As much as I would love to leave the USA, I financially can't

[geekboy009]

I’m scared and frightened, i have a disability called cerebral palsy living off of social security and I’m scared that is going to be cut. We got brain dead morons voting for an authoritarian because they don’t like the price of eggs. Even if the price of eggs got up to fifty bucks, I would have still voted for Kamala Harris to keep out a madman. I would love to leave the USA but I financially can’t so I must continue to fight. .Does anyone know how I can contact Nikki Fried because something needs to be done about Florida

[maveric]

1. Same here.

But where would I go? What country would allow me in? Not many decent nations would welcome us in nowadays.

So, as a Boomer, I will endure.

[geekboy009]

3. Good advice

[JCMach1]

2. I gave up on FL, my native sate after 2002 and left permanently

In 2015 for the final time

[geekboy009]

4. My goal now is to make Florida a swing state again

[SoCalDavidS]

26. Not Going To Happen For Several Decades

Every election we have to hear how FL or TX are going to be in play. Forget it.

[Mariana]

32. You'll be at it for a long time.

Republican voting retired Boomers have been pouring into the state for years, from all over the country.

[Deuxcents]

6. Where did you go? I've thought about leaving but where to go and will a blue state stay blue?

Never dreamed we’d be in this mess in Florida

[geekboy009]

10. Please don't leave

We need people like you to stop the bleeding

[Deuxcents]

11. Yeah..my family has been here for over a hundred years now..still have lots of family here

Sometimes the grass looks greener somewhere else but at this point in my life, I gotta stay and keep voting blue. Just wish it wasn’t so expensive these days..

[geekboy009]

13. When you think about it, trump did three points worse than desantis

All is not lost

[Deuxcents]

16. 🤗

[JCMach1]

12. Dubai in 2003... Then moved to TX in

2015...

I saw way too many things inside the Florida Democratic Party when I ran for the Legislature in 02.

The Florida Democratic Party is barely the Concept of a state party.

I say that as someone who spent years trying to build it up.

[geekboy009]

14. How do we fix that image?

[JCMach1]

21. My last involvement with the party was 2003

Just bad choice after bad choice. Few resources. Poor fundraising. Shifting demographics. Ineffectual coordinated opposition.

The gerrymandering was/is horrific and that has skewed power and money for a generation now.

Those democrats who do get elected tend to be Mecrats... Not interested in building a party, or movement... To the extent they will collaborate against Dems to maintain power and position.

It's a shiteshow

[Deuxcents]

19. Yeah, but Texas? My son lives near San Antonio

My Florida boy loves it there so he won’t be back ☹️. Been almost 12 years now but my grandkids are still in Miami and all grown n on their own.

[Deuxcents]

5. Nikki Fried contact info..

Office. 833.868.3352
Email. [e-mail]

As a Floridian, I’m so proud of her. As to your post..I am in the same boat as you, almost. I’m not on a disability but I’m a senior and concerned about financials after this election. The insurance rates in this state are hard to take and…you know the rest. We may end up like they did in my grandmother’s family..all living together in a big house and pooling their funds together so things were manageable and not necessarily family these days. Hope you get the help you’re looking for with Ms Fried 🌺

[geekboy009]

8. Thank you

We used to be such a moderate state before trump came along. I would like us to go back to that category instead of being a literal laughingstock of the country

[geekboy009]

9. Thank you

It’s just hard to know that we are surrounded by morons

[WarGamer]

15. Your SS won't be cut.

Don't believe fearmongers.

Literally no one is floating the idea of cutting benefits to current recipients.

[geekboy009]

18. Elon Musk is proposing a two trillion cut to the federal budget

It’s not like I’m making up stuff

[WarGamer]

20. SS cuts are not on the table for current recipients.

I've been watching it because my Mom is on it... and I'm just a few years away.

It's the third rail, won't be tounched.

More likely MAYBE we see the age bumped from 67 to 69 for those born after 1989 or something like that.

[Kaleva]

25. Musk isn't a member of Congress

No legislation cutting the benefits of current recipients has a chance of being passed by Congress.

[hamsterjill]

28. My sister has used the same independent agent for years for Medicare advice and enrollment. She has an Advantage Plan.

The point of this post is NOT the pros and cons of using an Advantage Plan.

The point is that the agent said they are all scared shitless about what's going to happen to senior care. She fully believes that there are hopes that seniors die off early, don't collect their Social Security, etc. The Republicans don't need the senior votes any more with Adolph Trump instilled as Fuhrer, so they will cut Medicare massively.

[XanaDUer2]

43. I'm on SSDI

and I'm terrified. I'm 59

[Sympthsical]

17. Don't worry. Most people declaring their intent on social media won't leave

It's just venting and grandstanding. Hollywood didn't suddenly depopulate after 2016.

Some vanishingly small amount of people will leave, but the overwhelming majority posting these things will not.

And, if we're being frank, most countries won't want the people making these declarations. Emigrating isn't like bouncing over to the next state. It can be a financial and legally tricky thing. A lot of it is, "I've been to Paris once. I shall move there now!" Oh, just like that? Ok!

And let's be franker. What does this sentiment really say about people? To me, it says their so-called deep caring about people is largely performative. Because they're revealing that once something they don't like happens, they'll leave everyone else in a ditch and use their cash to save themselves.

Which doesn't sound like what I'm told are our values, but who knows. The world's a wacky place now.

