https://www.patreon.com/posts/74696446?pr=true 1) Contrary to popular opinion among some readers and former readers, I do vote. I vote in elections concerning local races and issues, up to the state level. I don’t vote on federal issues, because I am well aware that there is really no reason to bother. The federal government is going to do whatever the Beltway Bureaucracy decides is in the best interest of the Beltway Bureaucracy, and if the voters don’t like it, even if they display that dislike at the polls, well, they’ll just do it anyway. The peasants simply don’t matter. At the local and state level however, if the elected representatives of the people completely ignore the wishes and needs of their constituents, well, they live down the road. We can still reach them to express our displeasure. (2) While a lot of people on the Right have tried to point at the 2016 election of Trump as an example of how “voting can make a difference!” I’d offer the observation that (giving the benefit of the doubt that Mr. Trump isn’t just another member of the oligarchy that was playing the role of controlled opposition, which is what I’ve always suspected anyway, he sure didn’t seem to manage to accomplish much. He seemed to have spent most of his administration railing against the inconvenience of the bureaucracy, and not being able to do what he wanted. (3) I don’t have a position, either way, on the 2020 Presidential election results, as should be evident from the above, and will be more evident below. I didn’t participate in the Presidential election, as per (1) above. The old adage—older members of my family still try to use it against me, ironically—that “if you don’t vote, you can’t complain!” is absurd on the face of it. When you participate, you are ipso facto accepting the legitimacy of the process, and thus the legitimacy of the outcome. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with voting in federal elections, if you want to do so. I’m just saying that if you believe there is overwhelming fraud in a given election, and then, the very next cycle, you go out an participate in the same elections, well, then (a) you don’t really think the fraud happened, (b) you somehow think that, magically, the same fraud won’t happen again, this time, because….wishes and fairies, I guess, or (c) you really enjoy pissing into the wind. The reality is, not participating is the only way of being able to morally look at the scenario and saying, “Yeah. That looks like bullshit to me,” and not be full of shit. ——————————————————— What’s the point? As I’m writing this, Election Day 2022 is a few days past, and much to the chagrin of most of the Right, and some of the GOP, there was none of the much anticipated “Red Wave.” The Democrats maintained control of the Senate, and any Republican majority in the House is going to be marginal, at best. This is ironic to me, because I’ve been telling people, in writing, in one video that YT promptly banned, and in person, that there was not going to be any Red Wave. It doesn’t even matter where you stand on the political spectrum—Left, Right, Centrist, or somewhere on the outside looking in, it should have been abundantly obvious that there was not going to be any such “Red Wave.” The idea was absurd on the face of it. There are two basic, incontrovertible reasons that the idea was absurd. In the first place, if you believe the outcome of the 2020 Presidential election was fraudulent, then it is absurd to believe that the Democratic Party apparatus that facilitated that fraud wasn’t going to let it get overturned a mere two years later. They got away with it once, and they knew they could get away with it again, with little or no outcry from their GOP opposition. Thus, on the face of it—again, assuming that you believe that the results of 2020 were fraudulent—then believing in the “Red Wave” was dumb. In the second place, if you believe that the 2020 Presidential election results were no more fraudulent than any other federal election in recent US history, then—whether you approve of the results or not—you had to acknowledge that the majority of voters had already leaned far enough Left that they voted for Mr. Biden, in which case, the outcome of this week’s votes should—in no way—have come as a surprise. One of the memes I saw circulating on social media leading up to Election Day, read, “Before you go vote, go fill up your gas tank, pay your utility bills, check your 401k, and go grocery shopping.” Either doing these things before voting was pointless, because the outcomes were pre-ordained, or a lot more people were willing to ignore their financial difficulties than was assumed…or a lot of people didn’t think current administration policies were the cause of those difficulties. In any case, the “Red Wave” didn’t occur, and I’ve seen a whole lot of teeth-gnashing and hair-rending in the ensuing days, even among people who insisted that “TINVOWOOT.” (There Is No Voting Our Way Out Of This). I suspect—after all, I can’t read the hearts of others, only make guesses based on their actions—that a lot of the teeth gnashing results from a misguided hope that “someone” would “fix it” and all their problems would just go away. That’s dumb. ————————————————— What does this mean, in the context of what we discuss here at the Mountain Guerrilla blog? It means nothing. Literally, nothing. It doesn’t change a damned thing. We already knew the policies that are being implemented were, in the long run, bipartisan, and going to result in catastrophic consequences. People point at the impacts of COVID interventions, and want to point at Dr. Fauci or Dr. Birx, conveniently forgetting that Mr. Trump was standing up there at the podium with them, every time they made a pronouncement or suggestion. If, as Mr. Truman famously stated, “The buck stops here!” then the catastrophe of the response to COVID at the federal level—including the CDC—was as much Mr. Trump’s doing as it was a Democratic Party issue, and arguably more so. People want to look at grid failures and point at California and it’s issues with power outages and rolling blackouts, or the projected winter blackouts forthcoming, in New England, and blame the Democrats and their drive for “green energy.” They overlook the fact that, in the winter of 2020, Texas suffered devastating, catastrophic power outages during