The Unvarnished Truth About the US

So which countries are you recommending, and how does one go about this?

Yes, I agree and as we slip in to milton friedman dream country, if you can leave you might want to do that. I’m stuck here but being 61 it will take some time for them to get to me. If you’re young it would be a good thing to make a living some were else, because we are slipping into the darkness. Shock Doctrine can’t be far behind. Some countries list trades/educations they are looking for worth a check.
jo6pac

Agreed on the merits – see here
https://www.ianwelsh.net/no-carrots-for-lawmakers-without-sticks/#comment-4797

Undecided on the recommendation: Some unwinnable fights you cannot quit. The OBanana Republic and its permutations will continue to have plenty of nukes, and retain the dominant incentive structure that privatizes public money through deployment and use of military gear. Between that and the energy crunch kicking off during our children’s (if not our) lifetime, a case can be made that while the fight might be lost, it is the only fight that might possibly matter. If you are certain nothing more can be done, having children might be an irresponsible act.

There is also the small matter of abandoning your fellow man. MLK could have emigrated.

History’s irony: after decades of worrying about Russia, the first black market sale of an atomic warhead to terrorists will originate from US stockpiles.

I was thinking about New Zealand as well…

All I can say is thanks for a big useless DUH! moment that’s exactly 9 years and 1 month too late. The writing was on the wall with Bush v. Gore, probably even before, but that’s when I knew it deep down in my bones with certainty. Basically unless we’re independently wealthy or can find a sugardaddy/momma from a more desireable country than the US who is willing to marry us and support us at least until we are employable overseas, we’re screwed. So mabe I’ll go play the lottery after work today, and if you know any Canadians looking to marry a cynical 47 year old white gay male, please give them my email address. Hot French Canadian mecs preferred, but all considered. The line forms to the left.

new zealand, (i feel like australia will have bad water problems soon)

southern cone S. America

northern europe

Canada?

Is this what im hearing?

NOTE: im a freshman in college

“Canada-the-country” likes Americans to move here because Americans bring skills and can speak English. “Canadians” both resent Americans and like them at the same time. For example, Canadian musicians are never appreciated here unless they have “made it” in the U.S. first. None of the things you cite above have changed, uni-mo, so you’ll have to jump through all the hoops to make it happen. Still got contacts here? Can you get someone here to sponsor you? That makes it easy.

BC Nurse Prof, my previous post about investing in a Canadian business was being written before I saw your reply.

I’m going to Turkey: Istanbul to be exact. Sure, it’s swinging right also, but the Levant will always be the Levant. And why not have a decent view when the world goes to hell in a handbasket. Plus I’ll be close to my friends in Northern Europe. I might evne consider Cyprus, as I have friends there too. But I’m done. I’ll be out of here in the next five years, hopefully sooner.

Last one out, don’t forget to turn off the lights. /s

If everybody leaves, where am I going to get the real news?

With all that talk about Northern Europe, don´t forget that with the exception of Norway, they are all EU members too.
Which means that with a EU passport you can live and work in any EU country.
Even UK citizenship would help here.

So, what Ian said.
If you have fairly recent European ancestors you might take a look at the citizenship laws of that country. At least basic information is available on the Internet.

Oh, and just to add to Ian.
“Europe’s swinging right, in general, but they’re starting from a much better place.”

Of course, it depends on the country. But here in Germany the “swing to the right” still leaves us quite a bit left of the Dems in the USA.

Leave…when finally the objective conditions make it possible for real change? The deep economic polarity is finally being reflected in a political polarity and it is time to run? No, it is time to stay and develop a deeper understanding of the change that is possible. It is time to side with those who have no choice but to fight back to survive.

Please don’t look at this as an opportunity to leave. Many workers in other countries are depending on us helping them get the boot of US Globalization off their backs. We are needed in this fight. It is our moral duty and very much in our self interest to participate in this coming difficult period. It is our moral duty because the ruling elite have been paying us and giving us this elite democracy as a result of the suffering they imposed on other workers in places like Haiti, Chile, Honduras, Brazil, Nicaragua, El Salvador et cetera. Now it’s time for us to pay back those workers by helping to change things in the U.S. Now, it is finally becoming possible for us to do so.

