Thursday, December 13, 2012

Silence is golden

In response to last weekend's WND column entitled Are Preppers Responsible for the Unprepared, a reader submitted the following question:
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I hope it isn't too late to comment on this post. As a regular lurker here, I understand and agree with the prepper mindset. However, I do have a question. One which I hope others will see as honest. It is not meant to be accusatory or insulting, I’m sincerely trying to understand…

There seems to be a lot of concern about the fact that few people are actually doing any prepping, but no one ever really discusses the obvious (to me, anyway) “other shoe.” What makes you think you will be able to stop the government from taking what you’ve accumulated, should there ever be a long-term crisis? Many people seem to feel that as our society disintegrates, the government will weaken and unravel. However, with so many people convinced that the government has all the answers, I think the opposite will happen. I believe it will probably become very powerful. So what will you do when the National Guard tanks roll up the lane to ‘politely’ request that you ‘share’ for the ’common good’? And not just your food, but maybe your land/property as well. I never hear anyone discussing this beyond the occasional random comment that they’re armed. To me, this question is foundational to prepping. Will you really fight to the death? And your family too? What is the point of preparing if - should a long-term crisis arise - your supplies will likely be taken from you by force? Yes, you may very well be able to protect yourself from marauders, but I honestly think it will be the government itself that would come knocking before very long. And they will have public opinion squarely behind them. As Ms. Lucus-McKewen’s writings make obvious, the vast majority of people will feel entitled to force you to share what you have. And of course, they will not be inclined to “wait you out,” given that it’s your stockpile they’d be after. They would see you and your loved ones in the same light as those people gunned down at Ruby Ridge… as ‘crazy nuts’ who refused to submit to law enforcement. So help me understand. In a crisis, do you really think the government will suddenly swing in favor of freedom, autonomy and self-sufficiency? What am I missing here? What do you see that I don’t? Have you considered the possibility, and if so, what’s the plan?

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While I think the best answer can be found in the title of this post, nonetheless his concerns are legitimate. I thought I would open up the topic for discussion. Thoughts?

43 comments:

  1. Yes, silence is golden, among your "community". Friends, family and neighbors! And if/when it comes to that, it may be like Ruby Ridge around here. :(

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  2. I don't know about anyone else, but ANY threat to me or my family will be met with the appropriate level of force. I did not work for years to provide for my family to have someone come and take it because they feel entitled to the fruits of MY labor. The .gov already does that, and the hordes think that's OK, as long as THEY get their free stuff. I'm sick and tired of it. Might I die in the process? Maybe. I might die of starvation after the .gov takes my sustenance and puts me in some camp somewhere, too. If I die, I die free, standing up. I'm not rolling over to be someone's slave boy. I've had enough, and I suspect many others have, also.

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  3. This is my biggest concern!
    I don’t want to sound like a freak, but think about this premise…
    First, think back to the obscene inflation Germany suffered under after WW1, when the only thing the Mark was really good for was a quick wipe at the outhouse. It didn’t matter how much you were paid, it didn’t buy anything. You needed to trade things of value for needed items, but trading carried it’s own dangerous side effects.
    Now, Government, at Local, County, State and Federal levels will need food reserves to feed their safety forces. Safety forces are firefighters, police, detectives, sheriffs, state troopers, FBI, ATF, and our beloved Secret Service. Oh! Don’t forget the child molesting TSA that are protecting us each and every minute from people that dare take more than the allowed limit of dandruff shampoo onto an airplane.
    They will also need to feed EMTs, nurses and doctors. They must feed everyone incarcerated in jails, prisons, and mental institutions, lest their civil rights become violated.
    And you know, if all those government employees get fed, then all the stenos, secretaries, personal assistants, drivers, clerks and motor pool repairmen that actually do most of the work anyway, are going to want to get fed as well or those skeletons are going to come roaring out of closets in record numbers.
    So, if there is a long term dearth of food, the Federal level will have access to military commissaries and MRE’s. They will use these to feed as many as possible (eat up Charley Manson!).
    The State level has the National Guard supplies. They can use that to feed mental institutions, prisons etc..
    The only alternative for County and Local government is to
    • First go to the Fed, hat in hand, where the political party in power will review how their Party fared in previous elections…
    • Then to the State, on bended knee, where they will call up the Fed and ask what they should do, so as to stay in good favor.
    • And finally Local and County will beg State to go door-to-door and collect non-perishable food, by force if necessary, and then re-distribute any un-used food to those that voted for whichever political party necessary to keep in State’s good graces…

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  5. this is indeed, an issue that I think many of us consider. I think "don't keep all your eggs in one basket" is one way to handle this (caching etc). Amother way is, as you suggest, not letting anyone know what you have. The "resistance" movements in many countries have gone through this, read up on what they have done to keep going when their governments went "share crazy'.

