The Discussion On Expatriation Continues

My son is really interested in foreign countries. He asks me repeatedly if this or that country would be a good place to live. I have explained that there are many factors when choosing to leave a country where you can skirt a lot of laws unnoticed.

One of those is how easy it is to adapt to the language of the people there and their cultures. How do the predominant culture’s values line up with your personal values? Will you be able to adapt to that cultural behavior or will it be difficult or unsuitable to adapt to a particular culture’s norms? If you do not adapt, how apparent will that be to others? What will they do about your non-conformity if it is obvious?

Does the culture value government involvement in personal affairs? You can tell a lot about a group of people based on how they value government involvement in their lives. The laws of a given region can tell you about the people and culture as much as the lack of laws. For instance, if the government has to mandate mask wearing to appease the people OR it has to ban mask mandating to appease the people, in either case, there is great divergence of thought enough among the general populace to ascertain that the groups are going to require the government to constantly step in on their behalf regarding basic civil liberties in either case, just to live together somewhat peacefully. I see the inherent contradiction in suggesting force is peaceful. That’s sort of my point.

I wouldn’t champion the culture of any region that is so split culturally that the people are using government to fight their wars on each other, going back and forth each voting cycle. (Cough cough Florida & Texas)