Yes, we very clearly have fascism developing in this country as the ruling elite try and protect the economic relationships that have served them so well. On the other hand, the working class in this country will fight back–they are not able to leave–and they need all the allies they can get. They need people to help develop the political understanding and they need skills at organization. Talent is needed to develop the strategy and tactics to take on this developing beast. Please do not let this country–and really the world–be controlled by this minority fascist gang.

and not ruber-stamp radical righ-twingers like Alito and Roberts.

rubber-stamp

right-wingers

@alyosha-I understand your position, and when the times comes the tactics that you mentioned may be needed. I am not trying to be a cheerleader for staying and fighting; I’m trying to pose it as a very practical question. My point is that fascism is going to be a world-wide means to prevent the working class from creating a world that represents their interests rather than the interest of a small minority. There will not be a place anywhere in the world where one can hide. The tactic of an underground movement in this country, such as was developed during the fight against slavery, could serve to protect those who choose to stay and be part of the active solution. All hands are needed to stop this fascist threat from all walks of life; many tactics will be necessary.

You are so right when you say ” (and believe it or not, that building is going on right now, although many don’t know it)”. I have mentioned on this thread a couple of times the US Social Forum which is building for a gathering in Detroit June 22-26. Their motto is “Another World is Possible-Another US is Necessary.”

@Sara: But the harder truth is: as long as you’re an American — and I can never really be anything else — no matter where you go, you’ll always be part of it.

Holy Karmic Obligation. Or in lighter terms, quoting the Eagles, you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.

My deep condolences for it all not working out as you would’ve liked.

Thanks for the informative posts, everyone. I had kept relocation in my back pocket as a Plan B for when things got really rough in America, but now I see my Plan B is as fanciful as my Plan C, which was “drop 30 pounds, drop 30 years, and go to Hollywood & get my own TV show.” Still reeling from the nonchalance with which the corporations at the last minute kicked the props out from under progressives’ tough, hard-fought struggle to get a puny, weak-kneed ghost of a public option in the HCR bill; now, with the Supremes’ flicking aside years of settled law to give corporations the tiller of our ship of state, I’m really stunned at how completely the conservative movement has kicked the left’s ass, lock stock and barrel, and built up an insurmountable power base–especially during the last 8 years. I think longingly about relocating, partly because a continual surfeit of outrage takes a tremendous emotional toll, and both outrage and the toll it exacts (leaving aside the corporate-engineered political and social prices yet to be paid) seems very much my future right now. Relocate? C’mon, get real. (If you’re writing seriously about relocating, you obviously have the means to do so, and good luck & God bless!) I’m afraid it’s a lot of folks’ destiny now to get ground down fighting on the margins for what’s right, even as the energy to do so gets leached by a cascade of corporate victories. It looks crystal-clear that President Empty Suit will not be an ally, or even a factor, nor will his cabinet (except that those in his cabinet who are already working for Wall Street will no longer take the trouble to cover up their involvement, viz. Mr. Geithner’s recent statements).

Rep. Grayson’s five bills in response to the Supremes’ decision are something to start with, small beer and perhaps never enactable, but if that’s all the comfort progressives can take going forward, let’s be grateful for it. I’d say “See you in the soup lines,” but…will the corporations let us HAVE soup lines?

“Yesterday’s decision makes the US a soft fascist state.”

I beg to differ with you on this, Ian. The US is already a fascist state and has been for a long time. It just hasn’t been as obvious as it is now becoming.

The US began as a fascist state, and it is written into the Constitution, which permitted slavery. The founding fathers were “capitalists” or land owners, not workers, and they organized the state so that ownership would have the upper hand over democratic government, lest the rabble some day take charge. Alexander Hamilton as the nation’s first Treasury Secretary established the pattern in national finance.

The rights guaranteed in the Constitution were devised to prevent tyranny, but not to prevent or circumvent the rule of a non-aristocratic elite through wealth and influence. The difference between the US, and Britain and Europe at the time was the possibility of entering the elite through industry and falling from it through indolence or blunder.

The reason the US was founded was because of a deep seated fear of “big government,” which all the colonials has sought to escape from by emigrating to the colonies. The US still has a deep seated distrust of government, which is why conservatives who seek to limit government generally outnumber liberals who seek to bridle big money and big business.

