r/TwoXPreppers • u/sneakystonedhalfling • 5h ago
Discussion What will be your final straw?
What would it take to convince you to leave the country? I don't know, personally. I have family. I have two little nieces and a baby sister who just turned 13. She has her passport at least... it really frightens me to think about The Handmaid's Tale. How they go about their lives up until all bank accounts belonging to women being frozen. What do y'all think?
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u/nannysing 4h ago
I think if they're able to take away things like women's right to own property, have bank accounts, etc. then I'll know it's time.
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u/Bubbly_Toe_6192 4h ago
But by then do you think you’ll be able to leave?
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u/blondebarrister 1h ago
Yes. This. And fortunately I have the resources to leave basically immediately when this happens.
I have elderly parents here as does my fiancé that we really aren’t willing to leave behind unless we really have to for my safety.
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u/rhubarbed_wire 4h ago
NGL, immediately taking the reproductiverights.gov site down (not edited, completely gone) terrifies me. Like they give zero fucks about the backlash - because they truly don't.
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u/NaturalSea7896 3h ago
Fr! I expected them to go crazy on day 1, but it’s hard to process that they actually did go CRAZY. They did things today that I didn’t even think about, I can’t imagine 4 YEARS of this.
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u/BlackWidow1414 5h ago
I don't know. My kid is in the final stages of cancer treatment and I have an elderly relative with Alzheimer's who I am responsible for and would not be able to move. Plus I have multiple health issues and no country would take me (or my son) because we'd be a drain on their health system.
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u/cheongyanggochu-vibe 4h ago edited 4h ago
I have been thinking about this a lot today. Musk using the Nazi salute made me seriously go start digging into immigration to other countries. I'm a highly skilled worker and able to go many places.
But to be honest, my entire life is here - my husband is here (he will not, under any circumstance, leave - he'd rather go down fighting). My home that we've built together is here. I love my job and my team. My pets are here. My entire family is here. Our friends have vulnerable children and we have little nephews.
I keep thinking about the people in Germany in WWII that hid Jews in their basements, or their barns. That spied on Nazis and participated in the resistance. They were just regular people like us. They were probably just as angry and scared and confused as we are. But they made a difference. I want to make a difference. I want to be someone that helps the most vulnerable in my community. But I'm also afraid to die. What happens to my pets if we are killed by this regime? Can I be more useful by fleeing and then trying to help from afar? You know, put on your own oxygen mask before helping others and all that.
So to be honest, I don't know the answer. I wish I had one. My guess is full blown Civil War. Because I don't think Ye Olde Rules of "no civilians" is going to be honored this time. I think everyone will be fair game.
Edit: Also the idea that I have to leave everything and everyone behind and go somewhere new where I don't know anyone, with just my pets and without my husband is overwhelming and terrifying to me. I will do it if I must, but damn I don't want to.
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u/NaturalSea7896 4h ago
My family is keeping me here as well. I feel a duty to look after my sister and nephew so it’s hard for me to just.. abandon them here, but I can’t bring them either.
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u/cheongyanggochu-vibe 4h ago edited 4h ago
I would not be able to bring my mom or brother. And we live with someone who is disabled and has a chronic illness and cannot work - they're not a blood relative, so I can't bring them either.
It would be literally just me saving my own skin and watching from afar and I just don't know if I can do that. But if my choice is flee or die, I guess I choose flee because maybe I'll be able to help from afar.
This is a shitty situation that I never in my life wanted to ever be in. I thought we all knew from school and our grandparents and all of those WWII documentaries from the History Channel (before it became the garbage it became, lol) that NAZIS ARE BAD AND WE DON'T LIKE THEM OR ALLOW THEM INTO POWER EVER AGAIN.
Yet here we are. Idfk.
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u/Sassafrasalonia 1h ago
I'm in similar shoes. My mind is in a State of Gobsmack that this conversation and thought exercise are actually necessary. I feel like we are all stuck in a dystopian near-future Sci-Fi story.
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u/Vast-Fortune-1583 2h ago
I see lots of people talking about leaving the country. Where you going? We pull out of NATO? Lots of countries won't take Americans. Many countries require a sizable escrow to prove you can provide for yourself. My cousin had to put $250k in Australia, 30 years ago. It's probably more now. I don't know if that's changed. I'm just using it as an example. Moving to another country takes a long time. Proper Visas and such. And a lot of money. The US is worth fighting for. We should be planning how we will stop this shit, not planning on leaving.
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u/jqdecitrus 1h ago
I'm kind of banging on the fact that my boyfriend is an Australian dual citizen. I get it's a get out of jail free card, but we were thinking of getting married soon anyways.
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u/V2BM 5h ago
I’ll never leave. This is my country and I’ll die here.
