Saturday, July 5, 2014

How To Be Independent For Dummies

from theorganicprepper:
  • Question absolutely everything you hear on the news.Always be a skeptic. All major media goes back to just a few conglomerates The “news” is now all a propaganda ploy to help the rich get richer and the powerful remain in power.  The media can make or break a candidate with unholy zeal in less than a week.  These people and others like them are the ones that decide what “we the people” get to see.  If they feel like a candidate or a news item might upset the status quo, they black it out by refusing to cover it.
  • Call out the media.  Let everyone know that the mainstream media is the enemy of the people.  When you see coverage that is clearly biased, take a moment to call out the media about it.  Take the time to comment on mainstream media websites and point out the unbalanced coverage.  If you use social media, share this information and post on the media outlet’s social media pages as well.
  • Get out of the banking system. By opting to “unbank” or “underbank” there is a limit to what can be easily stolen from you.  When you have physical control of your financial assets, you are not at as high a risk of losing those assets, and therefore, less likely to be dependent on “the system.”
  • Turn your savings into precious metals or tangible assets.  On the same note as unbanking, you definitely don’t want to rely on a 401K or savings account to provide for you in your old age. Ask the people of Cyprus how well that worked out for them.  Diversify with assets you can touch.  Purchase tangible goods like food, land, ammo, and seeds. Once you are well supplied, move on to precious metals to preserve your wealth.
  • Educate others.  At the (very high) risk of people thinking you’re crazy, it’s important to let people know WHY you do what you do. If you are an anti-Monsanto activist, teach others about the dangers of GMOs.  If you object to a municipal policy, speak at a town meeting or send a letter to the editor of your local paper.  By ranting incoherently or by keeping your mouth shut, you influence no one. By providing provable facts, you can open minds and awaken others to tyranny.
  • Get others involved in the fight.  For example, if you are fighting with the city council that wants to rip out the vegetables growing in your front yard, let  your friends and neighbors know, post a notice at the grocery store, and write a letter to the editor.  When injustice occurs, use the power of social media to spread awareness. Often a public outcry is what is necessary to get the “authorities” to back down.  Look at the case of Brandon Raub, the veteran who was kidnapped and taken to a mental hospital for things he posted on Facebook. Raub was not charged, but he was detained in the psych ward involuntarily. His friends and family immediately mobilized and spread the videos of his arrest all over the internet.  It snowballed and alternative media picked it up – soon Raub was released, and all because of a grass roots and social media campaign to bring the injustice to light.
  • Grow your own food.  Every single seed that you plant is a revolutionary act.  Every bit of food that you don’t have to purchase from the grocery store is a battle cry for your personal independence.  When you educate yourself (and others) about  Big Food, Big Agri, and the food safety sell-outs at the FDA, you will clearly see that we are alone in our fight for healthy, nutritious foods.  Refuse to tolerate these attacks on our health and our lifestyles. Refuse to be held subject to Agenda 21′s version of “sustainability”.
  • Take control of your health.  It is imperative that you not blindly trust in the medical establishment.  Many members of this establishment are merely prostitutes for their pimp, Big Pharma.  Millions of children are given powerful psychotropic drugs to help them fit into the neat little classroom boxes, and the numbers are growing every day.  Americans spent 34.2 BILLION dollars on psychiatric drugs in 2010. (Source) Big Pharma is an enormously profitable industry that only pays off if they can convince you that you’re sick.  Learn about the toxic injections and medications, weight the risks and benefits, and always look for second and third opinions before making a medical decision.  Maintain your health by avoiding toxins, exercising, and ditching your bad habits to reduce the number of doctor’s visits that are necessary.
  • Refuse to comply.  If you know your natural rights, which are guaranteed under the Constitution and its Amendments, then it makes it much harder for “authorities” to bully you.  You don’t have to let them search your home without a warrant, you don’t have to answer questions, and you don’t have to comply with laws that are in conflict with the Constitution.
  • Don’t overlook the little things.  Governments like to chip away at rights a tiny bit at a time, until one day you wake up and realize that all of those little things add up to a really big deal.  Today, the bulk purchase of ammo might limited. Tomorrow, you might not be able to buy it at all. Today, home births might be subject to a set of rules. Tomorrow, those rules might be expanded to the point that the birth of your child is totally legislated.
