What , Linda, is the German Government saying about all this. Ukraine being so much closer the implication is if it ‘goes down’, there are so many avenues ..Will the American People when they see the projected onslaught a reality …Will the rest of the stop gaps concede …or perhaps I should ask what are the stop gaps…anyone?
Even contemplating moving from this bleeding red state ( 70.2%) is gut wrenching and 2 months would not be enough time to divest.
Patricia, the current German government is not happy with the outcome of the US election but Chancellor Scholz congratulated Trump and also went to Putin to ask for peace in Ukraine. I feel that action put a target on Germany as if to say, "harass us!" Groveling to Putin right when his buddy won in the US with Putin's help, is not showing "strength."
The EU stands behind Ukraine, except for a couple of Putin affiliated former Soviet countries like Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia. However, Trump remains the wild card in the equation and from what I read in foreign affairs media, he is likely to be the agent of chaos and uncertainty as illiberal leaders like to do.
Germany has its own political problems because we do not have a legitimate government right now. It is a coalition government as things work differently here, made of 3 parties, which are all democratic and mostly liberal. However, with a disagreement about the budget, one of the parties was kicked out, and that means that the 2 remaining ones do not have a majority anymore. Thus it is not legitimately governing. So, in mid December the parliament will have a vote of confidence in Scholz, which he is not expected to win, and then the people vote in an early election in February. Interestingly enough, the AfD candidate is Alice Weidel. She is a lesbian and does not want to be called Queer. Her partner lives in Austria and Switzerland. Her partner is of Sri-lanken descent and lives in Switzerland where she is a tv and film lead producer. While she may support getting gas from Putin again and not supporting Ukraine, I do not see Putin welcoming her since she stands for a lot of things he is against. Like childless women. JD Vance and Trump would not respect her either. So, that is the fascist leader here.
Germany has a law that parties that violate the constitution cannot exist. Currently it is being questioned whether the AfD can even exist, but this process moves very slowly. The Constitutional Court is there to support the constitution, and that is part of the reason there is a problem with the budget, the constitution does not allow Germans to go over budget unless there is an emergency. The chancellor wants to say the economy is an emergency, while the finance minister from a different party that is very fiscally conservative did not agree. So, we may end up with a CDU Chancellor. We shall see.
In Germany I live in a city with a different coalition than we have in the Federal government. It is Social Democrat-Green-Left. It is different by one party and that makes us more left. You could say it is like a Blue State, which is what I left behind. Safety was a big concern. However, I still have a home in the USA where my husband is based for work, and our nephew is living there too while working on his PhD, and these are not things one can easily divest from either. My husband is transitioning here.
When recommending that people make a plan B. It would not expect it to be achieved in 2 months, but at least thought of. I started my plans for my daughter to go to university here 12 years ago when she brought it up as a horse positive move. For us this move was thought of over 6 years ago. I moved a little over a year ago. One part of my consideration was climate change. I picked northern Germany because it just gets less hot in the summer. There are other problems like rain, and flooding that one has to be wary of everywhere here. I would be looking at environmental factors and financial factors. We picked a smaller, less expensive, progressive city that has a lower cost of living, relatively clean air, and water that is located near family in the neighbor state. Chicago has the 3rd most polluted air in the USA. My daughter and I have asthma so that is a factor in leaving it too.
Coming from a high crime city in the USA, because of guns, guns, guns, to a relatively low crime city in Germany because of no guns, guns, guns, I feel so much safer. However, if I were to pick a place to go with lower crime than Germany overall, it would be Austria, or Ireland. Here is the global peace index. The US is at 132. Germany used to be at 15, but has dropped down to 20. Still, that puts it still in the green. The US is heading towards the red zone.
I would use these same criteria when picking a State. Wish they had such a safety map for the US. I would be considering what environmental factors does it have? Clean air? Not Chicago. Clean water? Chicago has access to Lake Michigan and they clean the water. Is it a Blue State? Illinois is. What is the climate? More people are dying from heat than cold, but still cold weather climates have their own costs and stressors. Just know that FEMA will reduce the support it provides under the incoming administration. Disasters will be a local expense along with most things. Canada is looking better and better. However, housing there is expensive.
