mmcirvin: (Default)
mmcirvin ([personal profile] mmcirvin) wrote2004-10-21 09:05 am

Go to Ohio!

I've heard a lot of Americans insist that if Bush wins the election they are going to flee to Canada. Statements of this sort are pretty common in presidential election seasons.

If you are having such thoughts, please consider the following. I have nothing, in general, against people moving to other countries. There's certainly no danger of the US becoming depopulated, since people continue to move here. But I do have a problem with people fleeing because the wrong person won the election, because it's a positive feedback cycle. Seen from the perspective of a dissenter, by taking their dissenting opinions away they're making it worse here. Furthermore, it isn't as if they're going to escape all the consequences of the US going completely nutty by going somewhere else.

There are cases in which fleeing is logical. If you have a good reason to believe that you'll be killed by the authorities if you delay leaving any longer, by all means go. I don't think that the US is quite there yet, at least for the case of most American liberals. Sadly, if I had an Arabic name I might think differently.

If you're not in that situation, and you're currently announcing your conditional desire to flee the country, consider this alternative. If you're really willing to pack up and leave everything you know for political reasons, why not move to a swing state instead? Maximize your leverage! It seems to me that in the category of solutions involving moving somewhere, this is the easiest way to stand and fight. It's easier than emigrating, too.

[identity profile] pentomino.livejournal.com 2004-10-21 06:06 pm (UTC)(link)
With that in mind, stop anointing our President. He's got a bit of a swelled head.
ext_8707: Taken in front of Carnegie Hall (teeth)

[identity profile] ronebofh.livejournal.com 2004-10-21 11:21 pm (UTC)(link)
If his head's swollen, you're anointing the wrong thing.

[identity profile] tempest0402.livejournal.com 2004-10-22 01:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Agreed.

[identity profile] mmcirvin.livejournal.com 2004-10-22 01:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Actually, it's funny you'd mention that: when I got my So You've Become A God Starter Kit in the mail, it included this little telephone that apparently connects to the mystery bulge under Bush's jacket. That's actually an additional, dorsally-mounted brain lobe installed especially for God-related communications.

So I've spent most of the last 24 hours telling him about the menace of the fire monkeys. Look for a major fire-monkey-related address in coming days.