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  6. We don't talk about our preps. I keep an inventory and stuff is stored out of sight. As our government prepares to tax "the wealthy" I see that "wealthy" is called "millionares" at $250,000 a year, and that new tax structure is graduated down to $70,000/year. Not that we make nearly that much but the point is if $250K is considered wealthy enough to heavily tax (aka seize), then a garage full of food will be considered better off distributed by gov't officials as well.

    As I said, we don't talk about what we have.

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  7. Far from being accusatory or insulting, the writer asks a very valid question. There are several possible courses of action, but the one thing even a determined government gone bad can't take from you is knowledge and skill. In a totally Mad Max environment the ability to simply survive for a while will be key. At that point you're not a 'prepper.' You're a survivalist. Survival is not a matter of “stuff.” It's being able to use what you have to provide what you really need – not what you think you need. Other courses of action have little chance of success:

    1. The Silence is golden school of thought. OPSEC, in other words. Yes, this will work... but only to a limited extent. As long as those coming for your supplies don't have access to records of everything you've bought over the past several years they must play a guessing game. Do you or don't you have something worth while. Which means you have to play this deadly game a bit better than them. When your unprepared neighbors suddenly begin to lose weight, you have to lose weight, too. When their kids get sickly, yours have to do so as well. Eventually an organized mob of this sort will simply do a house-to-house search, and game over, you lose.

    2. Over my dead body. Again, this will have limited success. Yes, an armed group could hold off a limited attack by raiders. No, they can not hold off a very well armed (and armored) government force backed by a populace which wants food. And, the initial contact doesn't have to include tanks and rockets... few people are really foolish enough to believe that a couple of cops at the front door don't represent the tip of a heavily armed force that can be brought to bear.

    3. Don't have the majority of your supplies where they can be easily found. Sort of a variation on the, “Yes, I did buy that handgun, but you know, it fell out of the canoe when I tipped over, and it's somewhere on the river bottom,” theme. But, to tell the truth, not too many of us have a well hidden and unknown cave on our property to serve as a natural root cellar.

    4. A well prepared community won't have to confiscate from the public. This has the best chance of succeeding IF you can find or build a well prepared community. The wailing from the emergency management crowd is that people refuse to listen to them and prepare (while Homeland Security brands you a traitor for having more food on hand than they think necessary).

    A combination approach may be necessary. Work to build a prepared community. Let that community know you have certain things on hand... after all, you're the one talking about preparedness, aren't you? Don't keep all your eggs in one basket, which only makes sense anyway, because that basket can be destroyed by a house fire, a tornado, or an earthquake. And, be prepared to defend some of your hidden stuff. But most importantly, learn as much as you can about how to do things.

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  8. Thank you, thank you, thank you for bringing this up!
    As much as I enjoyed reading Rawles' books, this was the glaring hole in the whole story! The enemy within our own Gov't who "never lets a good crisis go to waste" is never mentioned. Is it because we don't know what to do about it or because we are afraid highlighting it will make us targets? Do we all hope to keep a low enough profile that we will somehow be missed? Is this a case of "First they came for the Socialists..." scenario? Are we all becoming like Martin Niemöller? Is our solution avoiding that trap and joining hands? I would venture to guess that this one is in the back of every prepper's mind!

    -Old Soldier

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  9. Some folks have a moral obligation to remain silent about their preparations - especially young families with children that need to be protected.

    Others, such as I, an 80 year old widower, need to talk about preparation so as to inspire and help others to do likewise and to help those truly in need when the SHTF happens.

    Semper Fi

    Hangtown Frank

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    1. God bless you, Frank! And thank you so much for your service, sir. Take Care!

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  10. I have a layered approach to this...

    1. Keep your mouth shut
    2. Keep your mouth shut
    3. In case you forget rule 1 refer to rule 2
    4. Don't waste time "educating" the masses as that simply violates the rules 1-3 and subjects you to the Federalies and their thuggish tactics.

