There are two separate threads here now, and they are both really interesting in their way, and it might be interesting @tkrunning to maybe actually split them out, though the crime-thread may be finished for now too. I donāt know.
Though I donāt have the same experiences, Iād have to agree with @richn4:
I am again reminded of Heinlein and āFridayā and the attributes of tyrannies versus democracies, and there is probably at least some correlation; whether there is a causation or not however is perhaps more debateable. But perspective matters, especially as a foreigner.
For instance, I just saw something about someone who recently visited Venezuela. Supposedly a failed state of chaos and capriciousness and all that - but if you are in certain parts and towns, as a foreigner, itās Just Fine. Thereās good food, stores are stocked, etc. You can see the line between good and bad, and apparently itās as stark as 8 Mile Road in Detroit (drive it sometime, itās shocking), but well. You just learn the local rules and play nice.
Another example is Nicaragua. We hear all this stuff. However, a friend of mine has a place down in the southwest corner, where Bill Bonner and others first started Rancho Santana in like the 80s and thatās evolved into a pretty sizable enclave of foreigners with money - enough that the roads are all good and thereās even a hospital and itās perfectly safe. Ortega leaves it alone because he needs the hard currency and heās not an idiot, and none of the crap affects them at all. Of course there is that hovering risk that he does go postal, and you have to live with that. But if youāre a smart nimble foreigner, you simply learn to cope and have a plan-B handy (ex. lots of cash for bribes).
But life in the US is showing us that democracies/republics can become capricious too. And to get by you have to learn the local rules and be willing to bow to them⦠and whether you can is pretty dependent on who you are and what you believe.
(As an aside, another point on Plan-Bs - if you are really worried about having a plan B⦠again, banking. As we have seen lately, itās pretty easy for a person to get āun-bankedā in the US, and that can be crippling if one feels a need to leave quickly. Having a credit card issued by a bank in a neutral country might well prove to be handy. But thatās the sort of planning you HAVE to have established WAY in advance⦠and cash has a utility all its own too. I personally keep 5 figures of cash in various currencies US and non-US in my safe at home as well as some physical gold/silver.)