  • Learn.  Every day, spend time learning. This shouldn’t stop once our formal education ends. Fill your mind with history, with current events, with constitutional law, and information about the natural world.  Learn about health, study economics, research things that interest you, and unravel the complicated conspiracies that are afoot.  To pursue unbiased knowledge is to free your mind from the prison of propaganda and indoctrination.
  • Don’t consume chemicals that cause you to be dumbed down.  Avoid chemical-laden food with brain-killing neurotoxins like MSG and aspartame.  Don’t drink fluoridated water.
  • Embrace your right to bear arms.  Be responsible for your own safety and security.
  • Don’t be in debt.  No one can be free if they are in debt. If you are in debt, you are forced to work in whatever conditions are present, for whatever amount is offered, complying with whatever criteria is necessary to keep your job.  in order to either pay your debt or face penalties. As well, the high interest rates that you pay only serve to make the bankers more wealthy.  Instead of borrowing, save until you can afford something or realize that if you could actually afford it, you wouldn’t need to borrow money to have it.
  • Be prepared for disaster.  Have enough food, water, and supplies to take care of your family in the event of a natural disaster. Don’t expect FEMA to take care of you.
  • Be involved in your children’s education.  For some, this means homeschooling or unschooling, and for others this means being on top of what they are learning in a formal school setting. Join the PTA and actively volunteer if your child goes to school.  Be an advocate for your child and insist that the teachers teach. If your child goes to school, supplement this at home with discourse about current events and outings that help them learn about the world around them.
  • Be the squeaky wheel. If you see something wrong, don’t just ignore it. Say something about it, and keep saying something until it changes.  Whether this is some process that infringes on your privacy, a job requirement that impedes your health, or another injustice, pursue it relentlessly. Ask questions publically, write letters, and use social media to bring pressure to encourage a change.
  • Reduce your consumer spending.  Spending less helps to starve the beast by reducing the sales taxes you pay and withdrawing your financial support to big conglomerates. If we vote with our dollars, eventually there will, of a necessity, be a paradigm shift that returns us to simpler days, when families that were willing to work hard could make a living without selling their souls to the corporate monoliths. A low-consumption lifestyle reduces your financial dependency, which allows for more freedom.
  • Ditch popular culture.  If reality TV isn’t a tool for dumbing people down, I don’t know what it is.  My daughter recently begged to watch an episode of a popular reality TV show that “everyone” was watching.  She managed about 15 minutes of it and then said, “This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen.”  She decided to read a book instead.  Popular entertainment is a media tool used to change our perspectives about our personal values, and to tell us how to think and feel about issues.
  • Buy locally.  Support local small businesses to help others who are fighting for independence from the system.  You might pay a little bit more than you would at your big box store, but the only people benefiting from your purchases made at the corporate stores are those with the 7 figure annual bonuses.
  • Develop multiple streams of income.  Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.  Figure out several ways to bring in income.  Not only does this free you from being a wage slave, but it allows you to hire friends or family members.  You are less entangled in the system and not subject to corporate whims.  If one business fails, or becomes subject to regulations that make it no longer worthwhile, you are not forced to comply just to keep a roof over your head. (Learn more HERE)
  • Say thanks, but no thanks.  There is no such thing as a benevolent hand out.  Nearly anything offered for free (particularly by a government entity) has strings attached.  Maybe there is a handy-dandy registration form that you need to fill out. You might be influenced to vote a certain way just to keep the freebies coming. You might have to pee in a cup every two weeks. Perhaps one day you’ll need to have a microchip embedded in your hand.  Either way, by accepting handouts from those in “authority”, you become beholden to them or you need them, and someone who is free is neither beholden nor needy.
  • Collect water. Either harvest it with rain barrels, store it in a cistern, or create a source for it on your property (digging a well, for example.)  Water is life.
  • Don’t take the easy road.  The PTB like to seduce people with simplicity.  ”If you just sign this paper, it will be much easier,” they say.  ”This chip is for your convenience,” they tell you.  ”By giving up this, it lets us take care of you and you will be much safer.”  The easy road only gets you to Slave Street a whole lot faster.  Take the difficult road and be responsible for yourself.  Don’t take shortcuts that compromise your beliefs. Go to court to fight a ticket, read the laws and defend yourself.
  • Know that anything you give up, you will never get back.
  92,101,74,0,B

