre, and the Republicans are very right-wing. Of course ‘socialism’ and ‘liberal’ aren’t dirty words here (England).
I prefer our unarmed police, but there’s no doubt that America is the place to go with talent or ideas.
P.S. Are there talented or honest politicians anywhere in the world? :rolleyes:
There are talented and honest politicians in this world. That’s why I’m running for president in 2004. I will answer this dearth, if elected. Once in office, I will promise to establish an exploratory committee to find talented and honest politicians, and I will step down once these people are found. It won’t be easy.