However, I agree that the ruling by SCOTUS legalizing unlimited bribery seals the deal. This, coupled with Bush’s unitary executive doctrine, which Obama has implicitly ratified by not reversing, creates a very dangerous situation. The US is still engaged in the “GWOT,” which gives the president emergency powers. In light of all of these, the future looks bleak. Nothing is set in stone, but the odds are heavily weighted toward the dark side.

On the issue of where to go, it all depends on one’s age, resources, education, and skills. You can’t just go wherever you want these days. Each person will have to find a fit based on what he or she has to offer for which there is a buyer.

For those who decide to stay in the belly of the tiger, I’d suggest getting acquainted with the the counter-revolution of the 60’s and 70’s, when an underground was successfully created that now persists only in the drug culture. Everything else was co-opted and went mainstream, or was pretty much forgotten about in the rush to get rich that began in the 80’s. But there was a lot created back then, and there was a lot of good thinking about options and possibilities. It was really an exciting time to be alive. Yet, things were a lot worse then. Kids were dying in droves and more were being horribly maimed physically and traumatized psychologically for life. Get caught with a joint, or even a roach in many placers, and disappear for many years. It was really a crazy contrast.

There are pockets out there physically and there are a lot of nodes on the net internationally. Unless you are a political activist, forget about the mainstream, and plug into the growing underground network that will burgeon as times get darker for those who don’t want to be a cog in the machine or an Establishment whore as the US becomes increasingly a corporate state bent on global hegemony based on wealth and privilege.

Instead, “pick something great to do and do it,” as a wise man once advised.

And I came here intending to leave a comment asking about this very point…

It’s a dilemma. On the one hand, as long as I’m here, I am supporting and participating in the harm that US policies cause worldwide. On the other hand, if I’m not here, I can’t do anything to change those policies.

I have been gradually been moving toward the “get out” option because I’ve come to believe that the way things are here is just not all that unpopular. Not yet, anyway. And that the changes that people would support, at least initially, would be to the worse. It’s not that the US is unusually full of awful people – I think it’s just that we’re still in a position to cause an unusual amount of trouble.

It’s definitely a bad time to suck at languages, alas.

I just read tjfxh’s response and I totally agree. Although, increasingly, the U.S. is beginning to resemble a police state. I wouldn’t be surprised therefore, if the corporatocracy employed the color-coded Threat Level System against it’s own people. Just call them domestic terrorists.

It’s too late for me to leave, but how difficult would it be to send my kids to college in Canada or some other country? Would that give them a foundation from which to get citizenship and employment? They’ll be 18 in 12 years, and I’d like for them to have something better, if things keep going like they are. Anyone know?

The way education is going in California these days, they’ll have to leave the state for a quality, affordable education anyway. They might as well homestead in a new country, too.

@ tjfxh

Comparing 20th century terms like facism to times so long back like that is a disservice to people like Ian and his pals. Ian especially, as I believe he’s been the best person on the net to point out how the various commanding heights of The Great Game have changed, and why.

@ everyone else

From the classical slave-based economy to steam, coal, etc., means a lot when it comes to how vital the peasants or the retainer class is to any system. For military tech, it ended up requiring those lazy peasants to become educated enough to hold an arquebus – and w/e ideology convinces them to stand out in front with a brightly colored uniform (Napoleon says thanks).

To the Cold War, about which Ian and Stirling had a great convo somewhere, probably at Jay Ackroyd’s, about how the ‘great compression’ of the 1940s-70s rested on the fact that, due to the Soviet threat (whether you want to put that in brackets or not, I’m not on Team B) made the ruling class at the time want millions of Americans to be properly educated and paid well, just in case the elites needed them to die in a bigass war. As one of em said in so many words, in the Game, if the commoners wanted to have strong unions, they needed to be willing to die in Korea and Vietnam – George Meany (with a heavy dose of ‘divide n conquer’ racism) to a T.

