Be Prepared
Our critical systems are being weakened more with each passing day. Through government policy, commercial failures and political radicalism, failure points are being created.
America sustains a strong, successful, forward thinking civilization, right?
Maybe once it did, but now there are people who dedicate their lives to creating critical flaws in our civilization, weak points that bring us closer to failure than ever.
Our greatest threat is internal, not external. As a nation, we are far more likely to commit suicide than to be murdered.
History records that many a culture and society has fallen through violent revolution or war – but rarely does it record a fallen culture that had not rotted from inside first.
When cultures pause to take a breath to enjoy periods of affluence and delude themselves that everything will always be a certain way because that is how it is now, they create generations of ne’er do wells with foppish, self-indulgent, non-productive pursuits and lose forward momentum. When societies begin the internally focused navel gazing and self-recriminations brought about by too much time on our hands, the forward momentum stops.
Those foppish weak links in the chain of progress and the leaders who seek to appease them (as their parents once did) are the reasons that once great civilizations fall.
The comparison of our society to that of the decadent Roman “bread and circus” society under Emperor Caligula certainly seems apt.
There is nothing wrong with affluence – but that success must be followed by a deeply rooted society-wide drive to achieve, to do better, to continue to push the envelope. This is why capitalistic, free societies are the engines of progress that they are. They are externally focused, growth oriented, competitive societies that understand that achievements are only temporary.
America has become internally focused. We are obsessed with trinkets and toys. Large percentages of our academic culture has become self-loathing and dwells on our mistakes as if there is nothing beneficial to be learned from our successes (which are truly unmatched in the history of mankind). Our “knowledge economy” has become stagnant because we have defined the creation of technology as the benchmark for success – it isn’t. It is cool – so we can get our trinkets delivered by an Amazon drone in 30 minutes – but at the end of the day, it is only a means to an end, a labor-saving tool, not the end in and of itself.
We forget that on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (from bottom to top – physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, self-actualization needs), we can only climb up only one step at a time – and we cannot move to the next higher level until ALL aspects of the prior level are satisfied.
But history proves that societies and civilizations can fall multiple steps at once - and do so quickly when the basic systems upon which they depend begin to fail.
Assume that over the next few years, that civilization breaks down.
What happens if the lights go out?
Where would you go?
What would you do?
Our neighborhood is banding together over the next 12 months, meeting once a month, to prepare for any event - be it natural or manmade - that challenges us as a people. It includes individual and community food storage, transportation, communication and evacuation plans, home and personal defense, nothing radical, just an awareness of our current status and preparation for an uncertain future.
Look, the fact is that it doesn't have to be an attack by roving bands of ANTIFA thugs or a zombie horde, just look at how the Biden's support of "green movement" is weakening our power grid.
Look at how this government is hostile to fossil fuels and is selling off our strategic reserves. Biden is making America even more dependent upon foreign supply of critical materials than ever. A negative foreign event could cause major disruptions in our lives.
What a decade ago was called "prepping" and looked on as a fringe activity, due to a pandemic, massive supply chain failures and the resulting tyrannical reaction by local, state and federal agencies, now certainly seems practical and more like insurance against potential future events.
I would recommend your neighborhood organize in a similar manner - if you haven't already.
I remain optimistic we will avoid a major collapse, but that doesn't mean we won't have some tough times until things get sorted. If you are going to the grocery store every few days for food, I would recommend thinking about something less dependent on immediate supply chains.
Best advice is to follow the old pre-woke Boy Scouts motto - "Be Prepared."
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail… Great advice! I really like this opinion Mr. Smith.. The USA is soft and with the divisions in our society I agree with your assessment and forecast. What concerns me the most is the weaponizing of access to work and banking system. Like what Canada did to the truckers and those that didn’t commit crimes on Jan 6th… something is really broken in our society… I’m not optimistic at all unfortunately. The foundation has been eroded that was the catalyst for our prosperity. Thank you for your regular commentary and opinion, I enjoy reading it.
It’s demonic and the demons are on the move. We are not wrestling against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers.
I’m reading a book by Jonathan Cahn called The Return of the Gods. It’s about the demons (gods) that the Israelites worshipped when they turned from God.
These demons are the exact same demons and they manifest in the same way. It’s all supernatural.
For example, there was a trans god who was celebrated by sexually mutilated priests. Her (his?) day was around the summer solstice and they celebrated “it” with parades of people cross dressing. The symbol of this particular demon was a rainbow.
Sound familiar?
The reason this is related is that when the nation is in the grip of the demons, it will fall. Every time.