27 comments:

Unknown said...

Good read John. Any one with half a brain will understand that post is pretty much spot on. Thanks for sharing!

Margery Billd said...

The 4th. I have never noticed this amount of celebration. Even the VFW men have commented. We have had almost non-stop fireworks all day and all
night. There have been lines of bumper-to-bumper traffic everywhere. Slow traffic. Law enforcement has really been on top of it and well prepared. God bless them. :-) There have been the state troopers, police, sheriff vehicles, and numerous undercover unmarked vehicles, and undercover law enforcement everywhere. Boating, tubing, swimming, camping, grilling good food, private parties! Motorcycle groups, etc.

Margery Billd said...

Oh yes, and the parades and the military jets overhead from San Antonio and so forth.

Larry G said...

I'm being polite here - but blunt.

How independent is anyone - without the government-provided public road system and right-of-way for phone companies to deliver phone and DSL/internet service to "off grid" folks like John?

Roads and their right-of-ways, are one of the biggest social welfare programs in the history of this country that John beats up on more and more these days, even as he posts stuff about "un-banking" and keeping precious metals, etc.. none of which would be possible without that govt-provided road.

Consider what Johns trips to Alpine and elsewhere would be like if the entire route was private, not govt, and not maintained by the govt and in the condition of his own road the whole distance - especially when it rains.

want to see where the road John relies on came from?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_State_Highway_118#History

Texas Route 188 (like most public roads) was built, by the government, on land taken from other private land owners and now those who blather about "independence" take it for granted as if it is their road that they are "entitled" to use.

The small number of people who actually live on that road also come nowhere close to paying for it's full costs. The rest of Texas citizens essentially provide that road with their taxes.

Texas Route 118 probably would not exist - if it required the people who live on it to pay the full costs. And as a toll road - it would probably cost %50 a trip to use it.

John relies on that "free" road, the honest truth. It's his lifeline - and he probably could not survive without it.

Fed Ex, UPS, the US Mail - all use that road to provide the necessary things that John needs to make a go of it.

We're all "entitled" to use public roads, right? why? where does that "right" come from?

Is that govt you support but not govt for other things?

every time you pull out onto a public road - truly think about your real 'independence' because -you're not really THAT independent, you ARE relying on the government to keep that road open and usable.


Without govt, there would be no Texas Route 118 - that's the "independent" and honest truth for "dummies' that think govt is not needed.

It's kind of hard to talk about how bad the govt is while tooling down that govt-built road in your pickup.



















Larry G said...

not Texas rd 188, Texas Rd 118.

sorry

Boondoggle said...

Sure, if anybody wants to be independent they can get on a raft and float around international waters powered by solar panels. Snack on ones precious metals. Eat seaweed. Be a dentist or medical doctor for yourself.
Maybe you could get lucky and run aground on some uninhabited rock.

pamit said...

Just as Larry picked roads to demonstrate some of the...is "absurdities" too mean a description?...in John's "Dummies" post, I'll pick WATER. Yes, water is life or freedom or whatever metaphor was used. But not just any water - CLEAN water, free from diseases, pollutants, waste, etc. And what is the mechanism for that good water that most of us get piped into our homes? Why yes, that would be government regulations, maintenance, reservoirs, planning, etc. The "Dummies" author, I reckon, would have us turn off our municipal taps and dig wells. OK. On my rural mountain road here in CO, half the people have wells and half are on a tap. Lemme tell you that the folks on wells YEARN for a tap - for obvious reasons. My nextdoor neighbor has a well, and is always asking me anxiously if I use any pesticides and such in my garden. He's always worried about stuff leaching into his well. And by the way, if you DO have a well: who do you think regulates industry like fracking, to keep them from pumping benzene and such into the water table?

Also important here in CO: water rights. Yes, there are LAWS that regulate distribution and ownership of this precious resource. Otherwise an industry that uses copious amounts of water (hello, fracking?) can suck it right out of your little ole well. That's state government at work.

By the way, is "clean water" a natural right? Lemme see if I can find that in the Constitution...

One thing I would agree with the poster on: get involved about the things you care about. Here in CO, it's a constant battle to keep polluters at bay - to force them to be transparent about the shite they pump into our air and water. Educate yourself, vote, voice your concern. Don't fool yourself that government is the end and be-all of our nation's problems. Look to the corporations, my friend. They have done a very good job of putting out the lie that it's all the government's fault. As the "Dummies" author says, look deeper and decide for yourself.

Unknown said...