their winter storm, and Texas hasn’t been a Democrat-controlled state since Ann Richards left the governor’s office in 1995, and hasn’t voted Democrat in Presidential elections since 1976. I’ll let you in on a secret…there were no wind turbine farms in Texas in 1995. People want to look at the US proxy effort in the Ukraine, or the fall of Afghanistan (which I covered in detail when it happened, and am not going to bother rehashing again), and blame the Biden administration specifically, and Democrats in general, but if you look at the war-mongering comments of the current GOP leadership, regarding Russia and China, you begin to see that the anticipated “Red Wave” likely wouldn’t have changed anything anyway. The point of this isn’t that “Republicans are evil!” or even that “Republicans are just as bad as Democrats.” The latter is too broad a brush, and the second is self-evident. The point of the above is, it’s not about Democrat and Republican, and voting isn’t the solution. The convergence of catastrophes we’re confronting is a predicament, rather than a problem—to use John Michael Greer’s distinction between the two that a problem has solutions, while a predicament just has mitigations—that is inexorable and unavoidable. The convergence of catastrophes we’re confronting are rooted entirely in human nature, at the psychological and sociological levels, and the repeated patterns of history clearly illustrate to us that they were bound to happen. Trying to vote your way out of them doesn’t work. Instead, the point of this is—like the entire effort with the Mountain Guerrilla blog—to provide tools, concepts, and principles, to help you and your family, thrive in the face of that convergence. What I can tell you, with assurance, is two-fold: (1) Attempting to maintain some semblance of the status quo, as it exists now, is going to be no more successful than trying to resurrect some fantasy version of the status quo as it existed in 1992 or 1982 or 1972 or 1962 or 1952, and (2) Wasting your time and mental bandwidth on such an attempt will be less rewarding, in the long run, than beating your head against a large granite rock until gray shit starts leaking out your ears. ———————————————– What can you do that will make a difference? Stop waiting and hoping for “someone” to “fix things.” Look at the trends of history and the current environment, and get ahead of them, so you can successfully navigate it, instead of getting tossed about and smashed into the shoals. Quit assuming that any emergency is going to be “short term.” A lot of the damage from Hurricane Katrina—17 years ago—still hasn’t been cleaned up, and never will be, except by being reclaimed by the bayous or the ocean. When you see something catastrophic happening—storms, weather events, manmade disasters—don’t assume it’s going to get better because “help is on the way!” Stand up and start working to fix it yourself, at least to a level that is acceptable to you. You can make yourself—and more importantly, any younger people in your life—more resilient. Figure out—and help others figure out—what is actually essential in your life, and focus on that. I was re-reading legendary outdoorsman and writer Steward Edward White’s classic book from 1907, Camp and Trail, the other night. In it, he talks about “essentials” and lightening the load when traveling in the wild. “Carry only what is essential: but the definition of the word is not easy. An essential is that which, by each man’s individual experience, he has found he cannot do without. How to determine that? When you have reached home after your trip, turn your duffel upside down on the floor. Separate the contents into three piles. Let pile No. 1 include those things you have used every day—or nearly that often; let pile No. 2 comprise those that you have used but once; and pile No. 3 those you have used not at all. Now, no matter how your heart may yearn over the Patent Dingbat in pile No. 3, shut your eyes and resolutely discard the latter two piles. Naturally, if you are strong-minded, pile No. 1 will be a synonym for your equipment. As a matter of fact, you will probably not be as strong-minded as that. You will argue with yourself somewhat in this fashion: ‘Yes, that is all very well; but it was only a matter of sheer chance that this Patent Dingbat is not in pile No. 1! To be sure, I did not use it this particular trip, but in other conditions I might need it every day!’ So, you take it, and keep on taking it, and once in a great while, you use it. Then, some day you wake up to two bits of camp philosophy which you formulate to yourself about as follows: ‘an article must pay in convenience or comfort for the trouble of its transportation,’ and ‘Substitution, even imperfect, is better than the carrying of special conveniences.’ Then, he hurls the Patent Dingbat into the nearest pool.” Mr. White, of course, was talking about camping contrivances, but it stuck out to me, because of the relevance to preparedness culture in general. Too often, preppers end up spending piles of money on things, based on some list concocted by someone they don’t know, and who doesn’t know them. Or, they build their lists of purchased gear based on surmised events to happen, without any experience with the events, or what living under those conditions would be like, for them, in their context. Then, when someone—like me—comes along and says, “Wait up a minute, man. Let’s look at this objectively. How often have you ever done XXX in your life? Never? Well, what makes you think that XYZ occurring is going to change that fact? Why are you buying the equipment to do XXX? You don’t even know how to do it!” The reply, invariably is, “Well, I might need to, in the post-grid world!” or something along those lines. The correct response is, “If you think you’re going to need to do XYZ, shouldn’t you learn how now?” Their response tends to be, “Well, I don’t have time. I need to play my video games/watch TV/play cards with the pals/whatever is more convenient!” That’s not preparedness. That’s collecting crap. Get off the couch. Quit making excuses about “Red Waves” and “our team” saving you, and get to work. Nothing is going to stop the ongoing collapse, and nobody is coming to save you. Quit waiting for some super hero to fly in and save the day for you. Be your own super hero. Continue reading...
