I feel like it would be easier to just leave the country rather than doing all the stuff on that list. Back in 2021, I swore to myself that I would get out of the country before the next presidential election, because I figured we were in for some politically volatile times. And that’s exactly what I did. Now I don’t need to go full on prepper mode.
If you are also this concerned, I recommend you leave the country.
I took my inspiration from Albert Einstein. He was a smart guy. He saw what was happening in his country and made his exit a full year before Hitler came into power. This is the way.
You are correct about the amount of work and financial loss. Leaving the country involves most of the same activities as preparing to survive an authoritarian regime: the passport, leaving behind sentimental property, the foreign language coursework, currency hedging, saving up a bunch of money, selling the house, getting on the same page as the SO, thinking through how to deal with pets and dependents, currency conversions, and rethinking real-world friendships. That's because part of the purpose of the prep work for staying is to establish an escape route for leaving. No one who fantasizes about leaving the U.S. should think the list of things to
survive in the post-democratic U.S. is overblown.
However, moving to a faraway culture has its share of downsides. You'll probably never speak the language in a way that makes you sound educated, so you'll have a tough time getting anything better than menial employment. You'll be culturally awkward, and have a difficult time making friends - as if the language barrier wasn't bad enough. You'll miss the things from your old life that you used to like and can no longer get, and will have a hard time figuring out the new way to live and solve problems. In other words, even if you arrive with a fortune in cash, you'd still be broke in terms of social capital, and the crushing loneliness might drive you back into the jaws of the regime just for the sake of connecting with people again.
Then there is the risk that the same internet-based tsunami that sank the world's oldest and most powerful democracy could sink the government in whatever place you move to. Will you move again if the National Rally takes France, or the AfD takes Germany? And without the language skills, cultural competency, or interpersonal connections, how will you even gauge the danger? After the U.S. experience, what democratic country in the world is immune from having their elections swung to the fascists by Vladimir Putin's army of hackers and social engineers, or Silicon Valley's oligarchy? Moving does not equal safe (unless you can find a democracy that has outlawed social media and algorithmic news feeds).
So the value of the stay proposition is the chance to remain culturally competent, connected to people who care about you, taking pride in being part of the solution whatever that might mean, preserving one's foothold in a culture that might repair itself given enough time, and avoiding the unique risks associated with running away. The value of the leave proposition is reducing the risks of suddenly being cut off from leaving, avoiding the crowds trying to leave when things actually get bad, accepting the costs, and accepting the risks of bad things happening in the next place.
If someone takes all the steps involved with preparing to stay, they will have done 3/4ths of the work necessary to leave. So the question is whether this remaining 1/4th of the work is worth the positive risks of staying, or avoiding the negative risks of leaving.
Seen through this light, staying a bit longer - but doing the work - makes sense as advice for most people. If you have elderly dependents or pets who may need you for the last year or two of their lives, then you could still get all the other tasks underway now, and be prepared if the situation has gone downhill at the time of their demise.
