Some in U.S. voting with their feet

[Judi Lynn]

Some in U.S. voting with their feet

By Rick Lyman The New York Times Monday, February 7, 2005

VANCOUVER, British Columbia Christopher Key knows exactly what he would be giving up if he left Bellingham, Washington.
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"It's the sort of place Norman Rockwell would paint, where everyone watches out for everyone else and we have block parties every year," said Key, a 56-year-old Vietnam War veteran and former magazine editor who lists Francis Scott Key, who wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner," among his ancestors.
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But leave it he intends to do, and as soon as he can. His house is on the market, and he is busily seeking work across the border in Canada. For him, the re-election of George W. Bush was the last straw.
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"I love the United States," he said as he stood on the Vancouver waterfront, staring toward the Coastal Range, which was lost in a gray shroud. "I fought for it in Vietnam. It's a wrenching decision to think about leaving. But America is turning into a country very different from the one I grew up believing in."
.(snip/...)

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/02/06/news/refuge.html

[VegasWolf]

1. Canada is great but way too cold, I'm liking the Caymans or the

South of France.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. Give it a few years...

It'll be balmy year round.

[shanti]

13. that's what i'm talking about!

my son, 23, however, likes the idea of canada, bc, very much. i encourage him to emigrate if he is able to. he loves the cold, wet weather.

[radwriter0555]

24. The house is almost ready for market, I'm off to the South of France in

June.

I'm voting with my taxes and my feet.

[genieroze]

2. I can relate. eom

[Dez]

3. I lived in Bellingham

and I drove to Vancouver all the time. And I would experience how a FREE Country really is! This is NOT the America I grew up in, it's become a police state bent on conquering the rest of the world, and it's very scary to be here, cause they're going to push the wrong people too far someday, and it's going to backfire, and Americans will pay the price.

[Kimber Scott]

4. I love America, too. I just wish I knew where it went. nt

[DBoon]

5. America has become a foreign country to me

This is not the country I grew up in, where a corrupt politician like Nixon would get his own justice, where ordinary people counted and counld live a comfortable life, and where the rest of the world looked up to us (despite Vietnam).

If I emigrated, I wouldn't be moving to a foreign country, I'd be leaving one

[Dez]

7. Canada is like

the way we used to be, in a lot of ways. Lower crime rate, for one. It's just a better way of life in BC.

[shanti]

14. is it easy to emigrate...

for a young person?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

10. America as foreign country--

...I wouldn't be moving to a foreign country, I'd be leaving one.

That is beautifully and eloquently put! Thank you.

[theHandpuppet]

22. Great quote!

"If I emigrated, I wouldn't be moving to a foreign country, I'd be leaving one."

My partner and I were saying virtually the same thing just last night.

[genieroze]

6. Here is some help

http://www.canadianalternative.com/

[liberalhistorian]

16. Wow, what a great site!

Thanks, I'm gonna bookmark it and check it out.

[ConcernedCanuk]

8. And some are letting their "fingers do the walking"

.
.
.

From the same article:


In the Niagara of liberal angst just after Bush's victory on Nov. 2, the Canadian government's immigration Web site reported a surge in inquiries from the United States, to about 115,000 a day from 20,000.

/snip/

America is in no danger of emptying out. But even a small loss of population, many from a deep sense of political despair, is a significant event in the life of a nation that thinks of itself as a place to escape to.

/snip/

Melanie Redman, 30, assistant director of the Epilepsy Foundation in Seattle, said she had put her Volvo up for sale and hopes to be living in Toronto by the summer. She and her Canadian boyfriend, a Web site designer for Canadian nonprofit companies, had been planning to move to New York, but after Nov.2, they decided on Canada instead.

/snip/

Redman intends to apply for a conjugal visa, which can be easier to get than the skilled worker visa that most Americans require. To do so, she must prove she and her boyfriend have had a relationship for at least a year, so she has collected supporting paperwork, like love letters, to present to the Canadian government.

LINK TO FULL ARTICLE

So - does that give anyone any ideas ?

Start saving ur letters and e-mails to Canuks!

They just might come in handy

:toast:

[liberalhistorian]

15. Well, now, if I could just find a Canadian

husband, I'd be all set, lol! Actually, a friend of mine from high school, a fellow single mother, married a Canadian a few years ago. They lived apart for a year while they wrapped up their respective jobs and tried to decide where to live permanently. The election sealed it for them, and they moved to Vancouver, which is near where he grew up and where he still has family. GOD IN HEAVEN, how I envy her, lol!

