To explain first, I would like to say that I'm not asking about temps, local flavor, ease of transfer or the like.
My wife and I are stuck in the US while caring for her father. When the inevitable happens, however, we would like to be prepared to head out ASAP. We've done a lot of searching but I thought I'd ask here in case someone's done some legwork for the same goals as us. I traveled a bunch as a kid in the military but that was a very long time ago and I wouldn't trust my notions of the countries in question to have remained the same.
Basically, a lot of our goals will be achieved just by not being in the US any longer but we'd hate to end up in a spot that's working hard to emulate the current social and political climate here. Just as an example, we don't consider a large portion of Europe to be feasible for us due to the widespread tracking, online verification, etc. These aren't huge points by themselves but does lead one to believe that it's similar enough in it's trajectory to warrant concern.
I can answer any questions you might have that may be able to help guide suggestions but I'll leave it at this for now so I don't throw too many wrenches in the conversation.
In the interest of addressing stereotypes - I'm Midwestern, and "don't drink the water!" is still something associated with Mexico in my head. Granted, parts of the US could have the same warning apply! Has this improved over the last decade or two? I remember on a recent trip to San Diego, we had to be careful what beaches we visited because the southern beaches periodically got sewage from dumping south of the border.
I also recall stories of white people (especially obvious foreigners) being targeted for kidnappings, with the assumption that they're rich - is this rare, then? Or limited to certain parts of the country?