“If Trump wins, I’m leaving the country.”
You probably heard a few people say that this fall, and you probably heard the same about Obama, Harris and both Clintons. But the folks who said that are still around, aren’t they?
A few people did move away but most had other reasons for doing so. Ellen DeGeneres and her wife, Portia de Rossi, say they are fleeing the country because Donald Trump won. However, they sold their home in California in August, so unless they knew something no one else knew, they were going anyway.
They’re now residing in The Cotswolds in southwest England. That’s a large, lovely area of rolling hills, ancient stones and quaint villages. Their neighbors include Barbra Streisand, Minnie Driver and Sophie Turner. In fact, the British newspaper The Telegraph reports the area is “bracing itself for an American invasion.” They’re deciding whether to call it “The Trump Jump” or the “Maga Stagger,” they wrote.
Most Americans can’t simply decide to live elsewhere whenever an election, or anything else, makes them unhappy. Maybe they’ll move across town or across country, but very few decide to give up on America and start over somewhere else.
Those who do are usually wealthy, retired and already fluent in another language. However, some hardy souls have been lured by seemingly irresistible offers from places like Italy and the Irish isles offering buildings for the equivalent of a dollar apiece.
Ollolai, a village on the Italian island of Sardinia is the latest to reach out to Americans.
“Are you worn out by global politics? Looking to embrace a more balanced lifestyle while securing new opportunities?” the website asks. They offer a “European escape in the stunning paradise of Sardinia.”
Of course, there’s a catch.
The buildings are hundreds of years old and lack the most basic amenities. For $100,000 other homes with indoor plumbing and electricity are available. Ollolai’s population shrunk by more than 50 percent recently, so village officials are willing to do almost anything to increase it.
Similar offers are being made in parts of Croatia, Switzerland, Japan and France. In Ireland you may have to pay a little money for a home, but the government offers to pay as much as $92,000 to help you fix it up.
However, no one is promising jobs, schools or entertainment in the sparsely populated areas, and there are no guarantees you’ll agree with the politics there. If you are able to install wifi, you’ll probably watch the news and be disturbed by what’s going on regardless of where you live on earth.
So if you really want to escape, pay attention to Elon Musk. Not to his plans for Tesla, Starlink and cutting government expenses, but to his plan to colonize Mars in 30 years. Maybe you’d want to be one of the first to really get away from it all.
However, Kelly and Zach Weinersmith, self-described geeks, have written a book warning you won’t like it there. Kelly is a biologist and adjunct professor at Rice University in Houston. She said she and her husband, Zach, were initially excited about the possibilities of space exploration until they decided to look a little closer.
Their book, “A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?” talks about the unforgiving environment of the red planet. They say it’s a very harsh environment requiring complicated equipment just to stay alive and you probably couldn’t have kids there.
Best to stick it out where you are. There’s no place like home.
A former Democratic assemblywoman from Jersey City, Joan Quigley is the president and CEO of North Hudson Community Action Corp.
Send letters to the editor and guest columns for The Jersey Journal to jjletters@jjournal.com.