Now, not so much. For a crude paraphrase of Ian’s work, lemme say this. I just watched about 15 mins of Glenn Beck. It was all Hitler, Goebbels, and jackboots. For all intents and purposes, these Goebbels-esque people (they’d never go down with the ship, that’s what gated communities are for) have KILLED GODWIN’S LAW DEAD. No one’s known what a real, honest-to-god commie, nazi, socialist, liberal, have been for decades. Thus, weirdass backlash. Thus, the ability for the supposedly moderate George W. Bush to steal 2000 and put in the judges necessary to accomplish this… dons black pajamas… new world order.

If anything, call this decision what it is, and what pretty much everyone here has said at one time or another:

The entrenchment of Feudalism. Or Neo-Paris Hiltonism, if the yen takes you – but if it does, then please, as a favor to me, figure out what comes after post-modernism. I can’t wait to see what this does to Net Neutrality. I wonder why Google decided to have a tiff with China right at this moment?

As to the Survivorman stuff, well, it seems to all come down to how bad global warming is gonna be, and that’s impossible to tell for at least a couple of years – depends on if some tourist trap island gets sunk early and the power of w/e media’s left to ring the alarm bells. Or, more likely, if scientist’s warnings about w/e it is that keeps the EU warm gets increasingly frantic to the point where some kinda Mexican standoff with the U.S. and China starts to develop – I’m interested myself as to where global opinions may lie in that scenario, and truly, why something like that hasn’t made itself more clear in more forceful terms.

Otherwise I’d say learn french or german. As others have pointed out, New Zealand is a nice place but probably doomed before most others, and I’ve heard that it’s hell to get a teaching job there. Besides, Saruman is one hell of a taskmaster. The EU, as Detlef said, allows you to run around all over, so stay fit and go for it. Otherwise, all this talk is really more about 10-20 years out, rather than now. For those of you who are college-ageish, learn a language – anything. The 65+s, why not canvass your fellow socialist Medicare types, and take the death bet if it all falls through in the end?

“On the other hand, the working class in this country will fight back–they are not able to leave–and they need all the allies they can get.”

Uh, I doubt the working class has shown any indications of having any fight in them yet, and when it does, I think it will mostly resemble the ignorant misdirected teabagger outrage of last summer’s town hall meeting.

But in the end, I have to agree that emmigration, even if it were possible, is probably just a crapshoot anyway. The financial reverberations of the disasters that will come from ever stronger corporatist control of our economy will be felt well beyond our borders, and may even be worse outside the US than within.

Places like Australia and Norway with natural resources that would look to prosper are potentially subject to even greater climactic changes than other parts of the world, and could also be targets for invasion or subversion by despotic goverments that could assert themselves (China, Russia, even the US). Although I doubt the US will ever invade Australia, I could easily see it undermining democracy there (just as we have done to Latin America many times) if the US wanted an advantage over China in access to Australia’s mineral wealth, should China become more able to pay for those minerals than the US.

Bad times (or should I say worse times?) are coming for the US, but I think bad times are coming for most of the world. And places that seem more stable now may not be in 5 or 10 years. Also, when things get ugly, will it be a good thing to be an American in that foreign country you’re thinking about if relations between them and us turn sour? I wouldn’t want to be living in China if there is a sudden wave of xenophobia. I wouldn’t want to live in Latin America or the Carribean if/when the US decides to invade Venezuela or anywhere else (not to mention possibly being on the receiving end of “shock and awe”). Eastern and Southern Europe are on the verge of being basket cases already. Forget about finding jobs in Iceland or Ireland. The UK is not much better than here. Germany, the Yugoslavia and assorted African and Asian have shown their murderous souls when the chips are down. No way I’d live in those places even in good times.

So if you’re dying to live somewhere else, go ahead, try your best. Life’s too short not to attempt to live your dreams. But as a survival strategy, I don’t think it can beat the odds of staying right where you are.

Another scenario – what is Canada going to do with all those gun-toting American refugees beating at its door.

