Thursday, October 17, 2013

Hippies, Tree Huggers, and Preppers

 

    Here where I live in rural Iowa, my neighbors are very conservative.  I consider myself (Using a phrase from a fellow by the name of Gerald Celente) to be a "Political Atheist".  I don't believe in the concepts of Liberal, and Conservative.  I don't associate myself with being a "Republican" or "Democrat".  In fact I've come to believe that these divisions are really a "Construct".  I've come to feel that this is a ruse, a con job, a misrepresentation.  Over the decades, the government here in the good old U.S. of A., has drifted from one side to another... Each side taking it's turn, and trumpeting it's virtues.  All the while nothing really changes!

     We still keep sending our young people off to wars, in places we don't belong.  Our personal freedoms keep being eroded.  Our financial future (And our children's,) is placed in ever greater harm. And the rich get richer at our expense.  Liberal versus Conservative, doesn't seem to change a damn thing, neither side does anything to change the big stuff that really matters.  Taxes keep climbing, people still go homeless and hungry, and they can't even deliver a letter to my mail box without going broke.  What I see in the ballot box is an illusion, one side pitted against the other, all designed to make us believe we have a choice!  It's astounding to me how people like Rush Limbaugh, or on the other side Piers Morgan, can get rich by perpetuating what to me is a transparent hoax.

     I don't like to call myself a "Doomsday Prepper" either, because it's a moniker that pigeon holes me into a stereotype.  It's a name that conjures up someone crawling into a hole in the ground with their arsenal of weapons, and Meals Ready to Eat.... Waiting for a comet to smash into the Planet and kill us all.  We ARE living in troubling times, that's for sure.  The handwriting IS on the wall.  We're living in a dual economy, while a few very rich folks are doing quite well, the rest of us see our lives slipping between our fingers.  While those Republicans and Democrats put their thumbs under their suspenders, stick out their chests like a crowing rooster and proclaim that they've crafted a recovery.... For most of us, our lives are turning to crap.  There's no end in site either, our Country is sliding towards "Third World" status before our very eyes.

   As I read the alternative news, I get the sense of a mind bogglingly surreal world.  How pork prices at the grocery store will soon skyrocket because pigs in those huge pork factories here in the Midwest, are being fed sardines from the coast of Chile, and those fish populations are over depleted now.   I read how tennis shoe parts are shipped to China to be put together there, then shipped back here to adorn our Teenager's feet. (And the "Emma-Maersk" container ship consumes three thousand six hundred gallons of fuel.... PER HOUR!!!.)  This is how insane our world has become.  I don't look at this from a stand point saving the "Mother Planet" mind you... I see mis-management of our resources, to the point of our own self destruction.

     The ""Hippies"" on the supposed "Left" have been holding hands around the camp fire and telling us this has been going on for decades.  Of course they're right.  More importantly, it's the efforts of some of these other groups that we should be studying as someone who's concerned about the future.  Most people who look at the future with a "Preparedness mindset" consider themselves to be "Right leaning", we're interested in preserving our Second amendment rights for example.  We shouldn't automatically dismiss others however, because they don't agree with us on certain concepts.  The goal here is to "Survive and thrive" in a very uncertain future.  We should in our preparations, seek out common ground with those that we otherwise wouldn't have much to do with.   If you believe for example as I do, that the best hedge against the future, is moving towards a self sustaining lifestyle (Rather than "Prepper", I've decided that I should be calling myself a "Preparing Homesteader",) there are lessons to be learned in the workings of what used to be called a "Hippy Commune."  What's now called an "Intentional Community", is really after all, a self sustaining compound.  Studying how these folks have made it work, getting tips and tricks about their "Off Grid" lifestyle, can help us weather a future where the Grid might not be available.

     Others might be interested... And have been investing great efforts at "Reducing their Carbon Footprint".  You might think this to be a bunch of baloney, but doesn't this really mean being able to live with less dependence on a failing society.  Those who are into "Permaculture", talk about things like "Sharing the abundance", the exact opposite of a "Doomsday Prepper's" efforts at what's called "OPSEC".  On the other hand, a "Permaculture Food Forest Garden", is a perfect "Zombie camouflaged" way to produce food.

     I guess what I'm trying to say, is that if we set aside our Conservative, VS. Liberal differences, find common ground, and start having a dialogue with folks that we might otherwise look upon with disdain... We might just be able to learn from one another.  I think that you would find that those other folks have as much trepidation about the future as you do after all!

1 comment:

  1. Hi there! I was just checking out your blog and had a quick question. I was hoping you could email me back when you get the chance. Thanks! - Cam

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