[geekboy009]

22. Well what if the country you lived in turned into an authoritarian country

Would you have the same opinion?

[Sympthsical]

23. To be honest

My opinion on unlikely hypotheticals is irrelevant. We are not that kind of country yet, and despite the festival of anxiety that social media has been built to fuel, I don't foresee that occurring in the near to mid future.

I do expect the next four years to be more difficult.

People who quit when things grow more difficult aren't aspirational figures for me. I don't know who they think they're signalling with this stuff, but I live two streets over.

[geekboy009]

24. I mean this country just elected an authoritarian for a second time

People says he is a fascist, he’s not that yet but he is an authoritarian

[Cirsium]

31. Festival of anxiety?

You expect the next four years to be "more difficult?"

I think you are seriously underestimating the danger and are being extremely callous about the millions who are justifiably terror stricken.

[Sympthsical]

41. Depends on what people focus on

If people read nothing but worst case scenarios all day every day, they're going to have a certain perception.

I'd rather work. It's as simple as that. When the pandemic hit, I started making choices. I didn't like how things were going, I didn't like that I felt like I wasn't contributing, so I went back to school. Earned degrees 25 years after getting my first one. Now I've been doing nursing clinicals this fall.

I made a choice that I saw hardship, that I saw something I could do to help - something where when I retire or die, I can look back on my life and say I contributed, that I was a net plus for humanity - and I got to work.

I see this situation as similar.

People make their choices. I don't choose despair. First off, it's not even vaguely interesting. It's indulgent. And if that sounds callous, so be it. But I see so many people feeding off each other's fear and anxiety, reinforcing it, strengthening it. It creates a loop of concentrated feelings of helplessness and hopelessness.

I don't want to buy into that. Pass. If others do, that's a choice they're making. I can't make anyone choose otherwise. But is very much a choice, make no mistake.

[Cirsium]

47. This is it

We are in the the worst case scenario, in my opinion. It will play out before all of the consequences pile up, but we are well down the road. It is a process, not an event. By the time the visible evidence is overwhelming and undeniable it is far, far too late.

Being honest about that does not necessarily lead to helplessness and hopelessness, it can lead to urgency and action. It also leads to organizing and collective action, as opposed to individual coping strategies and obsession with our own emotional state.

When the house is on fire we face the emergency and take action. I was caught in a wildfire once, and it was amazing to see so many people leap into coordinated action and work for hours to stop it and save the town. No one worried about their personal feelings, and sounding the alarm forcefully did not cause anyone to get discouraged or feel despair nor feel helpless or hopeless. People were not "feeding off of each other's fears."

If the fire had not been a real danger, then all of that might have been true. But it was a real danger. I say we are in real danger now, and that people being in denial is a greater risk than people being alarmist.

That all said, I see validity in your point of view and I applaud you for your response to the pandemic and your contribution to the greater good. Thank you also for taking the time to read my posts and for responding thoughtfully. I can see how you could take my posts as doom and gloom rather than as a call to action.

[Mariana]

33. A lot of my ancestors left their countries of origin.

I don't look down on them for it.

[Sympthsical]

40. So did mine

But if people can look at the America of 2024 and think, "Yeah, this is the Potato Famine all over again!"

I don't know what to say. Perceptions are not in sync with reality.

[geekboy009]

42. Well i don't blame folks wanting to leave

[Mariana]

48. Not every immigrant to the US was starving.

Plenty of them just wanted opportunities that weren't as available where they came from. I don't look down on them for it. No one owes allegiance to a particular piece of ground just because they happened to be born on it.

[Cirsium]

29. That depends

Were people wrong for fleeing Fascist Europe in the 30s? Are people wrong now who flee death squads in Latin America?

I was critical of someone here who flaunted their ability to leave at a time when so many cannot.

[EnergizedLib]

27. To anybody wanting to leave this country

There is no guarantee you will get the America you want if you stay.

But there is a guarantee you won’t get the America you want if you leave.

[Skittles]

30. I would never abandon my country to fascists

that's the way it always is - some cut and run and others do the fighting

[choie]

34. That really isn't fair to accuse people

of cutting and running. People are scared for their well being - and rightly so.

[Skittles]

49. and cutting and running solves that

guess what - a fascist America will affect the entire world

[Mariana]

35. So it has ever been.

We wouldn't have had much of a county if millions upon millions of people hadn't "cut and run" and landed here.

[DemonGoddess]

37. Not leaving

Immediately post election, I was pondering out loud out moving back to my home state of Illinois from Indiana. Then I calmed down. A little bit.

VP Harris actually had the best showing of a Democratic presidential candidate since President Obama in the popular vote. She was still shellacked, but not as badly as the prior two elections. In the gubernatorial race, our party had a better showing in the popular vote than it has seen in many years.

So, we gotta keep fighting.

[geekboy009]

38. I agree

[MineralMan]

39. Most people cannot afford to leave.

So, you're not alone. And, despite all the declarations to the contrary, most people who could afford to do it will not. Very few, percentage-wise, will emigrate to another country.

[geekboy009]

44. Very true

[GenThePerservering]

45. I'm staying and making a big

old mess - trolling gropers online, participating in helping build the resistance, supporting my state. I'll throw rocks and arm up if I have to. But refuse to run away. Many people in peril cannot afford to leave - who's going to help them if people just run?

[geekboy009]

46. I foolheartedly agree;