Re: Canadian citizenship. Things must have changed since I emigrated to Canada. After 5 years of “Landed Immigrant ” status, getting my citizenship was a piece of cake. As for jobs, if there aren’t enough Canadians to fill a position, landed immigrants are next in line. Hence, you might want to find out which profession has a shortage of applicants. If you’re a physician, there are plenty of jobs in small towns and up north.

tjfxh

This fine but this time lets leave out the violence this time that seem to take over the movement at the end. Also this a long fight, when everyone thought they had won in the 70s the right went under ground and regrouped and others went and partied. I’ve never forgiven them for that.

http://reclaimdemocracy.org/corporate_accountability/powell_memo_lewis.html

If this doesn’t open go here and go down court decision

http://www.atlargely.com/

jo6pac

In reference to employment in Canada for non Canadians:

Sara Robinson said: Because people are sweet as pie, but none of them will cut you a break if a native-born Canuck is also in line for the job.

It’s Canadian law. If there is an eligible and qualified Canadian for a given job, the employer must hire the Canadian before anyone else. (btw, it’s also U.S. law.)

I know my wife and I are looking to nail down a few more good earning years and book it, if we can. We’re also thinking Northern Europe. I wish England was less… well, creepy. Hard to believe that England, of all places, went for 1984 style pervasive surveillance first.

Unfortunately I lost a few years deathly sick and uninsurable, and am just now climbing out of that medical hellhole. In a real, civilized country, I’d have been fixed up in a few months (like it took once I had good insurance). Instead I spent four years in and out of emergency rooms and barebones treatment regimens.

The pill that fixes it, fyi, is a 30 year old generic. It was totally worth keeping me ill and unemployable, a burden on my family and society, to avoid that expense. Go American healthcare!

It’s Canadian law. If there is an eligible and qualified Canadian for a given job, the employer must hire the Canadian before anyone else. (btw, it’s also U.S. law.)

Why on earth would there be a US law giving Canadians an employment preference? :o)

I know what you meant, but its not quite accurate. True, if someone comes in with a special work visa (e.g. H1-B), then its difficult to get a job other than one that brought you here, but that’s government red tape and not the employer’s fault. Otherwise, its rather frowned upon (OK, and a violation of federal civil rights law) for an employer to give hiring preference to US citizens over any foreign nationals who can document their eligibility to work. In fact, its illegal to inquire about citizenship or immigration status until after they’ve been hired. Its only then that an employer is allowed to ask for proof of work eligibility, which everyone, citizen and foreigner alike, is obligated to provide.

As for the matter of where to live, I am a Canadian who moved to the USA to get ahead in my field. It is highly likely that I will stay in the USA for some time yet, even when I find another employer. I would really like to return to Canada, but it is very hard to find a job in what I specifically do in Canada. I will try, but in some ways I am more likely to find a job in Europe than I am in Canada. If it becomes really dangerous, I might be willing to bite the bullet and return to general software hackery, which I’ve done before and am qualified to do again.

I remember in the 90s there was this whole right-wing panic about the Canadian brain drain to the USA. We must lower taxes and gut health care, they kept screaming, Canada has no opportunities. They were correct about the symptoms in my experience, but obviously wrong about the diagnosis. The problem in Canada was a lack of investment in basic research and science and tech—lack of investment by the government, in fact. During the Chrétien period, there was a large and promising expansion in research funding, but it has foundered and stagnated in recent times as Harper converts Canada into a two-bit petro-state. I’m not a big fan of Chrétien, but Martin, Harper, Iggy, etc make me miss the guy, he was a paragon of competence compared to them.

someofparts: President Palin might be a reason to leave.

I don’t see a USSR-style collapse in the USA. Things may get very hard, but the USA does not have a command economy, so there is no state economy to collapse.

beowulf, thanks for the clarification about U.S. law. I would have given more detail, like you did, but I was rushing when I wrote that.

I wrote:
It’s Canadian law. If there is an eligible and qualified Canadian for a given job, the employer must hire the Canadian before anyone else. (btw, it’s also U.S. law.)

beowulf wrote:
Why on earth would there be a US law giving Canadians an employment preference? :o)

I know what you meant, but its not quite accurate. True, if someone comes in with a special work visa (e.g. H1-B), then its difficult to get a job other than one that brought you here, but that’s government red tape and not the employer’s fault. Otherwise, its rather frowned upon (OK, and a violation of federal civil rights law) for an employer to give hiring preference to US citizens over any foreign nationals who can document their eligibility to work. In fact, its illegal to inquire about citizenship or immigration status until after they’ve been hired. Its only then that an employer is allowed to ask for proof of work eligibility, which everyone, citizen and foreigner alike, is obligated to provide.

