Do you know anyone who has left the US?

I was wondering if any DUers know anyone who has left the United States,
solely because of what BushCo is doing to our country?

Have you ever contemplated leaving?

I might get flamed for this, but I must admit that I feel pretty unsettled about everything, and
these feelings seem to worsen with time. We seem like we're headed in the direction of what was
depicted in the movie "V".

In Gore Vidal's latest interview, he suggests that people leave for Canada and New Zealand until
those in power are gone.

Thoughts?

I am trying desperately myself to do the same.

...but my husband would never go for it.

We just bought a house, etc, etc.

I feel unsafe.

I have no problem exploring options outside the US. My husband has been reluctant to look into it until recently. Even he sees we are fucked now.

about the husband not wanting to leave the US. mine won't, at least not permanently. i do hope that when he goes to europe in november that it might change his mind.

NT

NT

I guess that was more due to the RW in general than just Bush. They moved to Toronto. No kids, professionals with good prospects, so it wasn't that hard to emigrate, I guess.

I decided after the uncontested election steal of 2004 that I would move if I could.
The constitution appeared to be dead.
I have no use for Authority and all the authorities around me know it. That 4AM raid is probably just a matter of time under the Nazi-Patriot act.
I do have 50 points for New Zealand. Canada appears to be in danger of falling into Fascist hands.
Unfortunately one of the first things they did was break my rice bowl.
The entire telecom/IT job market disappeared, forever.
The chump change I earn now is insufficient for a total relocation.

They're living in Toronto now and couldn't be happier, even though they've got their own neocon in charge of the country now.
As for me leaving the country, my instincts are to stay here and fight against this death cult that is ruining America. But, in all honesty, if the next elections go badly, I'm going to more than casually entertain the idea of heading to Canada, the Netherlands or Denmark.

We get together on Sundays for breakfast and try to solve the problems of the world. (We also talk music, guitars, and women.)

Anyhow, we have always joked about moving to the Azores and opening an Italian restaurant for the tourists. Today, he told me that he is seriously thinking of leaving and has started doing some research. I told him that I was thinking the same thing.

It is not just our government that gets me, though. It is also the stupid right wing punditry and the idiots that believe (and regurgitate) the bullshit that they are spoon fed. I am sick of listening to an ignorant president and his equally ignorant supporters.

So if any of you make it to the Azores, come eat at the finest Italian restaurant around!!

They thought about living in another country for a while, moved a couple yrs ago as they felt the time was right to go. I can understand wanting to do so, I can understand doing so, I can understand not doing so. We each have to make up our own minds and it is a tough decision. Many countries allow dual citizenship. All my ancestors immigrated, most due to politics.

Edited to ask, wasn't "V" about those big guineapig creatures who ate people?

OP is thinking "V For Vendetta", I think.

OTOH, if my country was taken over by guineapig eating lizard aliens, I might consider emigrating. And I can't see a picture of Condi without thinking of 'V'.

went to bed worried about those giant guinea pigs, didn't make sense.

Dominical, Costa Rica.

I've been trying to get some 1st hand accounts of the process. If you have any information please PM me or respond. Thanks! :hi:

In 2001. But it wasn't solely because of the coup...that was definitely a bonus, though, and before I left for my overseas position I turned down a Federal one because I would have had to stick to the official line even when I knew it was wrong. Came back to the US in 2004.

I've since kept the idea of leaving open as a possibility, for more than one reason -- I can legally live and work in at least two other countries as it is, without any paperwork necessary or a job already waiting for me and visas all set up, and travel on my other passport.

I plan to move to Argentina, and live for a decade or so on the proceeds of the house. Still, I'd have to leave my 401K here (peanlties, income taxes aggregating 40% would have to be paid should I withdraw it now), and that is unsettling.

with my CAL PERS funds. I've laid it up in global securities funds that are very conservative and safe, a falling US dollar fund and an emerging markets fund that specialized in South American growth.

You sound like you have a good plan. Are you going to lay back for a while and see what kind of small business you can develop there to generate income down the road?

My 401K (actually it's now an IRA) is 55% in non-dollar stock and bond mutual funds, so I'm not really worried about the dollar falling. I am, however concerned about living in one country, and having my investments in another with an uncertain future. I imagine a lot of people would be in the same situation. Argentina is a good, cheap place for retirees to live, but wages are low.

I even have a friend who was a rabid Republican and during the Clinton years argued with me constantly. Her husband is Swiss. Because of Bush, they plan to leave the U.S. and relocate to Switzerland.

Other countries that my friends have moved to or have land and/or a house and plan to leave the U.S. are New Zealand, the U.K., several to Costa Rico, several to Panama, a couple to Canada, one (a highly regarded researcher) to Taiwan ... I can't think where else.

What the main stream media has not bothered to report is that we have a real brain drain going on in this country and we are attracting fewer international students and scientists.

This is truly the New American Century, a century of our decline.

My crystal ball for the future of the USA is very grim.