    I think it is pretty difficult to steal what they don't know exists unless they do a house to house search, which I doubt will be feasible with all the other oppressive things they have to do in a day.

    Last is good old fight. You of course probably won't make it, but just make sure that some of the looters won't be eating your food that day or any day after.

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  11. A few choice words and phrases come to mind, most preppers will immediately understand:

    Grey man approach:

    Concealment, camouflage, subterfuge.
    Hidden caches
    Worn looking facade of everything in your domain.
    Maintain an outward appearance of "nothing here, move along".
    Keep yer dang mouth SHUT!

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  12. My OPSEC is ruined. Very early on as I was laying in long-term pantry storage I naively tried to teach some friends how to prep for long-term/emergency situations.
    Instead of learning, I heard the most dreaded reply; "We don't have to prepare, if SHTF, we'll just come here!" Like I'll become the new nanny government for them! I wanted to ventilate their empty heads right then and there.
    So now I have to take into account that if/when the dookey hits, we'll have these bubbleheads and every relative and friend they can dig up come to our place and share in MY HARD WORK AND FORETHOUGHT!
    Make no mistake, if they show up and I don't make nice and appease these idiots, they'll try to redistribute our "wealth".
    So I've got new contingency plans now, and I don't tell anyone anything. If they ask I just say it went away like Y2K - needless worry. Then I reminisce about government cheese...;)

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    1. I know the feeling. And I do believe I've run into dang near the exact problem.

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  13. The submitter has a very good point - in Rawles books, the federal and state governments quickly become a non-issue, but I suspect that in a collapse scenario they will hang on as long as possible and do ANYTHING they need to to survive (i.e. stay in power and keep fed).
    Yes, you have guns, but as mentioned they do to, and they can wait you out unless others make them leave - as others have said, a prepared community, in a rural area, and blending in are most likely to keep you alive in bad times.

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  14. In 1972 I worked for a man who immigrated from the Ukraine in the 50's. He was born just before WW II and he tells a story about the Holodomor that took place in his country of origin around 1932. His parents and grandparents lived in a small home and had a small farm (about an acre). For a year of two before the big event his grandfather had buried part of their crop each year in the woods adjacent to their property out of fear that the government would take it. The signs were there but not everyone did this. So when the Russian army came to take everyone's food they took his families food, all of it, everything they had stored for the winter, except the caches that his grandfather had made in the forest. The Russians wanted the Ukrainians to die but they didn't want to conduct a mass killing so they took alltheir food just before the long Ukraine winter. He told me that in that winter 8 millio Ukrainians died of starvation. He said his grandfather would go out into the woods a 3 in the morning to dig up a few beets and other root vegetables and that was wht they would eat. They would roast them right away and eat them and not have anything to eat the rest of the day out of fear their cache would be discovered if they had food. He also said that although his grandfather was the family hero that his grandfather sufferred regret and shame the rest of his life as many of his friends and nioeghbors died of starvation. He had a horrible choice to make and only one of those options would have saved his family so he choose to keep his caches secret and save his own family.

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  15. You're trying to assure security in a situation in which by definition there will be no security. You'd only need the level of preparation you discuss in this blog and other survival blogs in a worst-case scenario, say, the continental power grid becomes incapacitated. So the grid's down: a first observation is that unless the 'whole world' is affected, there WILL be assistance on some level, how effective that assistance would be in averting starvation is probably minimal, but in any frenzied aftermath, my own conclusion is that there is little chance whatsoever that any given individual will survive no matter what level of preparation he/she does beforehand; couples even, but especially family groups -- naming particularly those with small children and/or dependent members -- will be separated, and the false assurance of that relation shattered will make then lone individuals all that much more vulnerable. Survival for any given individual will be a cast of a die. A group is only as strong as its weakest member: I haven't seen any blogs on how to euthanize Granny, or Cousin Charley with MS. You say you live near a town of 1000, and you have a rural neighbours' agreement to protect each other. Well, I doubt that your neighbourhood reliance group is 1000-strong, and while you hurry over to help Farmer Giles, your own place will be looted at best, taken over at worst. And then where will you be? -- and what in God's name will you have done with Granny and Cousin Charley while the shootin's goin' on? My own guess is that those who prepare will be the greatest victims -- because any assurance you try to achieve against worst case scenarios, that fear of which is what all these blogs cater to -- is false assurance. And you'll be just that much more psychologically vulnerable. If you really believe that such utter, catastrophic societal collapse is possible/probable, then the only necessary preparation is to develop a feral mindset. And God help us all.