Linden asked:

“It’s too late for me to leave, but how difficult would it be to send my kids to college in Canada or some other country? Would that give them a foundation from which to get citizenship and employment?”

What BC Nurse Prof said.

And speaking for Germany here… 🙂

http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/diplo/en/WillkommeninD/LernenUndArbeiten/Studium/WusstenSie.html

This website gives a good overview of the requirements.
Essentially:
– some fluency in German
– school diploma equivalent to the German “Abitur” school diploma
– proof that you can pay for your cost of living while studying
(although you are allowed to work part-time while studying)

And afterwards…
“If university graduates find a suitable position their previous residence permit [for studying] can be converted to a temporary residence permit for the purpose of employment. After five years of working you can receive a permanent residence permit. ”
(German laws were changed in the early 2000s to make it easier for foreign university graduates to stay in Germany.)

And if you stayed and worked in Germany legally for 8 years you can become a German citizen.

I believe – but I´m not sure – that several other continental European countries have similar laws.
Tuition fees certainly seem lower than in most English speaking countries?

Of course, learning a foreign language – be it German, French or Spanish – also restricts your choice. If your kids learned French or German for example then they are restricted to French or German speaking universities in Europe (see requirement of fluency above).

Not mentioning English-language universities here because these are either UK or Irish universities (with a higher tuition fee?) or private universities in continental Europe with a definitely higher tuition fee.

I’ve been wishing for awhile now that I was a professional writer so that I could write something like this, but I don’t need to be because Ian expressed my thoughts precisely.

I should probably add that I think Ian’s closing paragraphs are wise advice. I saw this coming in the lead up to the invasion and knew it would happen as sure as spring was coming.
There is an illness on the land the likes of which I’ve never seen before; I was too young to remember Joe McCarthy. I’ll be 65 in a few months and health care is important to me.
I’m very lucky, my wife is a civil servant (teacher) here and has excellent world class health care and being her husband so do I.
There are many other health care benefits available to foreigners here that afford excellent care. My previous plan was $12 USD/mos. with no co-pay and medicine was included for no charge. Some of you may be aware that Bangkok is “the” medical tourist destination in S.E. Asia.
My heart goes out to what’s happening in America; but there has been sign for many years and I’m afraid denial is in full play. Peace.

@John Andersen
Portland is good; I lived there before I left. Lived there for 40 years actually. My friends there say it’s pretty bad, employment wise, but they won’t leave either. Too much invested and all that. Good luck, hope it works for you.
My reason for leaving wasn’t so much financial as political. Each to their own. Peace.

Like C233, becoming an ex-patriot is a serious decision, among the most life-changing there is, and not to be taken frivolously or for inconsequential reason; none-the-less the option, if it is being considered, can provide certain benefits as well as a perspective that is obtainable in no other fashion. My emigration dates to 1994 and as that date recedes into history, the need or desire to return fades as well; aided and abetted by the insanity installed at airports anymore. One issue that should be mentioned is to have a plan “B” or even “C” in the unlikely event plan “A” fails to mature favourably.
The near and medium term exchange rates for the conversion of dollars will affect many decisions you will make. For now, China has an interest in maintaining a strong dollar which will be favorable for a while, probably until Washington embarks upon some further military adventure or egregiously ignores the costs of present adventures; the world economy will be effected by those psychotic policy aberrations emanating from D.C. You will have a front row seat watching the economic carry-on, and probably obtain a better economic education than available at the “finest” universities there.
Your education will be amplified as an expat as well. Language and its uses are sharpened immeasurably. The lingual sloth of the US will become highlighted, and traditional lingual conventions are observed elsewhere in the English speaking world, e.g. in Ireland “the corporation” is the designated/chartered public body administering: a town, a city, a county – much closer to the original legal meaning of the word (clearing much of the demagogic fog that now surrounds its modern usage). Nowhere else in the world is “bad” used as approbation for something.
Once the decision is reached to emigrate, with empathy, education, and awareness, you will find your horizons shifting to further, more distant aspects; this can become an inheritance unavailable to those not leaving or not availing of the opportunities to travel.