It is like any relationship, think of what you want and then see who has that. But moving is gut wrenching unless you are fed up. I am much less stressed than I would be if I were in Chicago right now. That could change if there is a spreading war in Europe. But, the election of Trump is showing the EU that they need to stick to each other and not rely on the US. There are many who have felt that for a long time.
The question is where is Trump's battle front? Europe or Asia?
Seeing the criteria makes choices so important for sure. Our remote rural living was a choice 50+ years ago , farming, organic, living with the land , helping our neighbors and community, teaching ,mentoring the whole best we could togetherness.My career devoted to those most often forgotten or unable to fend for themselves,it was natural logic for me, and love for music these old hills are so rich in as are many others. We live ‘making from scratch’ a lifestyle utilizing all that is given from nature and compliments back. Self sufficient is an odd term I feel as ‘in tune’ requires more equality that human nature is pointedly remiss in, blaming is the cons game. So many people have too little yet do best they can..and the pendulum still swings.
Someone always has to be last , history has never written otherwise , an ethereal level playing field …is far more in the animal world than human nature especially noting the (questionable) development of the brain over the time allotted ..so far
Applause for the many who work steadily to make life better despite the odds.
Patricia, I am glad that what I am writing is connecting with someone. It was a plan of mine to start doing that after the election. Your remote rural living sounds very idyllic. I love the sense of community it sounds like you have. I would be interested to hear how you made farming work. Did you grow up with farming or how did you learn to do it?
Your life shares some elements to one of the members of my book club here. He is from a reservation in Oklahoma and he works in tech, but does organic farming in Bavaria. I don't know his whole story, but interesting that he goes to a different continent and does bio farming. Since he works in tech, he can work from home. He lives there together with his German girlfriend.
I knew that people retired and moved and I could not imagine it because the places in the US that seems to draw people to retire did not appeal to me. I am very happy being retired in Germany because I am building a new community, and in some ways have a lot in common with the people I am meeting. My German friends have a cultural connection, and the traditions are really nice. My city now has already put up the Christmas market. I was in the city center and saw people standing at booths drinking mulled wine or eating potato pancakes. The lights were on, and people were together with small groups of friends enjoying the yearly ritual of the markets. I can enjoy this and still keep in touch with friends I don't see that often in the states even when I am living there, but we communicate using Signal.
It was an unusual childhood, Linda. Rural, on the ocean- farmers and fishermen, but interspersed with theater , famous people who loved the Simple Life /stayed with us or we met doing summer theater or guests of local Community Concerts, farming became more a hobby , as the whole art died ‘our’grandparents survived the depression with and the 60’s revolution. I’d round up that whole as balanced hardship , a changing world , and lots of blessed love..isn’t that what we do -try to maintain the balances?
Yes. It sounds like it was interesting and fulfilling. And yes, we do try to maintain the balances. It is something we will want to be maintaining during the incoming administration, because Trump as a chaos agent, will be trying to throw us out of equilibrium.
I totally agree with this. He is a chaos agent, and we do need to take things he says with a grain of salt, and look at actions. I wonder how England is feeling when Trump is trying to take Canada from them, and Musk is supporting the Nigel Farage. It is 1984. Our allies are now on the outs, and our former enemies are our allies.
I very much appreciate your "Plan B" article and have sent it on to several friends still living in the US. I departed decades ago but I have not for one moment regretted moving to a much more civilized country. I was dismayed and disgusted by my government's actions way back then....what's going on today is truly unfathomable. Yes, uprooting oneself is difficult, and easier when younger, but still so worth it. My very best to all who may be considering departing...there really are better, easier and safer places to live.
Liz, uprooting is hard. When my husband and I read When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr, we said, we have to be able to leave a place if necessary. Of course, when it is necessary is different for different people.
Thank you Linda. I'm sure this will be most helpful to many folks. Although I would love a 'Plan B, C, or even D, I don't see options that would include myself.
I agree there should be more options. One thing that is not in that, but is certainly coming up in concern in Europe is the topic of war. Here is a piece I wrote on that.
