Defeated Republicans may be thinking about packing their bags. But where would they go?

Eric Thayer/Reuters

When Democrats lose elections, a small but audible ratio of them invariably announce their intention to move to Canada, that liberal paradise where healthcare magically costs nothing, everybody is nice to each other, and maple syrup flows freely (although the price of cheese may lead to sticker shock).

But when Republicans lose, you almost never hear them grumbling in the same way. Are conservatives simply less prone to melodrama? Or would they just consider it treasonous to party and country to abandon the United States, even for redder pastures?

America's immediate neighbors aren't ideal, true enough. Mexico is ground zero for illicit drugs, something that tends to annoy social conservatives. Canada is out of bounds by definition -- since that's where all the Democrats hide out when things don't go their way.

If members of the Tea Party were to flee President Obama's emerging socialism, where else could they go? I put the question to Twitter and Facebook late yesterday, and the hivemind gamely took to the challenge:

@b_fung Hong Kong and Singapore. -- Chris Spoke (@ChrisSpoke) November 7, 2012

Saudi Arabia RT @b_fung: When Dems lose, they vow 2 move 2 Canada. But few other places in the world are far right enough for Tea Partiers. -- Josh Petri (@joshpetri) November 7, 2012

For whatever reason, Somalia and Saudi Arabia were both popular suggestions. Maybe it's because the joke's been made before elsewhere. Other suggestions included Switzerland, for its low individual tax rates. And, if we're counting The Newsroom's Will McAvoy, we know where Aaron Sorkin thinks Republicans would find a haven: Taliban-era Afghanistan.

So far, nobody's suggested a moon base.