i’d love to get out. can’t. ain’t got no money, and without that, really doesn’t matter how hard or easy it is to get into another country. and i’m surprised by all the people dissing england. i was in london last year, and fucking loved it. yeah, there are cameras everywhere. but i’m not a criminal, so beyond annoying me, they didn’t bother me so much. the food was better, the people were more intelligent, they have a functioning press, less stupid teevee shows…if i could live in london i’d do it in a heartbeat. hell, even their ‘projects’ looked like midgrade apartment living compared to US standards.

the problem with “nice pocket” communities in the US is that the feds can always step in and fuck things up, when they want to. unfunded mandates (which are coming) can kill a community pretty damn quick. if one accepts ian’s analysis, no one is really “safe” just because they live in a liberal town with a good job market. indeed, i expect the destruction of the remaining pockets of liberalism in this country to be a high priority, for the more active fascists.

Oh, and wherever I go, it’ll be someplace not dominated with batshit-crazy nonsense like this — http://mediamatters.org/blog/201001240003 h/t @StopBeck — where people just don’t give a shit about politics. I’m sick of it all.

@QuietBlackLiberal: Frankly, I’m fatigued by being American: I’m exhausted by having to keep up a steady psychological wall against unending propaganda, having to steadily sustain hope in dreams that no longer live, tired of constant “Terra! Terra! Terra!”, lone gunmen shooting up school buildings and shopping centers, an insulting and partisan, juvenile news media lying to us, by endless Auto-Tune, American Idol, celebrity belly buttons, hypersexuality, and ignorance.

You said it. I’m certain everybody you speak for everybody on this thread. I concur with you about China eventually “calling in its loans” so to speak. It may not happen militarily, they might just offer us a deal we can’t refuse on that prime midwestern farmland or US coal deposits their population so desperately needs.

Well, this has become a long thread, hasn’t it? Because of all that’s been said here, I have thought a lot about my decision over this last weekend, and I’d like to share it with you. It’s long, so hold on. It’s also going to offend people.

We agree that the U.S. is going down. The timing may be debatable, but the Empire is collapsing in Jared Diamond fashion. We also know that a perfect storm is facing humanity: peak oil, peak fish, peak population, peak water, peak food, climate change and financial meltdown. How did all of this happen to occur at the same time? Biology. This is simple biology: a species has expanded to its physical limits and is now in precipitous decline, with all resources growing scarce and groups of organisms fighting over the last bits. Kunstler call us the yeast people and we’re behaving in exactly that manner. We expand, we collapse. Unfortunately, it’s looking like we might take a lot of other species down with us.

Is there any chance of human survival? Yes, but we have to hope that the collapse comes quickly and decisively, so that a few humans will be able to survive on a hotter planet and rebuild a much smaller sustainable society. Do we have models for that? Yes. From Jared Diamond again, there are societies in the mountains of New Guinea that had a sustainable life. Until we outsiders fucked it up. And they had a good life. They had enough food, shelter, religion, good government and a vibrant culture. How did they manage? THEY PRACTICED INFANTICIDE. They knew exactly how much food their territory could produce, and they kept their population below that limit. So no world wars and no resource scarcity. Voila, it can go on forever.

Now, WE don’t have to do what they did because WE know how to keep children from happening in the first place. BUT WE DON’T DO IT. Furthermore, we are against anyone else doing it. This is what’s going to turn the whole planet into Haiti.

I once heard a radio interview with the man who invented nitrogen fertilizer after WWII using leftover materials from the war. He died shortly thereafter, but I will remember his words to my dying day. He said he was very proud of what he had done, “because if we didn’t have nitrogen fertilizer, 5 million people in Africa would have died.” Now, of course, we know that 50 million people in Africa and even more in other parts of the world are going to die because we have artificially propped up food production using fossil fuels and fertilizer, both of which deplete the soil for future production.

What I’m saying is that we humans are entirely responsible for the mess this planet is in because of our good intentions to save the children. We have no qualms whatsoever regarding slaughtering adult men in gruesome wars. But whoever manages to be born gets to live. And eat. And reproduce. Great. Now we’re all gonna die because of it. Probably even die horribly. I’m a nurse, I suffer from these same feelings, but I’ve learned to think in biology instead of medicine. I tend to think that this kind of short term thinking came from religion, but I’m not sure, so I’ll leave that one up in the air.

