How people imagine laws work to limit the power of authorities who would break them:
How laws actually work to limit the power of authorities who would break them:
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In 2015, before Trump grabbed the media focus, the Koch Friends and Mercer money and organization was behind people like Ted Cruz.
They wanted a plain dumb evil shit sandwich, nothing fancy.
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As soon as other countries once again allow the entrance of citizens of the United Plague States of America, I am getting the fuck out of this dying shitshow of a nation.
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This would be my plan if I didn’t have an elderly Alzheimers patient to care for. Which leaves me in the very frustrating position of wanting him to live a very long, happy, healthy life while at the same time having the horrible background thought that if he doesn’t pass away in the next four years, it’s very likely that both of us will die together as the United States finally collapses completely into a fascist hellscape. Biden’s win bought some time, nothing more.
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Where would you go to escape the plague if you could leave right now?
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.
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I don’t know how I’d get out if I didn’t have this obligation and the pandemic were over. I’m not rich, I don’t have in-demand skills, I’m not even bilingual. But I’d find a way. Getting a job teaching English, marriage, some kind of study abroad program, anything that will get a foot in the door. It’s clear that progress in the USA will not happen within my lifetime, and as you said, Biden, though I’m very glad he won, is not the way forward.
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Most Americans aren’t. What I can see happening for them in the coming decades is an internal refugee situation similar to the Dustbowl migrations during the Depression or the Great Migration of African Americans but much worse. I don’t really see the final divide between “Ameristan” and the coastal cities in Neal Stephenson’s Fall as completely satirical. It’s going to get very ugly, and while there’s not really an “away” the sooner you can get to a safer spot inside and/or outside the U.S. the better.
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Maybe something like Huxley’s Brave New World, living on a “Savage Reservation” in New Mexico.
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I have been debating more and more moving abroad, but my problem is that i don’t have any great skills or qualifications that would make it easy for me to do so. Family is also really important to me and having my immediate family stay behind in the US would make the whole endeavor difficult. That said i do dream of moving to an Asian or Nordic country in some years.
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or was it pre-2001 “normal,” or maybe pre-1994 “normal,” pre-1980 “normal,” …
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I usually say that Uncle Joe’s target in ca. 1992, when the Dems won by going all-in on Third Way ideology. He knows that Americans have short memories, so promising to get back to the pre-Biff normal after four exhausting years made more sense.
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Well, if we go back to 1992, we have a chance to prevent Biden from sponsoring the horrific 1994 crime bill…so worth a try? Or does this mean repealing the '94 crime bill and dropping cannabis to Schedule IV or V? I’d be on board for either.
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Do what you need to do to take care of yourself and the people you love, but we really need progressive folks like you (and most Happy Mutants) to stick around and fight the good fight.
I totally understand if that’s not do-able, but speaking as someone who does have options to move abroad, I would love it if you would stand with me against the slide into fascism…or even the mediocrity of the Third Way Democrats.
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all the easy openings dTrump used should be blocked - taxes, security clearance, business interests…
Repubs don’t know what to do with loose cannon Donny - he’ll split the conserves in 2024 if he doesn’t get his way…
we should be so lucky.
Orange hair, orange jumpsuit. OK.
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