During Trump's first term, I applied for and received Irish citizenship. I was able to do this because my grandfather was born in Ireland, but it still took 3 years to finalize--mostly due to covid. So very glad I did it then--now, I have somewhere to go, even though I am retired!
Linda, I moved to Germany at retiring after helping get my mother set up after she had a stroke. Actually there are a lot of people who move for retirement, so whether it be to another state or another country, there are reasons to move to make it easier to be retired.
Look at these 3 statistics because they contributed to the decision.
Germany is better for safety than the US, which is at 132. Germany just makes it in the top 20 and when I moved here it was at 15. https://www.visionofhumanity.org/maps/#/
And cost of living is better in Germany. Something that is obvious when one is living here.
For retirement these are important things to consider. Since I speak German, although it is still growing by living here, I am able to manage the bureaucracy aspects of switching to here although there have been challenges. I have German family and friends and expats American friends who helped me make the adjustment too. My husband is still working so he is back and forth more than I am. Our daughter just started university in Germany in 2023.
I know that Ireland's cost of living is higher than Germany, but lower than the US, and for that, it is really high on the safety score at 2. It also is high in the health care index. Good reasons to retire in Ireland and have what I suspect can in many ways be a less stressful life. Then, you can support the US from abroad.
I tried to print " Indivisible: A Practical Guide..." but it isn't in printer friendly format--the title on every page cuts off the first couple of inches of print. Do you have a link to printable format??
This is probably one of THE best articles about moving forward I have read since the election.
Thank you for this post. Much-needed!
What , Linda, is the German Government saying about all this. Ukraine being so much closer the implication is if it ‘goes down’, there are so many avenues ..Will the American People when they see the projected onslaught a reality …Will the rest of the stop gaps concede …or perhaps I should ask what are the stop gaps…anyone?
Even contemplating moving from this bleeding red state ( 70.2%) is gut wrenching and 2 months would not be enough time to divest.
Some very interesting conversations today.
Patricia, the current German government is not happy with the outcome of the US election but Chancellor Scholz congratulated Trump and also went to Putin to ask for peace in Ukraine. I feel that action put a target on Germany as if to say, "harass us!" Groveling to Putin right when his buddy won in the US with Putin's help, is not showing "strength."
The EU stands behind Ukraine, except for a couple of Putin affiliated former Soviet countries like Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia. However, Trump remains the wild card in the equation and from what I read in foreign affairs media, he is likely to be the agent of chaos and uncertainty as illiberal leaders like to do.
Germany has its own political problems because we do not have a legitimate government right now. It is a coalition government as things work differently here, made of 3 parties, which are all democratic and mostly liberal. However, with a disagreement about the budget, one of the parties was kicked out, and that means that the 2 remaining ones do not have a majority anymore. Thus it is not legitimately governing. So, in mid December the parliament will have a vote of confidence in Scholz, which he is not expected to win, and then the people vote in an early election in February. Interestingly enough, the AfD candidate is Alice Weidel. She is a lesbian and does not want to be called Queer. Her partner lives in Austria and Switzerland. Her partner is of Sri-lanken descent and lives in Switzerland where she is a tv and film lead producer. While she may support getting gas from Putin again and not supporting Ukraine, I do not see Putin welcoming her since she stands for a lot of things he is against. Like childless women. JD Vance and Trump would not respect her either. So, that is the fascist leader here.
Germany has a law that parties that violate the constitution cannot exist. Currently it is being questioned whether the AfD can even exist, but this process moves very slowly. The Constitutional Court is there to support the constitution, and that is part of the reason there is a problem with the budget, the constitution does not allow Germans to go over budget unless there is an emergency. The chancellor wants to say the economy is an emergency, while the finance minister from a different party that is very fiscally conservative did not agree. So, we may end up with a CDU Chancellor. We shall see.
In Germany I live in a city with a different coalition than we have in the Federal government. It is Social Democrat-Green-Left. It is different by one party and that makes us more left. You could say it is like a Blue State, which is what I left behind. Safety was a big concern. However, I still have a home in the USA where my husband is based for work, and our nephew is living there too while working on his PhD, and these are not things one can easily divest from either. My husband is transitioning here.
