[Published at Strike-the-Root.com on January 24, 2013]
The way that America’s political situation is playing out
right now has me perplexed. At my own “side” most of all. Not that the
president and his ruling party would slam us with more intrusive laws, gun
control, financial restrictions, domestic spying, illegal wars, and increased taxes
as soon as his election was won that is. No, that was no surprise to me. Who
the hell among us didn't see this anti-liberty agenda coming as soon as he was
safely re-elected? Bottom line: If you honestly didn’t see this coming then you
need to develop a better sense of situational
awareness.
So what do I make of Obama’s Great
Repression agenda? This short list is what I see happening and what to do
about it. Take it for what it’s worth to you.
As things stand today I'd rather have an old, heavily used bolt
action rifle and a half box of crusty ammo for it stashed away that the feds/local
cops/private data bases have no record of than a brand new M1A and cases of
ammo for it stacked to the ceiling if it came via an FFL licensee who has all
my information on an ATF Form
4473 in his files. A dinged and scratched “store brand” pump action 12 gauge
under the bed that was bought at a garage sale years ago for cash might not
impress the guys at the range club with their fancy Benelli trap guns but it is
still quite serviceable and well-worth having these days though isn’t it? I
sure think so. A clunky old four-inch wheel gun is seen as obsolete by some but
it'll still put a hunk of [lead] anywhere you want it with a little practice. And
bonus points if you bought it from some friend of a friend for cash. Bottom
line: Stop looking at firearms as precious collectables or recreational adult
toys and look at them as tools for survival and liberty maintenance which is
what they truly are. An old, ugly, banged up, but still serviceable rifle, handgun,
or shotgun that came without any “imperial
entanglements” attached to it is worth a closet full of newer and better
stuff that does in my humble opinion.
All the boasting, bragging, and strutting many of us did on social
media websites about our cool new AR-15 or tricked-out Glock seems kind of ill
advised now in hindsight doesn’t it? Especially when we knew or should have
known all along that
the feds routinely monitor social media websites for just such information
about us. An anti-gun newspaper in New York recently published
the names and addresses of all state licensed handgun owners in their
readership area. And unsurprisingly the people named were incensed at this
invasion of their privacy. I know I would be myself. But I wonder how many of
us gun owners that are now outraged on their behalf have ourselves gone on
social media sites like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and others and
posted blog entries, pictures, and videos that in effect “outed” ourselves to
the whole world? Bottom line: See the irony here?
Guns aren’t the only things to consider for bolstering your home
security. Instead of un-assing $1000+ for a new Sig or Ruger consider obtaining
some bags of mixed silver coins instead. It will be vastly simpler to buy food,
medicine, new tires, or whatever else you may need in the future with silver
coins from someone willing to trade but who isn’t interested in taking piles of
worthless government issued paper or in doing e-commerce that can be traced. Value-for-value
voluntary transactions build trust between people and can lead to further
mutually beneficial transactions down the road. Bottom line: Start thinking
about this situation that we’re in as a serious issue of long term personal/family
survival and not as a temporary condition to be put up with until it blows
over. I have a strong suspicion that this time it isn’t blowing over.
History it has been said doesn’t repeat, but sometimes it
rhymes. I believe this is true. For example the first armed rebellion that
occurred in America post independence was the so-called Shay’s Rebellion in
Massachusetts in 1787. What would cause George Washington’s ex-soldiers and
small landowners to take up arms and fight their own state government so soon
after securing independence? Hint: It was their inability to pay their property
taxes and so having their homes and farms seized for non-payment. This bit of
history is something we should all take note of. If things get really bad, and which
I have every expectation that they will I’d rather be living in a junky old
motor home or a tumbledown shack than in a suburban McMansion even if I owned
it free and clear but that I can’t pay the taxes on and so is always on the
cusp of a tax foreclosure. I recommend that everyone look up Shay’s Rebellion
and read
about it. Bottom line: “Home security” takes many forms.
An acre or three out in the woods somewhere with your own water
and fuel supply (i.e., trees) can still be had relatively cheap and you can pay
the taxes on it by selling off some timber or firewood you harvested, selling
fruit, vegetables, or hay that you’ve grown, or even by picking up deposit soda
and beer cans on the side of the road if need be. No matter how bad things get
for us in the near term local governments are still going to demand property tax
payments and for the foreseeable future they’ll have the means to get them too.
(At least until we hang abolish them all, but I digress.) Bottom line: Your
home should be more than just the dwelling you live inside. It should provide
for you as well.
Learn what an actual education is and what it can do for
you. As things are going now I’d rather have my kids know how to weld, learn
basic carpentry, learn how to type, do nails/hair styling, speak/write Spanish
or Chinese, or gain other practical skills or knowledge by whatever means are
available than I would have them go to an Ivy League college for four years.
Seriously. Being able to scan a balance sheet and understand it, or knowing how
to can fruit, or grow hay seems way more useful these days than anything they
would likely learn listening to university professors lecture at them all day.
Bottom line: Knowing how to do things is preferable to just knowing facts and
theories.
“The first time someone shows you who
they [really] are,” an American poet once said, “believe them.” Obama and his ilk have stopped being
ciphers and have shown us all who they are and what they intend to do and we
should all believe them. It has been pretty apparent for a while now how
astonishingly fast our liberty and well-being can be taken away. The burner
under this pot of boiling frogs we call America has now been moved from “simmer”
to “hot”, so be advised. Bottom line: Don’t depend on government or corporate
mass media for anything but basic information or data. (And be skeptical of
that too.) Learn to figure
things out for yourself.
Maybe we can
halt or even roll back this onslaught against our liberties and well-being or
maybe we can’t. But either way let’s not kid ourselves any more, eh? For those
of you inclined toward religious belief remember that Bible verse warning against “putting
your faith in princes”? That is still very good advice. The Republican Party,
the NRA, Oath Keepers, Alex Jones, Anonymous, Judge Napolitano, Ron Paul and
all the rest of the marginalized and despised mineshaft canaries still left
couldn’t rouse us and they can’t save us either. And sad to say as goofy and
weird as some of the above-mentioned are they all turned out to be right. (I
have a sick feeling that one after another they’re all going to go silent, be intimidated
into towing the party line, or just disappear.) Bottom line: What’s over is
over. Don’t wallow in your own despair. Instead organize and prepare.
We all need to get cracking if we want to survive what’s
coming our way and the chances for success will be much higher if we all have a
plan. Good fortune it is said favors the prepared. A word to the wise: Don’t wait
until you’re standing on the edge of a trench waiting your turn for a DHS
supplied .40 caliber pistol shot to the back of the head.
Ken Kraska is a guy who lives in Michigan.