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  16. you should all rea d one second after.read it real slow.it tells it all.step by step.

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  17. This is something I have often thought about. What if? So OPSEC has always been the key for me. I don't keep all my eggs in one basket. The preps I keep in the basement are deliberately aged to give the appearance of being too old to be worth confiscating. I regularly spray fresh dust over the jars, and at Halloween, I invest is cobwebs. I use 2 or 3 letter codes written with grease pencil on the bottom of the jar to label what the product is and when it was canned/put up. Many foods are unidentifiable without a label when viewed through glass. I am prepared to state that they were there when I moved in and I never got around to getting rid of them. I am also prepared to ask for some 'real' food. OPSEC my friends. OPSEC!

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    1. Now that's a great idea I would have never thought about doing.

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  18. Every reader and poster on this blog has had their IP address tracked and the catalogued. If they want to find the food they will look to these "anonymous blogs and commneters". It is very easy to find where your internet connection is originating.

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    1. Well, that won't work if the grid goes -- but I've read that convicts quite naturally worry about security, too, and don't waste their time in prison. Apparently they use the web to 'study up' on where resources and skills can be most easily 'accessed', and plan their post-prison needs-based 'prepping' accordingly.

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  19. Our family recently spent a couple of weeks watching the BBC series " War Time Farm" on youtube. While it was a wonderful story of invention and enduring..... it also opened a whole Pandora's box. We had a great many convesations about "common good", and other very socialist ideas that were very predominate through out. Very much along these same lines of thought. The British government regulated nearly every facet of life..... and never has reliquished that power very much after the crisis.

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  20. The government troops will come and search your home. They will leave you with a weeks worth of food, and one shotgun and a few shells. They will take everything else, or inventory everything else for future reference. They will say that they must secure all of the community's resources, and that they will come each week to deliver the next weeks food ration. If you are still alive when they show up three weeks later, they will explain that rebel activity has thwarted their weekly deliveries, but they will leave 3 days worth of food and say that the regular food truck is just three days behind them, so don't worry the government will take care of you. A month later, when they come to collect whatever they discovered of use in the first search, you will either be dead, or too weak to fight.

    I hope that I can disappear completely on my own property. They will find a looted house, with bloody streaks that look like bodies were dragged out, and a few grains of rice spilled here and there. After four to six months I may be able to re-claim my home.

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  21. A fatalist attitude will prove to be just that, fatal. I prefer the option of being prepared (to the best of our ability) for several possibilities, and dealing with whatever happens at that time.

    I have no doubt our local government's emergency plan is to ask higher levels of government for help. When it doesn't come, or in enough quantity, the Plan B will be to commandeer whatever they can find "for the common good". Dealing with looters at this level could be accomplished with a fairly small defense group.

    I doubt the federal or state governments will have sufficient manpower, or opportunity due to civil unrest in the cities, to do any house to house searches. It's the locals I'd look out for.

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  22. As with everything else, these important things are something you should have already prayed about and decided upon. If you haven't, have a serious talk with your loved ones NOW. When push comes to shove, you may find yourself totally at odds with your own close family. People act differently under pressure! When you finally have to load the weapon to protect your family, someone in your family may simply want to turn themselves in and quietly go to a FEMA camp for whatever reason. You need to talk this out now. For most of us, it is too late for a 'full' OPSEC at this point. People talk, and that's just how it is. We must move forward in hope.

    God Bless,
    Janet in MA

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  23. I think that the best thing about being prepared is that you would also be extremely resourceful. If you know how to shoot, then you would be able to hunt wild game. Know how to garden, be able to grow edible plants etc. While a stock pile of food is good, knowing how to produce your own food would be invaluable. When we had the Christchurch earthquake it was the resourceful older generation who had long drops dug well before younger ones could wrap their heads around anything beyond 'our toilet is broken, what will we do?'. I would hate to think what would happen to the majority of people with a large, nationwide, catastrophe. There was complaining from residents that they couldn't have a shower after the earthquake. Go have a wash in the ocean people. The amount of people that sit around and wait to be rescued, rather than knowing how to help themselves, is quite frightening.