The problem wit our Liberal friends is not that they are ignorant; it's just that they know so much that's not so. Ronald Reagan

Margery Billd said...

You know when Abbie Hoffman was at a rally in Houston, he had his back broken by a billey club. I would certainly not like the label--a dangerous political radical. This is the exact same rhetoric-dummies- that was around in the 60"s and 70's when I had a security clearance and worked for the government and then was on a college campus. Then the hippies got a bright idea. They would work within the system to make changes. And they did. The dummies people are now your work force. :-) This is our country and I am proud of it. Nothing is ever perfect but we progress. There was another parade here this weekend. A 23 year old, Spitz, from New Braunfels was brought back from Iraq. He is the 3rd man from that city to die in a gun battle so we can have our freedoms here.

Margery Billd said...

(My family always worked for this country as best they could. My -----grandfather, John Dickinson, signed the constitution). Just like John is a pioneer in another way settleing the West which is certainly not an easy thing to do. Those West Texans had grit.

KW said...

Government certainly has some functions... Roads, clean water, public safety, various industry oversights, etc.... I don't believe ANYONE will debate that. But, in my opinion, it's gotten, or at least is getting, out of hand....... creating a dependent society, which is unsustainable.

Larry G said...

Let's assume for the moment that your view is the simple truth (I don't agree), - how is John being harmed from this "dependency" and what justifies the hate and vitriol from those on the right and especially those who claim to be religious?

I don't get it.

The country is not perfect. People who run it are not perfect, people who complain about it are not perfect, - but when you compare this country to the 200+ other countries - it stands tall and we should be proud of it and not running it down and bad mouthing it - especially on Independence Day.

but something has happened to John, I do not remember him being this way so either he was not and changed or he was but did not articulate it.

The glass is always half full and half empty and John has sadly and gradually slipped to the half-empty perspective.

Why is this an issue for John on his blog?

bayrider said...

What is so objectionable about being independent? All those suggestions were perfectly reasonable and clearly in the American tradition. The writer was more critical of business interests with little mention of government. Plenty of good advice for health and happiness there.

Believe me, we can easily build and maintain roads without government involvement although I don't object to their participation. But I do have a problem with them spying and intercepting every single electronic communication in the world, storing it in massive databases then lying to the people and even the congress about it. Don't you think that's pretty evil? Or should we embrace that as it's for our own good, to 'protect us'.

Larry G said...

re: " Believe me, we can easily build and maintain roads without government involvement although I don't object to their participation"

the history says we don't and how do you build roads if the folks who own land in the path don't want to sell? Not only roads rail and pipeline and rivers.

John was able to buy his property because of a road - a road the private sector would never have built - like virtually all of the roads in Texas that could have been built BEFORE Texas did but did not.

Govt is flawed and evil at times but you have to have it, not only for transport but law and order and protection of property rights and things like public hospitals, GPS satellites, and much more.

the anti-govt fervor combined with religion is corrosive and destructive.

bayrider said...

OK Larry, we all like our roads but it's a weak example since no one objects to govt participation in public infrastructure. How about the spying and lying? Do you approve of that? No one objects to the government doing public investment in basic services for the community, the government is way beyond that role for the last 60 years now and there is no end in sight to the powers they will seize.
Government workers may not be the so called 1% but they are pretty much the top 5% now with their outsized salaries and health care for life, unreal pensions etc at the private sectors expense. You may be one of them I suppose. Frankly I didn't even see any attack on government in this piece anyway, where do you see that? Being independent is not particularly anti government in the world I came up in.

Larry G said...

re: " OK Larry, we all like our roads but it's a weak example since no one objects to govt participation in public infrastructure."

"participation" is a disingenuous description.

Govt builds transport/commerce infrastructure - period - not the private sector - from the first ports, canals, and railroads to the roads and pipelines and electrical grid corridors - all done by govt getting the right-of-ways.

"How about the spying and lying? Do you approve of that?"

No. I think the NSA is out of control.

" No one objects to the government doing public investment in basic services for the community, the government is way beyond that role for the last 60 years now and there is no end in sight to the powers they will seize."

that's edging into conspiracy theory territory IMHO.

"Government workers may not be the so called 1% but they are pretty much the top 5% now with their outsized salaries and health care for life, unreal pensions etc at the private sectors expense."

do you think that the number of govt employees is higher now than before?

do you include the DOD when you talk about govt employees?

