[upnorthkyosa]

Do you have any watershed events that would cause you to emmigrate immediately?

For example, if my country suddenly invaded Iran or there was another terrorist attack on the scale of 9/11, I would set the wheels in motion that we have prepared and leave this country ASAP.

[Andy-Dee]

If I ever sell my house :wah :wah

[tigerlily]

I've been saying for quite a while that if we invade Syria, I'm outta here. Too disgusted with American government behavior to ever want to live here again.

[swissmissdesigner]

you mean run away from a problem?
No, I would not..

[Bruckner]

We waited as long as possible to move after we were granted PR so we could save money. Had there been another terrorist strike in NYC we would've moved sooner.

Emily

[EngiNurse]

Actually, events like that would make me more likely to stay here in the states, as I can have more effect on our elected representatives here.

[upnorthkyosa]

Considering the state of modern elections in America (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3555094491715905699&q=Electronic+voting+machines&total=176&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2), how much effect can one really expect?

It's nice to see that there are still some people who aren't as cynical as I am about politics though...:o

[EngiNurse]

Considering the state of modern elections in America (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3555094491715905699&q=Electronic+voting+machines&total=176&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2), how much effect can one really expect?

It's nice to see that there are still some people who aren't as cynical as I am about politics though...:oNew Mexico is all paper ballots. :nice1

[Rusty]

My easy answer is losing my job would bring it forward.

[Leccy-Lee]

For example, if my country suddenly invaded Iran, I would set the wheels in motion that we have prepared and leave this country ASAP.

Oh dear, suggest you start packing sadly then!

[Sam B]

Yes, losing my job certainly hastened proceedings for me. But also I felt strongly about the UK's foreign policy with regards to the war in Iraq etc. I think it's a bit harsh to call it running away. I've been very politically active since my teens and have involved myself in a lot of non-violent direct action before I had kids, but the fact is I eventually felt that I couldn't really change the things I felt most strongly about.

For example, I felt very strongly about the road building policy in the UK, and about 15 years ago I was actively involved in trying to stop roads being built. Some of my friends still are. I don't think anything's changed though, and it won't be long before most of the UK is under concrete at this rate. Now, should I stick around and watch this happen because I shouldn't "run away" or should I take my family somewhere greener and pleasanter and enjoy my retirement from eco-warfare? I opted for the latter.

[BkyMonster]

Just need for my husband to take one more class for his degree and we're gone.
Been putting things in motion for over 4 years now. I'd say things have already happened in the US to make me want to go but we needed to get money together and prepare in other ways. Some of the latest stuff is just icing on the cake as it were. :(

[Oregonkiwi]

For example, if my country suddenly invaded Iran or there was another terrorist attack on the scale of 9/11, I would set the wheels in motion that we have prepared and leave this country ASAP.
I used to worry (probably irrationally :o ) that by then it would be too late because of closed airports, or closed borders in the case of (e.g.) flu pandemic/biological terrorist attack....

[upnorthkyosa]

I used to worry (probably irrationally :o ) that by then it would be too late because of closed airports, or closed borders in the case of (e.g.) flu pandemic/biological terrorist attack....

Um, yeah...that actually is something that I get kinda paranoid about sometimes. Then I remind myself that this country really does have a lot of good people in it and I don't know that they would put up with that craziness for long.

Hopefully.

[DrPhred]

A draft.
I'd need to get my kids out of harms way.
A massive strike on Iran will add pressure for the move.
And that looks like it will happen this fall.

[CjChris]

By nature humans try to get out of harm's way, whether that be in the form of gunfire in the streets or a government that seems out of control or a society that is too fast-paced and stressful.

If we all examined our reasons for going to NZ, I'd say it could appear that we are each fleeing from something. If having the choice to move to another country protects my family from certain stresses and dangers, then that is one choice I'm glad I have.

My heart goes out to the people in Iraq whose lives were normal before the war, now they have no hope or options of escape from the destruction and constant fear. A few months ago I read a news article featuring Iraqi grad students who said they felt they had such a bright future before the war, now they lose professors monthly from death or they just disappear.

They can't finish classes nor are they trusted by the outside world because they are Iraqi.

What makes Bush think he isn't going to bring about this same fate for young Americans? The global distrust of Americans is already well set into motion.

This is just a little bit of why I want my girls to have opportunities in another country. If others choose to stay in the US (as opposed to "run"), then I respect their decision (as I would hope they respect mine to leave.)

Christine

[Oregonkiwi]

Then I remind myself that this country really does have a lot of good people in it and I don't know that they would put up with that craziness for long.

Well, sure. But if there was an outbreak of, say, air-borne Ebola or genetically-mutated smallpox, do you think other countries would be letting Americans IN? That was my point about closed borders.

[kzn2nz]

If the NZ govt decided to give me residence! Hahaha!

