Preparedness

I could start this off with some prescient quote from one of the Founders, or perhaps Orwell.  But we all see the world burning; only the most addled partisans have deluded themselves so thoroughly as to imagine that things are going well, even if there are as many different ideas about what's to be done about it on a macro scale as there are keyboard warriors and academics.

Things aren't going well, but then, they haven't been going well for years no matter who's doing the counting, or where exactly they start.  I come to you with a warning: things will only get worse long term, so we should all prepare for that and become as self sufficient as we can.  We are not helpless; having shared my alarm, please let me also share some of the lessons I've learned in the years since the last recession.

The most important is not to trust any societal institution.  I already knew not to trust the government; I deleted my mainstream social media accounts in 2017, disgusted with the amount of [actual] misinformation I saw there and even more with how many people I saw falling for it; 2020 finished off any modicum of respect I had for any and every hall of power, and most white collar professions.

Now ESG requirements and hiring practices deliberately and proudly opposed to meritocracy are filtering down to the blue collar jobs, their onerous regulations and Computer-Based Trainings imposed upon the working class.

Please think for a moment about how many jobs require technical competence.

Think about what happens when airline pilots, architects, doctors, lawyers, or accountants are hired not for their competence, but for the color of their skin or their stated gender at the time of their interview. Think about what happens when diesel engine mechanics, commercial scale HVAC technicians, sewage treatment plant workers, paramedics, electricians, or bridge inspectors are not hired based on competence.
 
Think about the effect on those people who are competent when they see less skilled people being favored.

The comfortable, easy First World the Boomers lived in is dying with them. The rest of us are going to be left to grapple with rotted out institutions and the creatures who run them out to parasitize the rest of us; with infrastructure that is falling apart, without the resources or skilled labor to repair and maintain it; with the effects of an over-processed food supply and a populace dependent on all manner of medications; with a populace who have been bred and trained to be fat, stupid, weak, and dependent.

To acknowledge this isn't black-pilling. Realism is not pessimism. Our rulers have sold us down the river for so long that all the safe landing points are behind us. So be it. Weak men create hard times, but hard times create strong men. We're in for hard times and hellfire. Let it be a forge.

We do this by using the time we have left to get ready.  We do this by preparing equipment, skills, and ourselves.

First and foremost, avail yourself of your own knowledge. Think of where you are and who is around you. This is one way in which Covid was a blessing; anyone who took the jab, whether through deception or duress, can't be counted on to hold the line. Anyone who continues to swallow the narrative on Covid is a regime apparatchik and will be a threat when trouble comes.  

Which isn't to say that you should be mean to them. I only mean to say that in every single interaction with such a person, you should bear in mind exactly what they are.  Be on guard around such a person, or be betrayed.

Know who's around you.  Which of your neighbors would ask you for food if they were hungry and desperate, and which would try to simply take it?  Who around you has practical skills and would be open to bartering?  Perhaps most importantly, who around you has children, and what are they being taught?  "Children are the future" may be a trite saying, but it ain't wrong. 

Children coming up now are going to be subject to as much or more indoctrination, propaganda, and pressure than any previous generation of Americans. Teach them to navigate it. Teach them to think for themselves, and how to guard against those who can't or won't.

Build dissident libraries of physical books, CDs, and DVDs from which to teach them, and that they can inherit if they are worthy. Build libraries of politically incorrect works, of cultural heritage works, of references for practical skills, of genuinely entertaining and inspiring and funny things.

Build libraries of arms and ammunition. Build libraries of seeds. Build libraries of all the knowledge and beauty the wretched creatures ruling over us are working so hard to deprive us of or destroy.

Teach those children, and yourselves, about where you live.  What natural disasters are most likely to strike, and how do you prepare for them?  Where is the water in your area?  Where is the nearest city and its largest suburbs?  What is the population there and in your area, and in desperate times, whence will come the most likely threats?  Go for walks and learn the local terrain.  Think about how it affects you, and will affect you in various circumstances. Have a physical copy of a map of your city or county or state, whatever you can get. 

Know how you're going to take care of basic necessities when the lights go out. Where will you find water?  How will you dispose of sewage?  How will you cook and bathe?  Do you keep a full pantry and freezer?  Do you follow the First In First Out rule in your pantry, as grocery stores do for what's on their shelves?  Are your emergency stores things that you and your family will actually eat, and things that you eat on a regular enough basis that they won't upset your stomach?  Do you have herbs and seasonings on hand to add enough variety to your food so that you don't get sick of it?

Do you have ways to keep warm or cool, depending on the season?  Do you have a med kit with common medications that are in date?  Do you know where it is?  Do you know CPR and basic first aid?  

These questions can be overwhelming, I know, especially if you've never really thought about it before.  But they are questions that need to be answered, and you need to be prepared; this postwar interim of ease and comfort is an anomaly, and one that is on its way out. Our rulers are already making things harder on the population, putting pressure on us so they may usher us into a sort of neofeudalism in which we will own nothing. They will tell us that we are happy, and anyone who says otherwise will have their lives destroyed. We're seeing the first waves of this already. 

Even if the ruling class weren't deliberately making things worse, we would already be headed for a crash.  We have allowed too many cans to be kicked down the road for far too long for there not to be consequences. 

And so I implore you: get ready.

Learn to garden. Learn to cook, to can, to compost, to sew, to do basic home and vehicle repair and maintenance. Exercise, even if it's just taking walks around your neighborhood or doing stretches. Learn a little every day. Do a little more every day.  

Make yourself a little bit stronger and a little bit better, every single day.

You will make mistakes. You will fail sometimes - growth is not strictly linear. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try again.

We are the ones who build.