Outta here in '05? <br>If Bush is re-elected, some Americans may leave the country.

“I would be so completely divorced from the actions of my government and the image that it puts forth to the world,” she says quietly.

That rift – how Terzi sees herself versus how she sees her government – is the crux of her decision to leave the United States if Bush is re-elected.

She is among a growing number of people who have gone beyond the Election 2004 water-cooler talk -- “Well, there’s always Canada!” – to make specific plans to leave the country. Though a mass exodus after November third remains unlikely, these potential expats represent a trend of people who see “American values” as a depreciating currency.

For the most part, soon-to-be-expats are regular people with jobs and families. Terzi’s family has been in the California farming and oil businesses for five generations. Her mother’s ancestors left Crimea fleeing the Bolsheviks, while her father’s family came to America on the Mayflower in the late seventeenth century. Now she may “opt out” of the country that offered refuge to her predecessors. France, Germany, the UK and Slovenia are all possibilities.

“Traffic on our side has increased since September 11th,” explains Matthew Atlee, editor of the expat magazine Escape from America and a Political Science professor at FSU Panama. “The key here is that there’s a lot more information available -- people are more informed about living abroad. They are moving overseas out of fear of what’s going on in the US and outside US.”

After a Peace Corps experience in Latin America, Atlee lived in the U.S. for a year but then decided to return to Latin America. He has been there for nine years.

“The rat race in the United States, I was not happy with,” he says. “I found Panama more exciting and fulfilling.”

Atlee says that among the expats who have arrived in Panama over the last two years, Americans are the largest group by far – and their numbers are increasing. Other popular escapes include Mexico, Spain, Thailand and Portugal: mid-level, developed countries with all the basic amenities of the U.S.

“Many of the people I have talked to who are interested in moving overseas are upset about the very divisive politics that Bush has pursued since Sept. 11th: the Iraq War, the Patriot Act and the deep disrespect shown to important allies,” Atlee explains. “Potential expats tell me, ‘Bush had no mandate when he was elected to pursue such divisive policies; what kinds of divisive policies will he pursue when he does have a clear mandate? We are fearful of what will come in a second Bush administration.’”

Tim Leffel, author of The World’s Cheapest Destinations and an expert on expat communities, concurs that more people are leaving the U.S. for political reasons than he has seen in his lifetime. The Nashville-based husband and father has purchased a beach house on the Gulf Coast of Mexico, both as an investment and as a “safe house,” he says.

“If things really do continue to deteriorate here, I’m a plane ride away from a new place to call home,” he explains.

But Leffel cautions people investigating living and working abroad that they shouldn’t rush to move to a new area of the world.

“For people asking, ‘I’m fed up – where can I go and live cheaply?’ there’s no easy answer. You have to ask yourself, ‘What is my budget? What kind of health care do I need? How far am I willing to go from my family? What level of comfort do I require?’ ”

Even after answering these questions, potential expats wrestle with the notion that moving away means deserting their country. And they don’t always find a suitable answer. Though they agree that working for change within the U.S. is ideal, the stress of remaining here makes other countries seem more attractive.

“It’s probably our [country’s] job to spread peace and freedom,” sys Anne Wayman, a fourth-generation Californian and grandmother of three. “But you don’t do that with troops and missiles. Does going to Mexico make sense in terms of civic rights? Probably not. But even as a member of Amnesty International, I don’t know how to speak up effectively for the prisoners in Guantanamo.”

“Perhaps meditation and prayer are the right answer,” Ms. Wyman continues. “I do a lot of praying for the Bush administration.”

Potential expats share some key commonalities. They tend to be liberal and politically active. They view themselves as part of a community that extends beyond the borders of the U.S. On a very personal level – when they watch the news, when they read the paper, when they discuss the election with friends and coworkers – they experience shame and frustration, especially around international policy and civil liberties. For them, the daily pain of being at odds with American leadership has culminated in the decision to leave it behind them – literally.

But it’s a painful choice, especially for Americans whose politics compel them to move away from the people they love.

“Mexico with an Internet connection is still not lunch with the grandkids,” says Wayman, a Santa Cruz resident with a portable writing career. The 61-year old explains that she “grew up a right-wing Republican with a silver-plated spoon in my mouth.”

“Then life happened,” she continues. “I met poor and disadvantaged people as well as rich people, and I saw that it wasn’t as simple as ‘putting people to work.”

Wayman says that “grief over the environment,” frustration with treatment of suspected terrorists and the passage of the Patriot Act are reasons why she has considered leaving the U.S. She has researched moving to a sustainable community in Baja, Mexico, where she and her neighbors would farm and, to some extent, govern themselves.

“This country was founded on rebellion,” she says. “Now I’m in a position where if I’m opposed to what Bush is saying, if I’m opposed to the war and label it ‘imperialism,’ I stand accused of not being a patriot. If Bush is [re-]elected, I can only see it getting worse.”

Though many potential expats dread being labeled “unpatriotic,” they also think that the term has been twisted so far as to not fit them anymore -- that the words “American” and “patriot” have slid into new and negative territories.

“Neera,” a Cal-Tech biotech graduate student who jokes that she doesn’t want to be “on another Ashcroft list,” fled Iran with her family in 1979. Now a U.S. citizen, she would like to remain in her Northern California home.

“I always thought I would live here, for my whole life,” she explains. “This is the first time I’m considering other options. As a scientist, I find our current administration’s anti-intellectualism and arrogance offensive.”

“On a personal, day-today level you want to live in an environment where you feel comfortable,” she says. “I don’t want my tax dollars paying for weapons and wars when we should be funding health care and education. I don’t want my money paying to torture prisoners. Day-to-day life is great [in the Bay Area,] but you’re still a part of it.”

Wayman, Terzi and “Neera” all cite the Patriot Act and the war in Iraq as examples of why they find it increasingly difficult to live in the U.S. They fear that Bush’s re-election would amount to a country-wide affirmation of his policies in the eyes of the world.

But in the months leading up to the election, Terzi and other potential expats have worked hard to pre-empt moving away. When not caring for her toddler, working in the consumer products department of a Fortune 500 company, or managing the import business she started with her husband, Terzi has volunteered with the local chapter of the Kerry campaign. She has also taken time off to travel to Reno to speak with undecided swing-state voters.

“I’m not the kind of person who stands idly by,” she offers.