by James Wesley Rawles, Survival Blog:
There are a number of societal changes that have accelerated our plans to fully go off the grid. The day may soon come when we decide to lock our gate at the county road, and hunker down. Our only regular contact would then be with our contiguous neighbors. For many years, I thought that the only circumstance that might necessitate such a move would be a societal collapse. But now, I have many other concerns.
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The most prominent motivators for taking on the mode of self-isolation include:
- Currency inflation
- The surveillance state
- Increasing regulation
- Forced vaccination schemes
- Supply chain disruption
- New waves of influenza strains
- Central Bank Digital Currencies
I will address each of these issues, in turn.
CURRENCY INFLATION
Inflation has nagged most national currencies for centuries. But inflation accelerated in the 1960s, as the last vestiges of specie-backing were eliminated. Most countries dropped their gold coinage by the 1930s, and most silver coins were dropped from circulation by the late 1960s. Now, all that exists is true fiat currency: paper backed by nothing but more paper. Even so-called “safe haven” currencies are unbacked. As I’ve written before, all national currencies are essentially leperous. The Dollar just happens to be the lucky leper with the most remaining fingers.
The only practical ways to insulate ourselves from the effects of inflation are to produce our own food and fuel, and to barter, locally. We already have some photvoltaic panels here at the Rawles Ranch, and we will soon be adding more. It will be nice to someday have no power bill!
We’ve been cutting all of our own firewood, for more than 15 years. Recently, we installed a wood cook stove, to supplement our wood heating stove. The new stove will eliminate the need for one of our biggest fuel hogs: our combination propane/electric kitchen range. We will still leave that stove installed, but we plan to use the wood-fired cookstove for most months of each year. July and August might be a problem for a wood cookstove, since we won’t want a roasting-hot kitchen!
Gardening most of the vegetables that we need is another practical way to insulate ourselves from the ravages of inflation. It is time-consuming, but we consider it a labor of love. Even if inflation were to run up into double digits or triple digits, we will still have gardens that are large enough to feed our family. Knowing that gives us a great sense of assurance. Tropical fruits and spices may become a thing of the past for our table, but we won’t starve.
THE SURVEILLANCE STATE
For many years, I’ve bemoaned the growth of the surveillance state. Edward Snowden revealed to the world just how pervasive and insidious this surveillance had become. Despite his warnings, few, if any of these unconstitutionally invasive measures were eliminated.
Surveillance cameras have become ubiquitous. Yes, they’ve reduced crime, but they’ve also reduced our privacy. And inevitably, less privacy means less freedom.
Automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) are also becoming ubiquitous. And nearly all new automobile and truck tires are “chipped” with unique RFIDs. Furthermore, many wheels have RF tire pressure monitors — allowing them to be scanned. Tire RFID chipping started experimentally in 2003, and now has been widely adopted. RFID ignition systems (“chipped” keys and fobs ) have been standard equipment since 1995. Those technological “advances” now make it impossible to travel any long distance in a private car, SUV, or truck, without having your location tracked. In effect, even if you don’t have OnStar or a cell phone on board, your vehicle might still generate nine or more sources of tracking data!
Smart electric meters have also become ubiquitous. We’ve known for more than a decade that they gather a surprising amount of data on our daily lives. Remember: Monitoring enables control.
We have to assume that all of our interactions on the Internet will be cataloged for our lifetimes, and beyond. Conceivably, even the specific phrasing of our web searches is being recorded in some database. Because m livelihood depends on an Internet connection, we don’t plan to give that up anytime soon. But we must be mindful that there is no privacy whatsoever, for anything we do online, or anything that we say in telephone or radio conversations. Every text message, every comment we make on an article, and every social media post we make will be enshrined for decades to come. Sad, but true.
INCREASING REGULATION
The level of regulation in our nation is becoming intolerable. Thankfully, I live in a lightly-populated state with a minimally-intrusive government — at least in comparison to the coast “blue” nanny states. But even here, there is vehicle registration, a state income tax, and a state motor vehicle fuel tax. At least we don’t have building permits or a building “code” requirement. Those are only required inside of city limits, in some towns and cities. But it seems that no matter where you live, regulation and taxation are growing, inexorably. Once they are enacted, regulations rarely expire. They often get amplified or multiplied. Permits (with fees) and licenses expanding in scope and reach, for everything imaginable. That is the nature of modern government. It only gets worse, over time. Count on it.
You aren’t even safe on your own property. But by staying there and becoming more self-sufficient, at least you will minimize your contact with this sticky web of stinking government.
FORCED VACCINATION SCHEMES
Living in the 2020s, we have been beset by the COVID-19 pandemic. The worst of it was not the pandemic itself, but rather governmental overreaction. Entire nations, such as New Zealand, were put under mandatory vaccination schemes. Here in the United States, vaccination was ostensibly “voluntary”. But for those in the armed forces, many working in health care, and some public service first responders, “voluntary” soon morphed into mandatory. Failure to “voluntarily” get vaccinated meant termination. For some, this meant giving up pension benefits, just a few years before they would have been fully vested. That is a shame on their employers.
Along with vaccination came invasive testing. Even those healthcare workers and military servicemen who successfully refused vaccination and maintained their jobs were still forced to undergo frequent COVID testing, with a test swab shoved deep into their sinuses. Some folks were forced to be tested dozens of times, or face termination. That is another shame on the employers who mandated that indignity.
SUPPLY CHAIN DISRUPTION
Another aspect of life in the 2020s is the advent of supply chain shortages. Gone are the days when we could expect to see supermarket shelves neatly stacked with row upon row of goods, in seemingly unlimited supply. And now, we can longer expect to hear the guy behind the parts counter at your local car dealership say: “We can have that for you here, in two days.” While we haven’t quite yet descended into Third World market conditions, we cannot expect things to improve substantially in the foreseeable future. We must plan accordingly. We need to stock up on food, consumable supplies, and even some spare parts, at home. Deep larders will give us the resilience we’ll need for perilous times. Whether it is unsafe, unwise, or unaffordable to go into town for supplies, we need to have alternatives. And again, those begin at home. If you are planning on building a barn or workshop, then prayerfully consider specifying a much larger size. Sure, you’ll need plenty of weather-tight space for all of your stored supplies. You cannot go off-grid if you are running the supermarket every week.
Here at our ranch, one crucial factor will be animal feed shortages. We try to produce as much feed as we can here on the property. But we simply don’t have enough hay ground for the needs of our current herd of livestock. Yes, we could butcher some extra cattle or give away horses when times get hard, but the timing and the profitability of that will most likely not be favorable. So we’ve made an informal agreement with our main hay supplier. Thankfully, they are local to us. We’ve also bought additional galvanized steel grain containers.
NEW WAVES OF INFLUENZA STRAINS
It seems that a new variant of COVID-19 pops up once every few months. While the Omicron strain didn’t alarm me, what if a new “OhMiGosh” variant with high lethality emerges? If and when that does happen, I want to be able to completely isolate my family for a full year, or even longer. So, once again, going off the grid all comes down to logistics. Stack it mouse-proof, and stack it deep, folks!