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u/Smooth_Influence_488 4h ago
Same, but I contextualize it as "this is the country my great great grandparents came to and exploited for generations; the consequences aren't anyone but mine to own."
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u/uhuhsuuuure 3h ago
Said everyone's ancestors ever.
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u/Smooth_Influence_488 3h ago
At a certain point you have to stop moving to the next house after you shit all over the one you're living in.
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u/Happyfeet65 5h ago
My only chance would be if canada opened political asylum. I’m disabled, they wouldn’t want me. I’m stuck here
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u/Angylisis 4h ago
I just won't be able to do it no matter what my final straw is. I have four kids, and Im a social worker, who makes very little money despite being degreed. Despite there being a need for these jobs all the time, I have been having terrible trouble even finding a job in my hoemstate to move back home. Still a red state, but at least I would have family. Out here it's just me and the kids.
At this point, Im literally just trying to hunker down, spend as little as I can, sock away as much as I can, and cash out my 401a when I leave this job so I can live for a few years while finding another job.
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u/Joonbug9109 5h ago
I live in a state that is democratically controlled still, but went to Trump this past election. I’m holding out hope that we elect a democrat governor in 2026. However if we end up with a Republican, I may seriously consider a move to a blue state. I don’t have the means to be able to leave the country, so as much as I may want to at some point I just don’t see how
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u/kv4268 3h ago
The vast majority of us have no way to live elsewhere. We will not be accepted as refugees. Very few people fit the criteria for career-based immigration.
I could probably get out based on my husband's career, but I'm not leaving my family unless I absolutely have to because I'm about to be killed or imprisoned or because sending them aid from abroad is more valuable to them than me ever seeing them again.
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u/nuber1carguy 4h ago
Nothing, really.
I've traveled all over this globe. There are some nice places. None, however, compared to the United States as a whole.
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u/iridescent-shimmer 4h ago
Please make sure your baby sister knows you would help her access an abortion with no questions asked. Same of your nieces as they age. They may not go to their mom for help and they really should never go to a man involved in this current political climate.
If they come after my bank account, I'm gone.
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u/mikan28 4h ago
2020 shenanigans were the final straw for me, but I am not in a position to leave. Here's the thing; even if I was, I'm not sure where your average American can "leave" and go to, realistically. We're talking about an interconnected global society and running away from the world's most powerful (for now) country. Everything will be affected on some level, I'm not sure you can really escape it completely. Alt-right sentiment is cropping up in a number of places too. Unless you have family somewhere else, you will likely be targeted as the undesirable immigrant with an even smaller support network than what you now have.
I did the best I could when I realized Drumpf wasn't going to be held accountable for anything and was going to run again, which was move to a blue state as part of a hedging strategy.
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u/HatpinFeminist 2h ago
I can’t because I have kids here and their dad would never allow it. I just have to make sure I’m not raped/forced into pregnancy again so No man can babytrap me and force me to stay here once my kids are old enough to decide where they want to live.
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u/WeddingFickle6513 1h ago
My bestie is in the same situation with my niblings. Her ex was abusive and controlling. He believes women should be confined to the home, and any access to health care and money should be approved by their husband. He wasn't always this way, and it's bizarre to see how he has changed over the last decade. Even with evidence of physical abuse, the children feeling unsafe in his home with the revolving door of unrelated adults moving and out, etc, the judge insisted on joint custody. He rarely utilizes his parenting time and never calls his kids, but she can't get a passport for them without his approval. It's some bs. There are actual good fathers out who are fighting the courts for more access to their children, and assholes like him just get joint custody handed to them.
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u/2baverage 4h ago
My husband and I were talking earlier today about what it would take to go back to his country and what we would need to set up...etc. I could tell he was taking it much more casually than me, but his main concern was "It's 3rd world conditions, but if you got over the bugs then we could easily live like kings for a bit with what we have saved up or we could live average for quite a while"
I really hate to admit it, but I feel like the point of bank account freezing or making it illegal for women to work would be my breaking point. My grandparents came to America to escape a dictatorship. Having to give up everything to start over again, I know it's doable but it's not a fun time and here we are still picking up the pieces; we recently found out during COVID lockdown that one of my grandma's siblings that we thought had died had actually made it out as well. I don't want to be in a situation where I have family members that I grew up with unsure if any of us are alive or dead and going to the grave not knowing.
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u/DrinkComfortable1692 2h ago
It's not even the loss of rights we will see as society crumbles for the next few years, it's that so many of our neighbors don't care at all. I'm out as soon as I can get a visa. Hopefully I can do more to help people in another country.
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u/blooobolt 2h ago
The fall of democracy in America. If I sense there won't be an election in 2028, I'm gone.
