I often get emails asking me the conditions under which I would choose to stay in the United States and not leave in 2025. Sometimes people ask, “Who could be elected that would convince you to stay?”
No one. America is not a fixable system anymore. Our last chance to turn things around was during the mid to late 1990s, and that was 20 years ago. Bernie Sanders or Trump nor Ron Paul nor God himself could fix the United States at this point if he was elected president. The car has already driven off the cliff, the two front tires are in the air, and your only option is to jump out of the car or grab the steering wheel and hope you don’t die. Turning the wheel left or right isn’t going to help at this point.
So is there anything that could happen that would convince me to stay? Yes. Two things, both very unlikely to occur in the next 10 years.
The first would be if someone invents something in the next 10 years which completely revolutionizes the entire world and brings prosperity to all. Think John Galt’s static electricity generator. Something that creates limitless energy with no pollution that’s super cheap, for example.
Odds of this actually happening before 2025? Possible, but very low. I’m not holding my breath.
The second thing would be secession, something I’ve discussed on this blog several times before. If one or more of the states in the US actually has the balls to secede from the union and it’s clearly run by folks who are for small government, I will either move to that state or delay my escape from the US a little while to see if any other states follow suit.
States giving the federal government the middle finger and actually seceding from the union, not talking about it or threatening it (Texas), but actually doing it, is the only action that would convince me that Americans were actually waking up and tired of being abused by its big government and big banks.
If even one state did this, it would be a game-changer for the US, and things would get very exciting. Then yes, I would probably stay, at least for a while longer.
Other than those two things, nothing would convince me that Americans (and their European brothers, who are even worse off) aren’t headed down a slow path of destruction. It doesn’t matter who gets elected or what jerkwads in office promise or which latest group of angry citizens protest.
What did Occupy Wall Street accomplish? What did the Tea Party accomplish? In both cases, nothing. Both government and the banks are far bigger and more powerful since both these mobs wasted their time protesting the inevitable (even if I agree with some of their views).
Technological revolution or secession, that’s it. Both likely at some point, but not in the next 10 years, and I’m not waiting longer than that.
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Netbug
Posted at 07:32 am, 21st January 2016I was under the impression that no state was allowed to secede after the fourteenth amendment?
Caleb Jones
Posted at 10:49 am, 21st January 2016Correct. But since the US federal government regularly violates the first amendment, second amendment, fourth amendment, fifth amendment, etc, etc, etc, it doesn’t really matter.
Any time a federal politician complains someone is doing something unconstitutional I just laugh. Most of today’s federal government is unconstitutional.
Fraser Orr
Posted at 02:15 pm, 21st January 2016How about if a financial amendment to the Constitution were passed? One that required a balanced budget and that eliminated all taxes and tax agencies and replaced them with a single, 10% national retail sales tax.
Very unlikely ‘ll grant you but it would save the country. (all those other social issues can be dealt with through competition among the states who are now but simple whores for the federal dollar.)
Two other points worth considering: first of all have you ever looked at the Free State Project. Essentially it is a covenant among libertarians that once they get above a certain number of commitments that they will all move the New Hampshire at the same time and use the power of their votes to turn it into a much more libertarian place.
Second, if, as you predict, the American and European economies do collapse into chaos, did you consider the fact that all those places you plan to escape too will also collapse, since everywhere is dependent on the US similar economies. Especially so some of the places you are taking about like Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore. Without the US and Europe they would collapse, and in the case of China, revert back to the tyranny that comes so naturally to the current leaders of China.
Perhaps some little beach resort in Costa Rica where you can’t make much money, but you don’t need much, and they have pretty decent healthcare.
Caleb Jones
Posted at 03:14 pm, 21st January 2016Yeah man I’d love that. I’ve been recommending pretty much exactly that for about 20 years. It’s never going to happen though. Look how popular Bernie Sanders is.
Yes, in detail. I support and applaud their efforts, but it doesn’t look like enough people are actually moving there to make any noticeable difference.
I addressed that in Objection Number 6 in this article here:
http://www.blackdragonblog.com/2012/08/26/why-im-moving-out-of-the-country-in-a-few-years/
Steven
Posted at 05:20 pm, 21st January 2016Do you think the US is eventually heading for some kind of civil war?
Especially if/when the Feds go for the guns?
Caleb Jones
Posted at 07:57 pm, 21st January 2016No.
Americans have grown too fat, lazy, and comfortable, and that includes the vast majority of the angry, gun-toting Donald Trump right-wingers. In the 18th and 19th century we were a nation of entrepreneurs and rugged frontiersman. Today we’re a bunch of fat cubicle worker beta males bitching about our wifi on our iPhones. We are not the type of people to start shooting our fellow countrymen in the streets no matter how mad we get. That would require us getting off the couch and having our wives yell at us. Not gonna happen.
They will never go for the guns. That’s a right-wing bogey-man story. The Feds are corrupt and evil, but they aren’t stupid. They have no problem going after the occasional gun-loving nutjob in his forest cabin, but they’re not going to take on 100 million armed Americans.
Remember, the Feds are those same fat cubicle workers too. They’re unionized government employees waiting to retire. They have no interest in getting shot.
Han
Posted at 06:45 am, 23rd January 2016What do you think about Canada?
Caleb Jones
Posted at 12:22 pm, 23rd January 2016Second nicest people in the world behind the Fijians, socialist and left-wing as hell (particularly in the east), good currency, beautiful country, Quebec needs to secede.