As Our World Turns

• Egypt turned upside-down
• Angry Libyan citizens being shot down by soldiers and mercenaries on the ground, in helicopters and planes
• Four Americans killed by Somali pirates
• Protests continue in Bahrain, no end in sight

Here at home...

• Thousands of public and private union members in Wisconsin protest proposed changes while all their Democrat State Senators hide and refuse to do their jobs
• In Ohio, more thousands protest union-busting bills in the legislature
• Following the lead of their Wisconsin cohorts, 67 Indiana House Democrats are leaving the state, in hiding, so the legislature doesn't have a quorum  
• Gasoline prices in the U.S. expected to keep rising with the Middle East unrest; $4 a gallon this year???
• California, New Jersey, Hawaii, Ohio and more states are in danger of total insolvency
• While one-quarter of the counties in the U.S. are losing population (story here)

What the hell is going on in our world?

Whatever is happening, have you taken steps to prepare yourself to be more self-sufficient, no matter what comes along? Its beginning to look like modern survivalists are something more than goofy, whacked out, the-world-ends-tomorrow, tin foil hat-wearing crazies. There's a rumble underfoot and the result may not be pretty, my friends.

Modern Survivalism

About 2-1/2 years ago I woke up one morning with an interest in Modern Survivalism. OK, maybe I didn't wake up with it in my head, perhaps it was a rather normal transition and continuation of my huge interest in self-defense and our Second Amendment rights. The desire and ability to defend oneself is the basic tenet of survival, don't you think?

I'm currently reading the Kindle version of the novel Indivisible by Troy Grice on my iPod. A novel based on the fictional (perhaps, time will tell) total economic collapse of these United States. You see, becoming a Modern Survivalist or "Prepper" doesn't mean you expect the Earth to be hit by a huge meteor, or that you're looking for China to attack the United States with a massive EMP (electromagnetic pulse) that knocks out much of our technological society, or that you're expecting zombies to crash through your front door at any moment. 

Quite the contrary, as stated by Jack Spirko of The Survival Podcast (www.thesurvivalpodcast.com) it's really much more basic and valuable for each of us:

“Everything you do to prepare for disaster should improve your position in life

even if nothing ever goes wrong.”

For instance, if you want to stock up on food items, buy the items you eat on a regular basis...not freeze-dried MREs that you and your kids wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole. When you shop, if canned vegetables are on sale, buy a few extra cans and place the extras in your basement storage. As you take cans from the kitchen pantry, restock them from your storage. In doing so, you've saved money while better preparing yourself for the next blizzard, ice storm or tornado. 

And it doesn't only pertain to canned goods:  remove debt from your financial life, plant a garden in the back yard, make sure you have flashlights or kerosene lanterns and alternate ways to produce heat, an extra supply of water...take care of the basics so you can weather a short-term problem if the occasion arises or so you can live better every day even if a disaster never occurs. 

I remember the Cold War years, when we felt both Russia and the United States had their fingers on the button that would send nuclear warheads to either country via ICBM missiles and deliver us back to the stone age...if we lived through it. Some folks built bomb shelters in a corner of their basement. At school, we had "Duck & Cover" drills—teaching us to get under our desks and cover our heads, as if that would protect us from a nuclear explosion. Modern Survivalism is much more beneficial because it helps you live a better life even if bad things never happen.