How Many Others Have a Long-Range Contingency Plan (Exit Strategy)?

[louis c]

Exit strategy from here, that is.

I have felt that this country was moving so far right that I can hardly recognize it. If you look at a friend every day for two years, and he gains two pounds a month, you can hardly notice. But if you see the same friend one day, and then again two years later, that 50 pounds sure shows up.

Three years ago, my filipino wife and I decided to purchase a piece of land in her homeland of the Philippines. Initially, I thought it would be a nice place to have another home when we retire (we're both in our early 50's). With my fear that our freedom will be eroded from within, as is usually done, historically, I am afraid that our "vacation" home may become our permanent address in ten years.

If the reactionaries in this government who raise paranoia to a fever pitch continue to undermine our constitutional rights, if the next two elections don't make significant changes, this un-thought of possibility is starting to become a real possibility to me.

With spying, torture, secret warrants, secret courts, heightened false terrorist threats, I just may become an ex-patriot from the country I truly love. If I go permanently, it will be like the jews who left Germany in 1932.

Am I overreacting? Perhaps. But what do I have to lose. If the country turns to a more reasonable condition in five years, I have a nice winter home in the tropical city of Ilo-Ilo. If things get worse, I'll have a beautiful home in a friendly country, where I won't get involved in politics.

Only trouble is, I hope the Philippines stays peaceful.

[sojourner]

1. i am working on just such a plan...it's off-track monetarily for moment

but the idea is to have a comfortable and available property "off-shore" so as to get away from the US designs on our freedoms. Problem is, are they going to truly institute that "one-world" gov't? the one with "global domination" capacity? And are they going to work as hard as ever to keep democracy unseated everywhere that it might take hold?

[louis c]

3. My advantage

is that my wife and are are childless.

There were times when we thought that this was a hole in our lives, but as time has gone on, it has left us with far more options. We have no children or grand-children to leave behind, so our plan is easier to complete.

I still think the odds are that we have two residences, but it's getting to feel better that there are more options, just in case.

[elehhhhna]

2. I'm horning in on my distant family , err, familie, in Holland.

[sojourner]

4. hmmmm.....i'm not so sure my distant family (clan?) in Scotland would be

too happy with seeing me. they are landed gentry (earls, dukes and all that sort of thing).

[louis c]

5. I like it warmer

[elehhhhna]

11. As do I but my second cousin keeps his teak sailboat in the south

of France lol

[InkAddict]

6. What's your tipping point?

I've thought about it, but I've yet to get a passport. If it comes to what? will you leave? At that point, do you think the (air)ports will be open at either end of the lines? We've got family in a Central American country the Repukes have already fu*k with big time, so perhaps they're ready to leave it alone for a while. (Don't really know about that either, because maternal heritage leads to an especially out-of-favor politico)



Yo hablo enspanol un poco - Feliz Navidad, Agent Mike!

[OnionPatch]

7. My first thought was

your last line: I hope the Philipines stays peaceful. And I admit I know next to nothing about the Philipines, but so many countries around the world are run corruptly by their own brand of right-wingers who are often puppets of our right-wingers. How many places are that much better than here? Is there really any place to escape from right-wingers and the disasters the neocons are bringing onto the world?

I suppose if something really horrible happened here like extended marshall law, civil war, nuclear attacks, (from some of our many new enemies) or God forbid they start rounding up the liberals, it would be good to have somewhere to go. Geez, in any of these cases.....can we come visit you? ;)

[louis c]

8. Ilo-Ilo

is supposed to be located in the most peaceful of the 6,000 Philippine islands. My wife is the smartest person I've ever personally known, speaking five languages and a degree in accounting.

I don't know exactly what my tipping point is, but as a supreme court justice described pornography, "I'll know it when I see it". And when that day comes, I want out.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

9. My husband and I plan on going to Ireland.

We own a home there, it's leased to a tenant right now, but all we have to do is give him two months notice and we can move right back in.

I think that if the Repukes retain control after 2008, it will be a definite.

[Robert Cooper]

10. Is there an exit strategy from the American Empire?

I'm living on the edge of a forest that stretches past Hudson bay, and I -know- I'm not far enough away to avoid the collateral damage that will arise when (wish I could say "if") America goes empire.

I know running away will buy some time, but what of the generations that follow?

All I can say is: you'd better win those next two elections and re-educate Americans who dream of empire. The world will know no peace otherwise.

[madokie]

12. I guess I'll just have to stick it out, being poor, white and disabled

[freestyle]

13. Canada, but will that be far enough.

El Hajj Malik El Shabazz said that the south is everything below the Canadian border. For many, the Underground Railroad continued to Canada, so there is some history to this. It pains me that my partner and I could go to Canada and become citizens, but there are major moves to deny us citizenship in our own country.

I also have relatives in Denmark. I suppose I could learn the language. I still remember a little German, so that could tide me over.