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  24. The Anonymous who posted about "One Second After." is correct. Read how that town's fictitious leadership handled the situation.
    This is why it is critical to have local political leaders in power who understand and uphold the constitution. We may not be able to do much on a national level, but at the county and township level by getting the right persons in office can help mitigate these concerns.
    Personally I think that as the federal govt. goes bankrupt it will not be able to control the rural areas. That's why they want to congregate population's in the cities. (Read up on Agenda 21).
    To the extent a low population county can manage on their own, they will be left alone. Make nice with the bureaucrat that is sent your way. Throw him a few bones. That way he can report all is well and be gone.

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  25. There are some stores which do not keep track of receipts (Wal-Mart is one), but many chains do: Lowe's, Home Depot, Costco. So unless you purchase everything with cash, "they" have the capacity to know exactly what and how much people purchase. Even if you use cash at Costco, your membership number is recorded on each receipt. So OPSEC is almost impossible really for a lot of folks.

    Touching story in comment above about the Ukranian tragedy. Somewhere I read about people going mad because they were forced to cannibalize the dead bodies of their own children and family members in order to survive.

    The evil that roams this earth has no bounds and we have no imagination to imagine its breadth and depth. May none of us living on earth now ever have to experience things like the Ukranian starvation or the Holocaust. The best thing to stock up on now, my friends, is PRAYER -lots of it.

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  26. Hey I have thought about this also. Lately I have just
    gotten high speed internet. We have been listening
    Jessie Ventura Conspiracy theros and they do have some
    Merit??I do think that the goverment will come in and
    really try to take our goods. And even if I did have
    an AK-47, which I don't because right now I cannot afford one. They the Nationl Guard still out guns us all.So I don't have an answer, except that we should
    pray about it. Each family needs will be different. I
    liked where the grandfather buried his food. I live out in the open where there are no forest around.
    But I don't have an answer,ecept to be prepared and expect the government to do it, and thank God every day that they haven't.
    Blessing,
    Debby

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  27. Heh. My IP address is several hundred miles away from here.

    Even if some organization took every bit of food in my house, I know the edible wild greens, berries, and nuts. I suggest others do the same.

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  28. prepping for the what if the shtf is more than just stocking up on food and ammunitions...it is the learning how to do things should the need arise...like using tools that are run on human energy rather than electric or gas. it is knowing how to plan and grow food so that you will have some food when your supplies begin to dwindle. it is the preservation of foods, herbal medicines, just in case you might need them later on...it is learning how to make do and not waste anything. it teaches you how to take care of what you have and being able to repair it too. prepping is also preparing to adapt to a different lifestyle if forced into it..security and silence is a major part of prepping...no one can take away from you what you keep to yourself. being a prepper affords a person some dignity as well..instead of being in a fema line, or red cross line for soup and a blanket a prepper knows exactly how to take care of their own simple needs.

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  29. Interesting stuff has been said for sure. While I do believe it is a legitimate concern, I feel it is negligible. If it comes to that, I plan to go out fighting. If I'm dead, I won't need all that stuff anyway. But I don't believe I could live to tell my children that I watched as the government came and pillaged our food from us, and that I allowed them to take the very substance keeping us alive. If I didn't fight and wasn't willing to die, what message would that send to future generations? Freedom IS worth fighting for. Remember, the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants alike.

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  30. I'm sorry.....but this reaks of nothing but FEAR BASED propaganda.

    Think of it....every crazy thing we have ever done as a people in this nation has been based on fear. (unwarranted destruction of Iraq. millions of lives lost to innnocent civilians and Americans....an over zealious TSA, a homeland security that meddles in our e-mails and phone calls with no search warrents)....all massive fear based reactions.

    Saw a documentary on how 780 people put 25 million of their own money and time for two years into massive self contained shelters in the late 70's because they thought a nuclear war was emminent. When no such thing happened.....they were humiliated, broke, exhaused and financially drained.

    I would rather be dead than live my life in abject fear. This doesn't mean that I don't have some back up if the power goes out......but not massive buildings of food storage, guns and survival generators to last me for 7 years.

    I wouldn't even want to live in a world like that. I'd rather take a few precautions, keep the fear out of my psyche and enjoy the NOW. let the fear chips fall where they may. BJ

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    1. The '70's? Really? Well, that aughta be good enough, then!

      Most of the folks who are commenting here aren't spending zillions on bunkers. We're just learning to be self reliant. Lumping a bunch people into categories out of ignorance like that is rather taboo in your camp, isn't it?

