Would you leave The States if Obama loses?

by Mike Barish on

Election day is next Tuesday and Americans are poised to make one of the most critical decisions in US history. With Obama leading in many polls, Democrats have allowed themselves to be cautiously optimistic. As such, you probably haven’t heard as much of the “If the Dems lose I’m moving to Canada” chatter that emanated from the blue states in 2000 and 2004. In a recent review of Phil Zuckerman’s “Society without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us About Contentment,” Salon columnist Louis Bayard discussed why potential expatriates might shift their glances towards Scandinavia if McCain wins.

Zuckerman’s book, as well as Bayard’s column, focus less on Scandinavians’ high life expectancy, healthcare, economies and social mores and instead channel their energies on religion and faith. Scandinavians live in predominantly secular cultures. Bayard notes that,

As few as 24 percent of Danes and as few as 16 percent of Swedes believe in a personal deity. (In America, that figure is close to 90 percent.) In Scandinavia, belief in life after death hovers in the low 30 percent range, as opposed to 81 percent in America. Some 82 percent of Danes and Swedes believe in evolution, while roughly 10 percent believe in hell. Their rate of weekly church attendance is among the lowest on Earth.

Ideally, people who are disenchanted with the outcome of the election will remain in The States and help fight for their causes. If I was inclined to leave my homeland, however, I don’t think I’d head to Scandinavia. I loved my visits to Iceland and Sweden but I’m not so sure that a long, dark Nordic winter would soothe my soul should the American electorate let me down. And Scandinavia’s suicide rate is twice that of the United States’. I wonder if that has anything to do with their high rate of alcoholism.

No, I think I’ll stay here and be part of the solution if things don’t go my way. Or head south. I’m a warm weather guy. Hmm, maybe I should check out the tax laws in Chile.

Would you leave the States based on the outcome of the election? Where would you go? Drop us a line in the comments.

How does your presidential candidate get around?

by Grant Martin on

With all of the cavorting around the country on the campaign trail, John McCain and Barack Obama need some pretty quick, reliable transportation — after all, you can’t get from Nevada to Ohio to Florida in two days on the bus version of the Straight Talk Express.

To that end, each candidate has chosen and retrofitted an aircraft of their own for campaign purposes, Obama with a larger, 757-28A and McCain with a smaller (though still large) 737-4B7. I suppose it would be unamerican to fly in an Airbus, wouldn’t it.

So how is riding around in one of these birds? Have they been retrofitted with hot tubs, massaging chairs and laser beams? Gadling went through and took a look at the aircraft to see just what it’s like in and around the Obama and McCain aircraft and compiled the gallery below.

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You can see that both aircraft are outfitted with standard coach seats in the back for the flock of media that follow the candidates around the globe. Both have 3 x 3 leather seats, although McCain’s seats all have TVs in the seatbacks. I wonder what they play?

Another neat thing is that Obama’s overhead bins and interior are plastered with photos — presumably from the campaign trail. It’s an interesting way to remember the voters that Obama met along the way.

Take a look at the rest of the photos and tell us what you think.