The article: "a bunch of us are worried about the potential rise of fascism in the United States, so we're moving to Italy"
Tell me that you are oblivious to international politics without literally telling me that you are oblivious to international politics.
More to the point, if Americans were the type to "flee in droves," left-wingers would have left states like Texas and Florida en-masse for bluer pastures. Moving within the United States is a million times easier than moving overseas, and if they're not doing the former in the face of fascism/degradation of human rights in red states, why on earth would they engage in the much more difficult latter? Definitely sounds like a case of taking anecdote and non-committal musings online too seriously.
Fleeing to where? If Americans are worried about the rise of fascism at home, I have bad news about the rest of the world. There are no greener pastures. The countries with better quality of life than the U.S. have very strict immigration laws. The U.S. is already the country you go to when yours sucks, no other democratic country has immigration policy as liberal. Trying to flee is circling the drain.
Maybe instead of trying to run away from problems, vote in the upcoming election and just prevent Trump's dictatorship!
Moving abroad is insanely expensive, getting citizenship in another country is insanely difficult, and most people don't have the skills that other countries would want, nor the resources necessary to make the move. The amount of people who have the resources to do it and the willingness to follow through wouldn't qualify as so much as a rounding error, let alone enough to get anyone to take notice.
Regardless of what your opinion is on our immigration laws (legal or otherwise), our laws are basically an open-borders policy when compared to every other country on the planet with similar economic prosperity. People act like you can just pack up and move to Canada or something on a whim over the weekend. Not gonna happen.
I'm not leaving. It's tempting, but at this point, I'm committed to staying and fighting for all of the people who don't have the privilege to move. And the kids who are too young to vote but deserve to know there are adults on their side who won't abandon it. I don't begrudge anyone who moves, especially if it's a safety issue, but I just can't.
Sooo... I speak French. I'm pretty rusty (though I've been trying to get it all back this year), but I speak it well enough that it would probably help me get accepted into Canada. I'm a software developer, so it's not like I'd be a drain on society, I could be very productive there.
I have my passport. My wife is renewing hers. We're getting passports for the kids this year.
For me, it's not a question of if we move, should Trump somehow win. It's when, where, and how.
We won't stay here.
Both my kids are LGBTQ+. Another Trump presidency would be a direct threat to their lives. So yeah, if he wins, we're probably going to Canada.
I'd love to leave. I desperately want to. But I have no marketable skills (too broke to attend college out of high school, am trying now but still have 2 1/2 years to go, so too long), I'm terrifyingly broke, have a weird-ass employment history from years of undiagnosed mental illness and just recently diagnosed ADHD, and I never learned a second language because shitty education and I don't pick up languages well from those programs that claim to teach you. If I could go, I've have gone already, but nowhere worth going wants me and I get it. I know I'm a loser. I'm stuck on this ship while the cool kids are leaving in the life boats. And yes, I vote, but what does it matter?
At the very least, I'm gonna get my family out of this hell-hole that is Florida. I'm trying to stay in order to convince as many republicans to split their vote as I can though.
I know a lot of dumb-shit brain washed people that otherwise mean well, but have become oblivious to the hole they've found themselves in. So I have a tendency to befriend them and tell them that the only way we're gonna get any change is if they vote third party. Convincing them to vote Biden is a step too far for most, so I'm just trying to disrupt the cheeto as much as I can locally. And of course my family is voting blue down the whole ticket.
Most people are full of shit. Where are they going to go? Getting citizenship in another country isn't easy.
"I'll leave the country if Bush gets elected" was a thing back in the day. Guess how many people actually left? It wasn't the majority...
"...Americans are planning to flee in droves, and then will realise they don't have a passport, don't know any foreign languages, and don't know how to get around without a car and will ultimately just stay put."
PSA if you have one grandparent who was born in Ireland then you may qualify for Irish citizenship. Getting all the needed documentation together and going through the whole process can easily take the better part of a year, so don’t delay.
Even with citizenship, moving abroad is a lot of work and expense. I no longer have any illusions that “cooler heads will prevail” or that “the adults in the room will maintain the status quo”, so having an out, even an extremely expensive one, is very comforting.
I could easily move myself and my family back to the UK (easily in the sense that we would have no residency issues; but finances would be a headache). And it's something my wife and I have discussed.
The problem is that the UK is a fucking mess right now as well.
Reminder: Trump, being an insurrectionist, is barred from office by the Constitution. Any attempt to install him needs to be dealt with harshly and immediately, in no uncertain terms. Such violations of our most sacred foundational law cannot be tolerated. Then again, the GOP knows this, which is why we need to pay double attention to their VP candidate.
Moving closer to Canada was not unintentional for me. We got our whole family passports after Biden won, I knew it was only a reprieve. All that said, we can't afford to move again, if it happens we'll be fleeing as refugees.
If I had the means to leave I'd already be gone.
It seriously makes me wonder though, if Trump starts executing minorities and Democratic party members en masse, what are the odds that any country would give asylum to Americans?
Probably pretty slim
America under Trump is still better than most of the world. Take it from someone born in a 3rd world country.
And if you have the qualifications and/or skills necessary to migrate to 1st world countries like in Europe... you're making a good wage here and have little reason to leave here anyways.
this is the stupidest thing i keep hearing. everyone who says they're going to leave is absolutely full of shit. they don't know anything about where they will go and they have no plan to do anything like this. they're just being pussies.
The last thing the rest of the world needs is American right wingers moving over. And if you think Biden is actually good, I've got news for you about your political leanings.
And then they actually do some research and notice that for almost everyone of them, in almost every country on this planet their quality of living would deteriorate.
edit: Trump getting 2nd term might actually for reals change this though
edit2: Although like the previous time perhaps not ;)