Unfortunately, all of his friends and family are married, so they can't help me out in that respect. I'd move in a fucking heartbeat if I fell in love with a Canadian, that's for sure. Never, ever thought I'd say that. But then again, I never thought my country would turn into a living version of 1984, either. Whoever develops a "Marry a Canadian" dating site, or something like that (and a real one, not the parodies that are going around) is going to make a fortune.

[RCPJAP]

9. Speaks volumes whenever

the ancestor of the author of our national anthem leaves this country because it's no longer the America it should be.

[Yupster]

17. Reminds me of Lewis Armistead

His father was commander of Fort McHenry, the fort which the British bombarded all through the night, but the next morning when the smoke settled, the flag was still there. From the deck of a British warship, American lawyer Francis Scott Key admired Aristead's defense so much he set it to poetry and it became the Star Spangled Banner.

Armistead's son Lewis also rose high through the ranks all the way to Brigadier General.

He gallantly led his brigade across a mile of open ground, over a fence under continuous fire and right up to the enemy guns where he was mortally wounded.

When the attack was over, his division's Major General in command was asked where his three brigades were could only answer that he had no division left.

The General in charge of the army could commiserate with him. "It's all my fault," General Lee told the retreating soldiers of General Pickett's Division over and over again.

[LynnTheDem]

20. That really hit me too, ancestor of our national anthem wants out

:(

[burn the bush]

12. American refugees?

we shall be seeking asylum soon. What a sad state of affairs this chimp has brought us to. People fleeing America!

[AuntiBush]

18. And here all this time,

I've been voting with my "mind." Go figure... No, I think I'd rather not!

[AuntiBush]

19. You know...

I responded too hastily, with regards to the post title; sorry, no disrespect intended. Yet, isn't it sad! I mean truly sad. Because I bet everyone of us has thought the same thing, more then once. I know I have. Sad... I told my elderly relative today I can't hang my flag out anymore. She means too much to me to shame her.

I've lost that American feeling, that I once cherished, no longer feeling proud, rather ashamed, sickened, saddened and traumatized.

I miss the way it was, not that long ago and live with this heartbroken feeling that things will never, ever be the same and for what? The terrorist didn't prey upon us over and over again... no, our own leaders did. Shame on them but they do not care.

Sad. So, very very sad.

:sad:

[llmart]

21. I stopped hanging my flag out......

right after Bush stole the first election. I have always had a flag, but not any more. The rightwingers have co-opted it for themselves and now it comes to represent all the uneducated assholes who allowed this country to become a fascist state.

[yorkiemommie1]

26. i put my flag out on MLK day

because for all the years i've lived on this street, the flags have gone up for every holiday including dec. 7 and armed forces day but NOT MLK day. i've been the only one for almost 20 years. until this year. another house put up their flag.

even the one black family didn't.

but i haven't put it up on any other day.

the kerry guy down the street used to put his up every day, (refused to let it be co-opted-) but after this past election, i don't see it any more.

sad, because i was the first on my street to put out my flag on 9/11/01. now i have a dove and peace sign out.

[Cooley Hurd]

23. I'm an American in name only...

...and it pains me deeply to state that.

I'm deeply ashamed of my government and my neighbors who support it. Every time I see a "Power of Pride" or "These colors don't run" bumpersticker, I cringe. I feel a profound disdain for these people who, because of their apathy and laziness, have enabled this cancer of culture. :grr:

[cascadiance]

25. Become a "Virtual Canadian"...

if you aren't ready to move there just yet. I'm keeping my options open and probably will take a trip or two up to Vancouver later this year.

http://virtualcanadian.org/

[tlcandie]

27. Count me as a virtual New Zealander...!!! n/t

[mikita]

28. my house is closing this Thursday....

and my SO and I are working on our applications. Makes me sad to even say it... :cry:

[Earth_First]

29. We recently began our applications for passport, visa et. al

eom

[The Animator]

30. I wonder if I can transfer my citizenship to the U.N.?

I've often thought of myself not just as an American, but as a citizen of the world. I wonder if I can embrace that concept in practice as well as in theory.

To be a country to oneself... sorry, I'm not obligated to pay your income taxes, I'm a citizen of Charlie. Sorry, you can't arrest me for protesting your stupid war, I'm a citizen of Charlie, and have diplomatic immunity. Nope, you can't draft me either, I'm not an American, I'm a citizen of Charlie, and no, while it maybe small and poor, but it's not a member of the coalition of the willing.

[Mari333]

31. Really hard to get into Canada..I tried..

I guess Ill hunker down and keep living as cheaply as I can , it breaks my heart to see my kids starting out their adult lives in this country. I wish I would have moved out of here years ago, but Bush hadnt destroyed the USA back then.