"While we can’t predict catastrophic storms with 100% accuracy,
it’s probably about time that someone started looking at the horizon
to see what they could see."
OODA Loop
Societal factors that.. might lead to civil war:
Economic metrics - instability, income disparity, jealousy..
Organized violence metrics - some subtle, then organize overt violence ..
Political instability metrics - faction creation, leads to intollerance..
Sites banned - silencing/ ignoring oppostional voices..
Number of illegal immigrants per month - new cultures and volume of people who oppose assimilation ..
Your thoughts and comments welcomed.
The time to prepare for war,.. is during peace.
I’m not sure I consider myself a “Prepper”, I do however consider myself prepared. The question I guess we should all ask is what am I prepared for.
First, most importantly, I consider myself prepared for the coming of The Lord. If you aren’t prepared for that I’m not sure how important any other preparations are.
Second, I have prepared my home for natural disasters as much as possible with goods and food stuff for our rather large family to last certainly at least a year. While I have a spring on the property I have also stored hundreds of 1/2 gallon and 1 gallon bottles of water. The spring will be great for bathing and toilet flushing but without treatment not so much for drinking. We do have the carbon filters so we can drink it if we have to.
Third, We have installed 12KW worth of solar cells on the roof. We have 3 freezers. While we could of course get by without them there is much that we would like to continue enjoying in them. Our electrical system consists of the solar and a very substantial battery backup system. We also have a gasoline and a NG generator. In an emergency I don’t expect to be able to get gasoline or NG but we will use it if we have it and need it.
Fourth, We have a large yard. While we started with 29 acres we have gotten rid of much of it, it is too much work for old people, we still have 7 acres and have kept up our gardening and canning skills.
Fifth, We have the means of protecting what we have. We do not have the ability to hold off an army but we do have weapons and munitions to hold off marauding bands of those would would forcefully take what we have.
For us prepping is not a hobby. Being prepared is a way of life, it just makes sense to us. By preparing we live much better on less than most do with the same income. We have always saved and we have always bought more than we need when something is a good price. A good example is: I like Welch’s Grape Juice. Typical cost today is about $4 a half gallon, to us that is expensive. A few times a year it goes on sale for less than $2 a half gallon still expensive but not as horrible. We never buy it at full price and when it goes on sale we travel to all the local stores and get all they have on the shelves and then get a rain check when nothing is left. It sounds like a lot of money but it is a huge savings over time. The grape juice is only one example, we try to do that with most everything we purchase.
We have always saved money. We lost a bunch in the 2008 crash and have redirected our savings into real estate. In real estate we have our money albeit tied up in the property but we also have a pretty substantial return. Typically 10 years of rent pays for the property and then some but we still have the property, we are out literally nothing but some time. Once you have several properties you realize it is substantial income. In retirement it is especially nice.
We have learned that storing some cash is important but that it decreases in it’s real value rapidly. Of course the stock market can also do that so we have looked for ways of saving that will retain value. We kind of like having some silver and gold. Mostly we like American silver coins, what is called junk silver. In an emergency silver coins are “real” money and while paper money value decreases or could become worthless silver and gold are never worthless.
There are many people on the Free Republic that have shared their books and pamphlets with all of us and we keep those for a reference for when the Internet is gone. We really appreciate those who have taught us so much.
Again we don’t consider ourselves preppers but we do consider ourselves more prepared than many of our neighbors, probably much more than most of our neighbors. We worry that if a shtf scenario our neighbors might turn on us to take what we have. If I were starving perhaps I would do the same. We have made plans for our children and their children to join us in a bad time and help us with security. We have taught them all to be good shooters. Everyone says they couldn’t actually shoot anyone but if someone is threatening your child’s life it becomes real easy.
We have enough and enough to share.
While we realize we could be better prepared, we feel a certain satisfaction knowing that we are not dependent on the government, neighbors, our children or even utility companies for our continued survival until The Lord decides to take us home.
This little 10 minute video explains quite well the progression from a representative republic to a totalitarian state.
We, sadly, are further along on that line that we should be.
We’re rapidly reaching the anarchy stage.
Types of Government, Explained
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJEuZrvNYg0
I’m not really concerned about war - civil or otherwise - right now; and I haven’t followed this thread much lately.
But since it’s the ‘prepper’ ping-list, I’m wondering if anyone has posted about the possible repercussions we may face due to the massive flooding and inability to plant crops that are taking place.
What items do people think will be in short supply or raising greatly in price?
People have two ways to persuade others - speech and violence. When you deny them the ability to speak, all they have left is violence - and you don’t want that. So let them speak.
Dr. Jordan Peterson.