When I think in biology, I remember that Mother Earth bats last. We can yell and scream and flail our arms around all we want, but biology wins in the end. Soon no nation will have the resources, financial and otherwise, to help another nation in times of ecological or geological disaster. When it comes to your town, what disaster might befall you? Typhoons? Earthquakes? Hurricaines? Avalanches? Ethnic cleansing? Military occupation? Drought? Floods? Soon there will be no one to help. Think looting, think gangs, think The Road, all because of total social collapse. Read Dimitri Orlov and James Howard Kunstler. Is it possible we could ease our way down to a sustainable future under some social system with laws and regulations, instead of disintegrating into cannabalistic chaos and rebuilding from the dirt up? Yes, but what are the possibilities of that happening? I don’t see it, maybe you do. I see people clawing and killing their way to the bottom with help from nuclear weapons and then down to axes before someone re-invents civil society based on law.

It’s been 4 billion years since the Big Bang. In another 4 billion years the sun will die. We’re halfway through this story and the odds are that we’re the only sentient life in the universe. Is our story about to be over?

So a totally artificial, human-created thing called a country is coming apart at the seams and you live there. You see it coming. You know it’s going to be bad. You have kids. What are you going to do? I weighed these options in my head.

Stay
1. You owe it to your country to stay and help in the fight to save it.
2. There are lots of people who can’t leave who need your help as it goes down.

Go
1. There are places in the world that will be marginally safer for a few more years.
2. If you go, your children might get to be the ones who figure out how to do it right.

When I wrote it like this, it was clear to me. Think species, not family. Think planet, not home town. Who’s gonna live, you or someone else? Do flagellated bacteria stay in a toxic area to help their dying relatives or do they wave their little cilia and get out? They leave because that’s the way to ensure that there will be more of their kind in a new ecosystem. Now there are bacteria in the stones a mile deep, within the ice of Antarctica, and in the boiling springs of water at the bottom of the sea.

It’s very noble and all, and some will choose what they believe is moral, but I choose biology instead of morality. It’s called triage. When I first heard about that, I was like, “You LEAVE someone to die and treat someone ELSE? That’s like, UNETHICAL!” My teacher responded, “But you can’t treat them all. What are you going to do? How are you going to make the best use of your skill?” And I responded, “You treat them ALL!” But you can’t. And when I thought deeply about it, I saw how it must be.

Now I teach nursing students bioethics and I go through utilitarianism, deontology, intuitionalism, religion, etc. We always end up using logical, reason-based arguments to put forward the best evidence for our claims. Which is as it should be, in a society based on law. But when law breaks down, biology takes over.

When my daughter was young, her kitten got run over and killed. She was crying on my shoulder and said, “It’s not fair! She never hurt anyone!” and I responded, “Life is not fair.” She pushed away from me, stood up, put her hands on her hips and said, “Whatdya mean, life’s not fair? You’ve been telling me my whole life – ‘don’t do that, it’s not fair.’ ‘do this, you should be fair.’ Now you tell me life’s not fair???” I had no answer for her. Why do we do that? We tell our kids to be fair, and we tell them life’s not fair. I now think both are true. We should be fair, even though life is not fair.

Soon, biology will be all that matters. Life, the thing that’s not-fair, will take over. Position yourself according to your views.

And a lot depends on your social group. Are you in a group likely to be scapegoated?

I’ve had major gay figures, for example, tell me that they feel like staying in the US is stupid, because they know if things really go wrong, they’re high on the list.

“first they came for, then…”

Well, in my case, you KNOW what group I belong to and where on the list it is. However, it’s at roughly the same place on the list everywhere else, including in places where it is the overwhelming majority.

So I’m not going to let that get in my way.

Once my kids are out of school I’m off to Romania, near Cluj in Transylvania. I have a pension that will be mailed to me and enough money to purchase a house. I am healthy and won’t be a drain on their social services.

^ Rah, rah, rah, sis boom bah! You’re on the deck of the Titanic don’t ya know?