My investments at this point are designed to ride out the pending economic collapse without losing my IRAs and pension gains. I don't believe I'll actually profit, but my funds should be safe at least.

but i`d go to sweden or france or maybe both if i knew then what i know now. but i`m stuck here so i`ll keep on truck`n on down the road and i will keep fighting for a better america before i reach my journey`s end...

.

US because of what *co is doing.

Fortunately, most come home alive.

because of our policies and backasswardedness. They weren't DU, but they were friends.

It wasn't solely because of Bush- I've always wanted to live abroad- but it sure gave me a kick in the pants. I left mostly because I didn't want my tax dollars going to support the war in Iraq. Unfortunately, the only place I could find a job that would let me pay off student loans was in China... But I've paid everything off now and am looking to move somewhere in Eastern Europe.

I know five or six professors who left my university and took teaching positions overseas (in France, Japan, Ireland, etc.) in the year or two after 9/11.

One increased his adventures from three to over six months a year, while the other easily exceeds nine months out of the year. The first one is focused on an island off Panama, while the other one (coincidently, an avid reader of Vidol :shrug:) has slowly but progressively moved farther into the Ecuadorian rainforest each year. Both plan to retire with fancy titles of 'ex-patriot' and both have offered us an opportunity to join them when our child is grown. With the way things are going, it is becoming more and more appealing every month.

In the meantime, we have a midterm election to focus on!

We now live in ROussillon department of the South of France. Can't say it was all George BUsh. But, a significant factor.
Here you are safer more secure. People live life as it was meant to be. The pursuit of happiness. I think it is because Europeans have a degree of social security; makes them more normal. Friendlier, enjoying life.
We no longer sense that suburban hostility one senses in the USA's sterile suburbs. And to add topping to the cake, we find expenses (utilities)about 40% of what they cost in California. And we know for sure, Healthcare if far better.
Another reason we left, my wife's treatment during cancer treatments by our HMO. Escape before their gatekeepers kill you.

and ended up here in Cannes as well. He's a reporter and she's a lawyer, and does contract legal work for US corps via the net. It's working out pretty well so far for them.

I hope your move went well and that you're settling in. Have you found Angloinfo.com yet? good site that's very handy.

I left America for several reasons.

I can't say it was all because of Bush, but yes he played a big part in it. First the Bush/Gore election and our right to elect a president taken away from us and then when Bush won re-election it confirmed to me that America was not the same place I grew up in. The exremists in religion and politics taking over have effectively destroyed the American Dream for me.

We are now living in the beautiful valleys of SE Wales, UK. Since my husband is British, we had always planned to move back to his 'home' and later on maybe move on to Spain when we are ready to retire. Bush sped up our plans by about 5 years in moving here.

I have to say, that right now I don't have much faith in the Democrats 'fixing' America if and when they regain power. The events of recent weeks with America's blind support for Israel (as opposed to understanding there are two (or three or four) sides to the situation has confirmed my suspicions that it just isn't the Republicans that is wrong with America. No country is perfect mind you, but for us America is not an option any more.

I watched in horror as the WTC fell to the ground in 2001. I knew driving home from work in the middle of the day, through a deserted ghostown of downtown Atlanta on 9/11 that my life had changed forever. I knew that it would change America, but I never could have predicted that fear would so grip the country that it would change so much. Civil liberties eroded, religious zealots in control of steering the government, Democrats afraid to speak their minds and when they do being railroaded from office. A new world order. Ugly.

I'm happier here in Wales.....but a sadness comes over me sometimes of what we all have lost.

We're thinking of moving to Canada with hubby getting a job transfer next to the US/Canada border, so that he can keep his decent paying job (and good pension) here in the states, while we actually live in Canada. However, the whole thing would take about a year to pull off (approval and implementation) so we're still on the fence because it's really just overwhelming to think of actually leaving. Which surprises me because leaving has been uppermost in my mind since the stolen election of '04. But idealist that I am, I had instead hoped that a hero like RFK Jr., Conyers or Gore would save us all from the evil * cabal and we'd all live happily ever after.

Umm...Not gonna happen!

And the reality is that it's probably much later than any of us think... :scared:

if i had the funds, i'd definitely leave. we are treated like children in this country.

much rather live somewhere where they have legal (or semi-legal) grass and tits on teevee. but i am easily mollified.

isn't so obsessed with bathing and shaving!

arrangements as fast as possible. If you've followed real estate prices in Costa Rica, Panama, etc. it becomes clear that enough are bailing to impact these countries significantly.

I did it in the late 90's as it seems we all have different temperatures where
our lobster-brains are saying to get out of the heating water.

Ya can't do anything about all the persons you love stateside, and leaving is
a sort of death, that everything in my life that happened before leaving suddenly
became irrelevant. And only in retrospect would i say i left of the rising tide
of the nazi takeover, but it was that fascist tide that drive me offshore.

Maybe some people handle a hard-patriarchy state better, but it was extremely abrasive,
IMO, and i much prefer the social subtlety of britain, its functioning (still, however
much eroded by the blair hackers) democracy, and respect for elderly persons, that
culture is not embraced around the latest tight belly button to wow the cameras.