Guest article by Penrod
We recently sent in our passports for renewal. While we don’t do a lot of international traveling- maybe once in 5 years or so- we do keep our passports up to date. Ours expire in August, and since some countries won’t allow entry on a passport with less than six months left on it, it was time to renew. Yes, that does mean that for certain purposes, like entry to another country, passports for practical purposes expire six months before they say they do.
It is true that if things are so bad in the US that we must flee the country, other places may be worse, or may simply refuse Americans entry. On the other hand, getting from Point A in the US to Point B in the US MIGHT require crossing a border. I used to drive from Wisconsin to New England every summer. I usually took the US route, but once I tried the Canadian route. That is where a passport would be critical: it provides route options not open to people who don’t have passports.
Avoiding a problem area in the US might require a circuitous route, either by driving or flying into another country. If one wanted to get from New England to Idaho during a major breakdown in which the entire Midwest was already in chaos, it might be safer/faster to either drive or fly through Canada. Circumstances at the time would dictate that of course, but not having a passport closes off the option.