Freedom is Never Free: Earning an Exit and Building a Global Lifestyle
Freedom is this esoteric term that is used a lot in the United States, yet so many people here don’t really understand what it really is. It’s a state of mind of being free.
It’s defined by Wikipedia as:
Freedom, generally, is having the ability to act or change without constraint. Something is "free" if it can change easily and is not constrained in its present state. ... A person has the freedom to do things that will not, in theory or in practice, be prevented by other forces.
Whether this is financial freedom, freedom of speech, freedom to worship or not, Sexual freedom, freedom to travel. This has only truly been around in human history for a relatively short period of time (Ie. 200-250 or so years).
Freedom has to be fought for and earned. And it is not cheap.
Yet, I see people in the former Soviet Bloc countries (Poland, Ukraine, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Czech & Slovak Republics, Romania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia) having far more freedom than we do in the Woke West. And the people in all these former Communist countries have a far deeper appreciation of this freedom than we do. It’s because they understand what it’s like to not have it and gain it.
We in the West (USA, Canada & most of Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand) have it but most people here take it for granted. And now we seem to be on a slippery slope to losing it. Just look at the growing illiberalism & government (Fed, State/Provincial & Municipal levels) overreach in Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc. Or at cultural level, we see the extreme leftist Woke PC thugs or nutty Right wing in the US that is crowding out any rational discussion. So many of us end up self censoring ourselves for risk of “offending” someone. (Usually someone weak minded I should add: F—ing brain washed snowflakes).
On one side, the government is getting bigger and more heavy handed. Yet at the same time they are more ineffective and dumb. This is not a good combination. So along with this growing illiberal State, there is also a massive Corporate Autocracy (FAANGs & Medical/Media/Pharma monopolies anyone?) that is leading to a decline in overall quality of life and much higher costs.
The world is a big place and “Exit” is a very logical strategy. We are seeing pockets of effective well run government and overall good places to live. No surprise many of these places are small and somewhat City-State-like. Modern Entrepots like I detailed in a previous post: https://hardfork.substack.com/p/back-to-the-future-modern-entrepots.
Doug Antin has a very articulate and intelligent way to figure out which jurisdictions make sense for you. (https://dougantin.com/lifes-tradeoffs-impact-where-you-live-why). You can find a place with a good quality of life that fits you. It’s not easy but nothing worthwhile is supposed to be easy.
This is a wake up call and a call to action. If you are not thinking of an exit strategy and global approach to living and investing, you are doing yourself a disservice.
Better to be prepared than not. As per a previous write up, (here: https://hardfork.substack.com/p/self-sovereignty-versus-growing-government), create some options for you and your family. You don’t want to be like any Jews still left in Germany in 1936 when the borders closed. Or Chinese Indonesians in May 1998 when Suharto fell and the Bumi populace rioted and viciously attacked them.
As the Roman saying said: “If you want peace, prepare for war”. Or in this case, If you want peace, Prepare for exit and emigration. You never know when this might actually be necessary.