When recommending that people make a plan B. It would not expect it to be achieved in 2 months, but at least thought of. I started my plans for my daughter to go to university here 12 years ago when she brought it up as a horse positive move. For us this move was thought of over 6 years ago. I moved a little over a year ago. One part of my consideration was climate change. I picked northern Germany because it just gets less hot in the summer. There are other problems like rain, and flooding that one has to be wary of everywhere here. I would be looking at environmental factors and financial factors. We picked a smaller, less expensive, progressive city that has a lower cost of living, relatively clean air, and water that is located near family in the neighbor state. Chicago has the 3rd most polluted air in the USA. My daughter and I have asthma so that is a factor in leaving it too.
Coming from a high crime city in the USA, because of guns, guns, guns, to a relatively low crime city in Germany because of no guns, guns, guns, I feel so much safer. However, if I were to pick a place to go with lower crime than Germany overall, it would be Austria, or Ireland. Here is the global peace index. The US is at 132. Germany used to be at 15, but has dropped down to 20. Still, that puts it still in the green. The US is heading towards the red zone.
https://www.visionofhumanity.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/GPI-2024-A3-map-poster.pdf
I would use these same criteria when picking a State. Wish they had such a safety map for the US. I would be considering what environmental factors does it have? Clean air? Not Chicago. Clean water? Chicago has access to Lake Michigan and they clean the water. Is it a Blue State? Illinois is. What is the climate? More people are dying from heat than cold, but still cold weather climates have their own costs and stressors. Just know that FEMA will reduce the support it provides under the incoming administration. Disasters will be a local expense along with most things. Canada is looking better and better. However, housing there is expensive.
It is like any relationship, think of what you want and then see who has that. But moving is gut wrenching unless you are fed up. I am much less stressed than I would be if I were in Chicago right now. That could change if there is a spreading war in Europe. But, the election of Trump is showing the EU that they need to stick to each other and not rely on the US. There are many who have felt that for a long time.
The question is where is Trump's battle front? Europe or Asia?
Interesting, Linda, I so enjoyed .
Seeing the criteria makes choices so important for sure. Our remote rural living was a choice 50+ years ago , farming, organic, living with the land , helping our neighbors and community, teaching ,mentoring the whole best we could togetherness.My career devoted to those most often forgotten or unable to fend for themselves,it was natural logic for me, and love for music these old hills are so rich in as are many others. We live ‘making from scratch’ a lifestyle utilizing all that is given from nature and compliments back. Self sufficient is an odd term I feel as ‘in tune’ requires more equality that human nature is pointedly remiss in, blaming is the cons game. So many people have too little yet do best they can..and the pendulum still swings.
Someone always has to be last , history has never written otherwise , an ethereal level playing field …is far more in the animal world than human nature especially noting the (questionable) development of the brain over the time allotted ..so far
Applause for the many who work steadily to make life better despite the odds.
I so enjoy reading your posts.
Patricia, I am glad that what I am writing is connecting with someone. It was a plan of mine to start doing that after the election. Your remote rural living sounds very idyllic. I love the sense of community it sounds like you have. I would be interested to hear how you made farming work. Did you grow up with farming or how did you learn to do it?
Your life shares some elements to one of the members of my book club here. He is from a reservation in Oklahoma and he works in tech, but does organic farming in Bavaria. I don't know his whole story, but interesting that he goes to a different continent and does bio farming. Since he works in tech, he can work from home. He lives there together with his German girlfriend.
I knew that people retired and moved and I could not imagine it because the places in the US that seems to draw people to retire did not appeal to me. I am very happy being retired in Germany because I am building a new community, and in some ways have a lot in common with the people I am meeting. My German friends have a cultural connection, and the traditions are really nice. My city now has already put up the Christmas market. I was in the city center and saw people standing at booths drinking mulled wine or eating potato pancakes. The lights were on, and people were together with small groups of friends enjoying the yearly ritual of the markets. I can enjoy this and still keep in touch with friends I don't see that often in the states even when I am living there, but we communicate using Signal.
