The interesting thing is, we’re beyond the point where people are saying “I’ll leave the country if [person X] wins the election”. There’s a recognition by many prospective expats of a deeper dysfunction that’s not going to be erased permanently by an election.
Earlier this year, before the pandemic, I decided it was time to spend more time living and travelling outside the U.S. It just become clear that the institutions of civil society in the U.S. are either on the decline or behind the curve compared to other OECD countries. It’s also apparent that the Know-Nothing 27% of the electorate and the “mainstream” Republicans and Libertarians who egg them on aren’t going away after January and will continue pushing the trend toward decline. After the events of the past four years and especially 2020 it’s harder than it ever was for even a privileged person like me to pretend that the U.S. is the “greatest country on the Earth”.
Even without family responsibilities like yours, picking up stakes and moving abroad is very difficult for most people. I recognise that my personal situation, the result of a lot of luck and some deliberate trade-offs, is not the norm (and even so, I have an elderly parent who keeps me in the U.S. for several months of the year). But I am telling young people I know to take advantage of educational and work opportunities abroad and to get a second passport when they can.
He’s going to be fighting a constant rearguard action against conservatives and his primary objective of restoring the pre-2016 “normal” is backward-looking and unsustainable. We’re entering a period of rough transition and have to adjust our expectations accordingly.