      We tend to be the type who want to take charge of our destinies in a world that is quite obviously heading for a huge change, and probably not a very good one. We don't sit and spend all of our spare time wringing our hands. We spend it learning how not to be caught up in the whirlpool when things start circling the drain. If you want to stir it up with people in their 'fraid holes there are better places. Google TEOTWAWKI or SHTF. They'll spar with ya. They like it!

      These scenarios come up in conversation, but we don't worry about it. We don't need to. That's for people who aren't ready.

      And, for the record, most of us could help you in times of need. That makes us a "neighbor" to you. Maybe you should try to be a neighbor to more people.

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  31. If we are looking at big moral questions like life and death, I must look at them through my faith. My political and practical considerations must always be secondary to my duties as commanded in Scripture. When obedience to God clearly and directly conflicts with what appears to be in my practical interest, that is a command to exercise faith.
    When does my Biblical obligation to submit to authority become an obligation to resist injustice? This is not an easy or obvious answer. Of course it cannot be, "when the authority does something I don't like". The early Christian church suffered greatly under the hands of the Roman government, and nowhere in Scripture do we see sanction to violently resist oppression in order to defend my individual rights. Even when we are looking at defending others or protecting the weak, it requires much prayer and discernment - look at the moral struggle of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in deciding when and how it was Godly to resist the Nazis.
    Even practically speaking, as a mother I cannot see how a shootout with a platoon of soldiers could possibly end in safety for my kids.
    I agree with point #4 of Anonymous at 6:15 am yesterday - building a community that is cohesive and resilient - being "salt and light" to our neighbors, is the best way to prevent, avoid, or rebound from any kind of government intrusion.
    I look at the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy compared to the 2011 tornados in my area. Though many more people were killed in the tornado outbreak, and some entire towns were wiped off the map, you did not see the same level of desperation, fighting in gas lines, looting, etc. The attitude was, "we look out for our own" and support from neighboring towns and counties poured in to provide security, cleanup, food, shelter, etc. Though it did not get the same level of media and political attention, it also did not have the same level of gov't activity, and that's a good thing in my book.

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  32. DITTO for me & my house...well said Troy, SwampWoman and the rest of like minds! first we must be found, next the cache must be found, finally we do not give up or cease fighting ...just sayin'

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  33. Right now, the government won't let shelters and food banks take anything that isn't commercialy packaged, or anything that has a past expiration date. They think it all goes poisoned on the date on the package.

    A big idea here is to re-package everything you can. They won't take your food to give to others if the only info on it is in your hand. Home canned food will be ignored big time. Five pounds of sugar in a zip lock bag will be treated like the plague.

    Since most bulk packages of foods need to be re-packaged for long term storage anyway, this falls neatly into my plan.

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    1. Wow...that is a real good idea! No one will take what they aren't sure of.
      The only problem will be that of "confiscation" of said preps by the safety forces.
      If they can't eat it, they'll make sure no one else "harms" themselves either...

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  34. The possible revocation of property rights, and the possible raiding of personal stores, cannot be well prepared for (beyond being prepared for confrontation).

    There's caching, and there's repackaging (both very smart)... but beyond that, it's nothing you can really prepare for like you can prepare for a blizzard.

    That being the case, we prepare for what we can prepare for. If it comes to having our property seized, then we will have to handle that when it comes, and trust the Lord to carry us through.

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  35. The nat guard that everyone speaks of are just average ordinary guys like you and me. They have families of their own and I promise you, they do not cherish the idea of doing anything that will infringe on the rights of their fellow citizens. Same goes for most local, smaller police forces and sheriffs offices. These are all real people we are talking about...Not some horde of UN loving socialists with a hidden agenda and secret handshakes. They are normal people. The best solution is local preparedness. It's would be easy for any sort of anarchist type of scenario, whether propogated by the federallies aor the state or whoever to take from individuals...Its a whole lote harder to ake frome entire communities/town/citites. STRONG local leadeship-to include the sheriff and police chief_ is the key....

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  36. What Anonymous says right above me. Yes, I prep, now as much as I can in the city with a wife and newborn baby. During Hurricane Sandy we had enough food and batteries for flashlights on hand. Our daughter was just home from the hospital when the storm hit. As it turned out, we DIDN'T lose power, and all we suffered from was a bad case of cabin fever.

    The government isn't organized enough to do anything like go house to house demanding food. In a SHTF situation the National Guard will spend its time quelling riots or rescuing those where the disaster hit. It's important to take precautions, but don't get too caught up in black helicopters and tin foil hats.

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