It was an unusual childhood, Linda. Rural, on the ocean- farmers and fishermen, but interspersed with theater , famous people who loved the Simple Life /stayed with us or we met doing summer theater or guests of local Community Concerts, farming became more a hobby , as the whole art died ‘our’grandparents survived the depression with and the 60’s revolution. I’d round up that whole as balanced hardship , a changing world , and lots of blessed love..isn’t that what we do -try to maintain the balances?
Yes. It sounds like it was interesting and fulfilling. And yes, we do try to maintain the balances. It is something we will want to be maintaining during the incoming administration, because Trump as a chaos agent, will be trying to throw us out of equilibrium.
I totally agree with this. He is a chaos agent, and we do need to take things he says with a grain of salt, and look at actions. I wonder how England is feeling when Trump is trying to take Canada from them, and Musk is supporting the Nigel Farage. It is 1984. Our allies are now on the outs, and our former enemies are our allies.
FYI there are many different visas now available. I am applying for a virtual nomad visa to Spain.
Good luck. Persevere. I have 2 people in my Democrats Abroad Book Club group who live in Spain. I know they like it a lot.
I very much appreciate your "Plan B" article and have sent it on to several friends still living in the US. I departed decades ago but I have not for one moment regretted moving to a much more civilized country. I was dismayed and disgusted by my government's actions way back then....what's going on today is truly unfathomable. Yes, uprooting oneself is difficult, and easier when younger, but still so worth it. My very best to all who may be considering departing...there really are better, easier and safer places to live.
Liz, uprooting is hard. When my husband and I read When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr, we said, we have to be able to leave a place if necessary. Of course, when it is necessary is different for different people.
Thank you Linda. I'm sure this will be most helpful to many folks. Although I would love a 'Plan B, C, or even D, I don't see options that would include myself.
I agree there should be more options. One thing that is not in that, but is certainly coming up in concern in Europe is the topic of war. Here is a piece I wrote on that.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/germany-prepares-for-war?r=f0qfn
During Trump's first term, I applied for and received Irish citizenship. I was able to do this because my grandfather was born in Ireland, but it still took 3 years to finalize--mostly due to covid. So very glad I did it then--now, I have somewhere to go, even though I am retired!
Linda, I moved to Germany at retiring after helping get my mother set up after she had a stroke. Actually there are a lot of people who move for retirement, so whether it be to another state or another country, there are reasons to move to make it easier to be retired.
Look at these 3 statistics because they contributed to the decision.
Germany is better for health care than the US which is at 38.https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/best-healthcare-in-the-world
Germany is better for safety than the US, which is at 132. Germany just makes it in the top 20 and when I moved here it was at 15. https://www.visionofhumanity.org/maps/#/
And cost of living is better in Germany. Something that is obvious when one is living here.
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings_by_country.jsp
For retirement these are important things to consider. Since I speak German, although it is still growing by living here, I am able to manage the bureaucracy aspects of switching to here although there have been challenges. I have German family and friends and expats American friends who helped me make the adjustment too. My husband is still working so he is back and forth more than I am. Our daughter just started university in Germany in 2023.
I know that Ireland's cost of living is higher than Germany, but lower than the US, and for that, it is really high on the safety score at 2. It also is high in the health care index. Good reasons to retire in Ireland and have what I suspect can in many ways be a less stressful life. Then, you can support the US from abroad.
I tried to print " Indivisible: A Practical Guide..." but it isn't in printer friendly format--the title on every page cuts off the first couple of inches of print. Do you have a link to printable format??
Linda this is supposed to be a printable format. Is this the one you used?
file:///Users/lindaweide/Downloads/Indivisible_A%20Practical%20Guide%20to%20Democracy%20on%20the%20Brink.pdf
Otherwise, here is a link to choices of formats.
https://indivisible.org/resource/guide
thanks--I'll try it from the PDF
Wonderful, thank you.
Great resource. I appreciate the thoughtfulness, clarity, and prescience. Thank you.
I am glad you find it useful.
A book I recommend to think about the times is called When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr. It is actually the first book of a trilogy.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/78500-out-of-the-hitler-time
They also made a movie out of the first book, which is a fictionalized version of Kerr's life.
Here is the movie version free on Tubi. You can turn on the English subtitles.
https://tubitv.com/movies/615896/when-hitler-stole-pink-rabbit