On My Coming Expatriation...

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Mon, 10 Jul 2006 10:38:53 GMT  <== Politics ==> 

The Dunedan at The Claire Files Forums - the writer is leaving the U.S. on August 2, to travel the world in search of places with more personal freedom than the United States. He doesn't expect much of a problem, having personal experience with Ireland and having read Fred Reed's experience in Mexico, both radically freer in most ways than the U.S. of A. [clairefiles]

I was, for the first time in my life, living in a country which was substantially more free than my own. This was made glaringly clear in the 20-minute ride from the airport to the house I was staying in. Not only were speed limits apparently and practically nonexistant, but the roads were in alternatingly horrid and fantastic condition. Multicolored posters for over a half-dozen major political parties dotted the roadsides, and these things made no bones. From bumperstickers to billboards, Fine Fail, Fine Gail, Sinn Fein, and several others hurled accusations and insults, neither granting nor crying for quarter. And, as a stark reminder that Ireland is still ( laws be damned, one day the English may come back ) a VERY heavily armed country, a castle in a cow pasture sported the letters C-IRA in fifteen-foot block lettering.

I saw a grand total of five Gardai (policemen) in eight days; four of the five were sharing the same car. Incidentally, these were the Gardai called to the scene of some drunken students playing Hurly in the streets at 2:30... no, I wasn't anywhere near the place... rolleyes ph34r... oh, who am I kidding?! I and the other Yank present ran like stipe-assed apes for the safety of the porch when an angry Scottish pensioner shouted that he'd called the cops. We smelled an arrest; after all, we're Americans and Americans get arrested for anything. The Irish kids just switched to walking down the street slowly, Hurly sticks in evidence. A few moments later the Gardai drove by; four cops to one car! When they were gone I asked my host "If they were going to arrest us...why would they not leave room in the patrol car?"

My hosts' astonished response: "What... you thought they'd arrest you?! Fuck me, America must be fuckin' awful!"

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Comments (3):

Freer in "some" respects

Submitted by MRJarrelll on Mon, 10 Jul 2006 13:14:47 GMT

But try to find a country that will let you bring your firearms in and keep the unmolested. Tell him to let us know when that country pops up on his radar.

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Hell, you can't do that

Submitted by Joe Crow on Tue, 11 Jul 2006 10:25:19 GMT

Hell, you can't do that here. Try bringing guns into this country and see how far you get before the TSA blow your head off. Yeah, in a few of the western states you can still carry in public without being tackled and shackled by the local constabulary, thus de-qualifying you as a "suitable person" and getting your LTC revoked. Can't do it here, though. And since I'm not a Xtian flagwaver, I strongly doubt I'd feel comfortable anywhere west of, say, the Hudson River or south of, say, Jersey. Yeah, there's still a few urban enclaves where I might not get strung up, but it's not like I could carry there.

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Costa Rica

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 12 Jul 2006 11:04:32 GMT

Last time I was in Costa Rica, an American living there said you could bring a suitcase full of guns in without a problem. If I remember right, they didn't even look at my passport on entry.

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