[vande23]

I am not the best writer of my personal thoughts - but here it goes.

My learnings of issues outside the mainstream media have almost forced me to come to the conclusion that I am "required" to inspect the NZ option completely - especially for my children and their lives. While I have lived in the US (same state as well) my entire life, I have decided that its not the safest place any longer. Its not that I am concerned about something occurring from an outside source, its that things like 9/11 (insert own beliefs here) and things like - 2 weeks ago, 5 monster nukes being loaded on a US bomber and flying around 300 miles from my house. People have tried to dismiss this, but really - it takes 14 people and the president to authorize them to get on the wings in a LOADED position. Its not like they were loaded in the cargo area for transport (and they DON't transport nukes through the air anyways).

My wife and I have talked at great length about our concerns about the issues surrounding us, and I have known that NZ would not be completely immune from them some day, but I just feel like "eminent danger" is in the US, while it just isn't in NZ.

Giving them a place to not hear about constant fear all around them, while still educating them about the world around us - might give them a better chance to make a difference should they ever decide to go back and "help" if its possible.

I agree that its each person's choice to do what they think is right. Children certainly put a spin on things, like I never thought they would.

EOI is filled out, waiting for me to get my degree completed. Just 2 short months and that will finally be a reality.

Good luck to everyone - someday soon I may be in NZ, I just hope its soon enough.

[DMcG]

Love :o

My kiwi GF and I had been living together in Edinburgh for a few years when she got one of those phone calls she'd been dreading. It was her father in Auckland saying he'd been diagnosed with cancer and the prognosis was not good. She had to fly back to NZ and I was given the choice of possibly not seeing her for a few years (or possibly never again) - or move. I finished my contract, got my work visa, threw all my belongings into the spare room, rented out the flat and caught a flight.

Three and a half years later, I'm still here :)

Dougie

[constablechuck]

There's no one single event that I was worried about, it was more a combination of things that gave me the impression that the future may very well be bleak for most Americans.

The Country has been spending money it doesn't have, mostly on wars that profit only certain special interest groups and companies like Haliburton, every single American citizen, even those not born yet are bankrupt because of the national debt, they just don't realize it, the government has even admitted that the social security fund we've been paying into will likely be bankrupt before people now in their 40's are old enough to collect their entitlement.

As for the oil situation, everyone knows it's a catastrophe that is inevitable and the government only pretends to be trying to do something about it, I recommend that everyone rent the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car", when the oil prices go sky high people won't be able to afford to heat their homes or drive their cars, the trucking industry and other key areas of the ecomomy will collapse, the middle class will become poor and the poor will become destitute, very bad things will happen and only the wealthy will weather the storm in comfort.

The falling dollar and record fuel prices is just the handwriting on the wall, our own government has hurt us more than the terrorists ever could.

Just my prediction.

[Charlesw25]

I like to think it's not what's behind that's important, but the life ahead. There's not watershed for me, just a general feeling that NZ offers more and a better life.

[John Z]

Well, you know my "watershed" from the "corruption" thread. But there's more to it:

When you realise that the "global" society is well manipulated into a monetary, economy based society, in the grip of a handfull of PRIVATE bankers, you can either "go with the amusement flow-show" or educate yourself.
Power corrupts their minds, they are not able to see who they really are or what they really do. "Blinded by the light" so to speak. They live in the illusion that they can shape a world for the wellbeing of their children. Almost like "normal" parents or grandparents.

Why would they do this? Because they are afraid to let go, they are afraid to share, they are afraid to trust, they are afraid of respect, they are afraid of freedom (they control the world with the illusion of freedom). And most of all: they are afraid of love. Why are they afraid of it? Because they don't know what it is and do not have the courage to really learn about it. But they do know how they, themselves, deal with these matters and project that on others, the world? They think it must be too confronting, so they just don't deal with it. In a way they are right: it is confronting, but they lack the courage to go beyond their momentary limits. Of course you need to trust that someone really wishes to help...

This is the "good" scenario. It can be repaired.

The bad scenario is that they are plain evil men. That is beyond repair. Period.

I've spend many years trying to understand, investigate, read, listen and talk. And now it's enough. When "all" people around me choose to sit still, do nothing but consume, ponder in their decadence, their presence poisons me. And I don't want them to poison my family anymore.

I've personally experienced it on all levels in society. Every institution, every key-figure from working colleagues, neighbours, lawyers to people in the national government turned out to be NOT trustworthy. I KNOW now how intensilly corrupt society is and how it is covered up. I KNOW how beautifull life CAN BE, but also that it will become more ugly. So, I choose to live where it harms my family the least and we have the best opportunities to live life and experience it's beauty the way it was meant to be.

Don't believe anything I say, but find out yourself, or maybe you already did?