My wife is ex-South African. We have debated several years in trying to decide if she wants to seek US citizenship.
I have suggested to her that things here with regards to govt corruption are very bad, just not as openly dishonest as in SA.
Whites need not apply for govt jobs, and contractors have to have majority black officers or a company need not apply for a govt contract. How is that any different than here in the good ol USA?
Boer farmers and entrepeneurs are what made SA. The farmers are being driven off by violence. Over 300 farmer deaths by violence in the last 8 or 9 years. They are what made SA the powerhouse it once was. The state run electrical system is failing as no upkeep has been done in a couple decades and a recent survey of companies indicated over 25% would not relocate/expand ops because of the unreliable power. Typically off a couple hours a day in residential areas.
Many more SAs would depart if given the opportunity. They tend to be law abiding, protestant, and mostly industrious so clearly Obammy and his moslem Caucasian hating hordes would never welcome them.
I see this country on about the same trajectory with little real opportunity for my kids. Is it now too late? What should my south African spouse do—apply for maximum govt handouts as a minority in the minds of the left? Will we become wealthy due to all the govt granted largesse?
I would recommend her become an American. She really doesn’t want to rely on the generosity of the American government’s willingness to let her stay in America if she is not American.
I don't know which state you live in but let me tell you that there is a HUGE difference of living in a majority white country and a majority black country when it comes to this. With affirmative action, SA whites are being challenged when it comes to employment and the government will likely make it harder for qualified, educated whites to get positions in business in the future. I remember speaking to a prominent white CEO in our area when we lived there and he said that it's not sustainable for whites to continue to dominate executive positions in SA - that it will have to change just like the rest of the country has. That means even fewer job opportunities for whites.
I see this country on about the same trajectory with little real opportunity for my kids. Is it now too late? What should my south African spouse do—apply for maximum govt handouts as a minority in the minds of the left? Will we become wealthy due to all the govt granted largesse?
Slow down there, my friend! I used to live in SA for a number of years (I'm not South African, though) and I can assure you things are much better for whites in the US than they are in SA. The big difference is the fact that whites are less than 9% of the SA population and are not an appreciated minority and they don't get handouts for being a minority like here. They're regarded as formerly privileged groups that need no special benefits - at all. If you're white in SA, you're pretty much on your own.
And the far left, led by Malema and his ilk, would like to punish whites by stripping them of their farms and other sorts of wealth 'redistribution'. If you have the ability to be an American or a South African, choose American every time. We as white Americans have problems here in the US, but nothing like the ones in SA - with the very real possibility of Zimbabwe-like punishment of whites at some point in the future. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow and maybe not for 20 years, but it's a very real possibility down the road. Additionally, the country is in decline, both morally and economically and that isn't even talking about the crime problem.
I've been pretty rough on SA and I need to balance that by saying that South Africa is a beautiful country with friendly people (of all races). There's a lot of potential there and I owned businesses there and did well, but one has to be realistic as to what the end result of SA being run almost completely (with the exception of the Western Cape) by the ANC (African National Congress) for more than 20 years now. And no matter what happens, they just get re-elected over and over again. In the US, at least there are checks and balances with Congress and state governments to the abuses of Obama and the Democrats. Imagine an America where the Democratic Party controlled everything everywhere for 20 years. It would be catastrophic and that's where SA is, unfortunately.
Here’s a good book by Ilana Mercer appropriately titled:
Into the Cannibal’s Pot: Lessons for America from Post-Apartheid South Africa
Unfortunately I don’t expect American’s are capable of overcoming the obstacles required to prevent the same scenario from playing out here in a slightly altered form.