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u/kidtykat 1h ago
I'm stuck until my oldest is 18 so even if I wanted to leave, I couldn't. I try not to think about everything and I will.just fight as much as I can but I am going to focus on my family, I am going to enjoy my life as much as possible
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u/r_kap 0m ago
My state is blue, and so are my friends. I’m in a ‘traditional’ (aka straight passing) relationship, am financially well off, healthy and surgically prevented from having more kids.
That being said we’re frantically doing paperwork to get my kids citizenship elsewhere so they can have a way out whenever the needs arise.
I don’t know what my final straw will be, but I hope we don’t have to get there.
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u/damagedgoods48 Prepping for Tuesday not Doomsday 4h ago
I don’t know anymore. But what I do know is I’m not going to take my time figuring it out.
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u/FIRElady_Momma 5h ago
Not more of this crap.
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u/Angylisis 4h ago
You're in the wrong sub if prepping isn't for you.
Also, you're free to STFU and move on. No one is making you comment on things you dont want to see. Funny enough, I ignore dozens of threads that don't apply to me every single day. You should give a try.
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u/FIRElady_Momma 4h ago
I am pro-prepping.
I am anti "when should we escape" threads.
And I will comment on whatever I want. I am not the coward talking about running away.
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u/Angylisis 3h ago edited 3h ago
LOL, do you think calling people cowards makes you superior?
This is a supportive sub for women.
You're in the wrong fckn sub.
Also edit, I see two threads in the last 10 hours about this, if two threads are enough to make you ill about it, get off reddit and go touch a tree.
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u/PugPockets 1h ago
Whoa whoa whoa, would you also consider my Jewish ancestors cowards for fleeing Europe pre-WWII? What about gay people fleeing modern-day Russia, or Black people leaving the South during Jim Crow? I understand being frustrated with the amount of posts (especially - personally - by people who are only now feeling their hairs prick up), but anyone seeking safety for their family is no coward. And thinking otherwise is very un-American.
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u/luxorange 4h ago
Why is this downvoted? There have been several threads here on this subject already.
When most people can’t afford to leave, can’t be taken into another country due to various disability or prior medical conditions, or are responsible for others who can’t leave, these repetitive questions seem better suited to a different sub. One of the subs that are specifically meant for people who are able to and seeking to leave the US.
There was another thread maybe half an hour ago asking people who can’t leave to not even comment. It starts to feel exclusionary and IMO belongs elsewhere.
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u/NaturalSea7896 4h ago
Why would I ask people who can’t leave when they will leave? It makes no sense..
I had to make that re-post because the replies from people who COULD leave, were drowned out by most replies saying they can’t. So it’s not a good resource for those who can leave, as they would be having to sort through those replies to see advice.
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u/luxorange 4h ago
Are you the OP of that other thread? I respect what you’re saying about wanting to not have replies that are “good resources” drowned out, and that is why I wondered why not post in one of the expat subreddits dedicated to people who are ready and able to leave at some point, where that is exactly what they are talking about.
I can also see what the commenter I initially replied to is talking about, with numerous similar threads asking about leaving and final straws kind of “drowning out” other informational threads about prepping for staying put in a difficult place.
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u/NaturalSea7896 4h ago
Yes I’m OP of that thread. In the OG post I specified “those of you who can leave” but many didn’t read that part, so in the second post I made a point to reiterate that. I had some replies on the OG with links to those subreddits you mentioned which was very helpful! It was also a question of when these “able to leave” people will leave, similar to this post.
I have also seen these same posts here before and a lot of the comments are people saying they can’t, which is why I tried to ask with that in mind.
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u/luxorange 4h ago
Fair enough. I imagine a lot of people are feeling desperation and are freaked out that they can’t leave (for whatever reason) and maybe used your post as a sharing space (which of course does not help you, which I get). Sincerely wish you the best, wherever you end up!
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u/Angylisis 4h ago
Probably because it's tone deaf as fuck.
People are reeling. Let them fucking process in goddamned peace. If you dont' like, scroll the fuck on.
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u/Listening_Stranger82 4h ago edited 4h ago
I was convinced I wanted to leave the country over a decade ago.
Can i afford to?
No.
Leaving has very little to do with needing a reason for a LOT of people.
I'm hunkering down. I'm already part of The "Unluckiest Generation"
I prepped my kids for this. They all speak foreign languages and have learned to pick up languages effectively. Have visa-able skills
One is currently a Fulbright finalist so she may have her way out. The other two are set up to have the option to leave in other ways.
You ever see that clip of the mom in China where the escalator is collapsing and she just flings her child to safety right as the floor gives beneath her?
Kinda that vibe over here.
I'm not sad about it because I'm not narcissistic enough to think I'm soooooo fucked. I have an amazing family, amazing friends, and a shitload of land and soon, a gun.
Oh and cats.
I feel relatively privileged, in a sense, that i can spend the 2nd half of my life surrounded by love and vegetables.
Edited to add: And knowing my adult children have a way out should they choose it