" You may be one of them I suppose. Frankly I didn't even see any attack on government in this piece anyway, where do you see that? Being independent is not particularly anti government in the world I came up in."

you'll find that 3/4 of govt employees and contractors work for "defense" not just DOD but Homeland Security, BorderPatrol, CIA, NSA, etc. that's where your high paid govt is - not the Park Service on BLM or Post Office.

Larry G said...

re: " basic services for the community, the government is way beyond that role for the last 60 years now and there is no end in sight to the powers they will seize."

lets be more specific

specific examples -

local govt
state govt
federal govt

name some specifics -

Unknown said...

I thought this discussion WAS about Federal government. The Federal government is out of control.

Larry G said...

okay.. Federal... not State and not Local?

right?

what part of the Feds besides the NSA?

folks do realize that we take in about 1.3T in income taxes and spend more than a trillion on national defense, right?

that's not only DOD - it's Homeland Security, Border Patrol, NASA military satellites, DOE nuclear ships reactors and weapons, NSA, CIA, FBI, etc.

see page 56 to see the income tax revenues:

http://www.fms.treas.gov/fr/12frusg/12frusg.pdf


I M Seine said...

The fed govt was out of control when it invaded another country based on bogus intelligence and when it politicized the dept of justice and instituted torture. It's less out of control now.

Larry G said...

well I agree... but I suspect some who say it is out of control now don't think it was when we invaded Iraq and tortured people.

;-)

BigBuc said...

I do not think anyone here, or over the age of 21, are calling for NO government. A lot of us see the beauty of limited government. The Founders did.

Larry G said...

The problem is that the opponents do not have a shared definition of what limited govt is - and after you consider all of their combined ideas - you get - no govt.

they cannot even agree among themselves on what level of govt we should have (or not).

In terms of what is in the Constitution - there are a plethora of agencies to included homeland security, FBI, CIA, that are not in the Constitution.

Nor is the ability to buy land as none other than Jefferson himself was accused of violating the Constitution when he bought the Louisiana Purchase.

BigBuc said...

Obviously, mine is the correct one.
I don't have the inclination to research your assertion re: the Louisiana Purchase, in order to debate 200 year old actions. Though I'd start with Madison not Jefferson as far as constitutional issues.
I do know the knowledge that the life I have chosen in the Texas Hill Country and that of someone on Long Island are different enough that the masterminds in DC do not have the ability to enact laws or regulations that can equitably address the two. Thus, the intent of the founders and men before them recognized that rule should begin at home, locally.
you may see no need for a firearm let alone a large magazine modern sporting rifle. I step on my porch and can ge accosted by coyotes, wild tucked hogs, rabid foxes, etc. I do not use the interstates directly. You do benefit from my continued ability to pay my taxes, thus my personal defense is contributory to your interstate.
Our rights are not granted by the government but it can try to impinge on them.

Larry G said...

you don't receive goods and services over public roads - the property of which they sit - was taken from others and essentially given to you?



BigBuc said...

I said "directly". The state of Texas did run the longest state highway across my property. And it has easements as well as regulations no one alive ever voted for.
I pay huge amounts of federal and state fuel taxes as well as on each vehicle and trailer - though that stops next month. Farm tags! Yea!
I'm never compensated by the Government they don't even maintain the fence along the highway, pickup trash, they cut the grass once a year but don't give it to me to use as hay.
but that's all state and county. So, I can have a greater impact and louder voice.
The left - coast and northeastern - bloc have very little in common with my way of life, I certainly don't speak for John, a refugee who's [seemed to] embrace being a Texan as much as me, a sixth generation Texan.
those in Chicago or Seattle set up your communes and urbane jungles as you wish. Leave Texas and many other countries in the Nation alone.the fed is never the place to start micromanaging society because we are many societies. Out of many, one. We are not a melting pot but a stew (I'd say chli, and chili doesn't have beans in it). Each region, society, country or Sovereign State in the nation adds to its flavor like spices.
nope. New federal law. All shall have beans, and it's kidney beans for crying out loud! Yankees don't know how to make chili, nor even pick the pinto bean. They can go on the side with the cornbread.
heck, 20 years ago when you ordered iced tea in Texas you got it unsweetened. Now people think sweet tea is a Texas thing. It's not. It's southern. I don't even want Dallas, Houston or Austin or their suburbs telling me how to live.
i own the dirt under my feet to the center of the earth's molten core, and at High Noon i own the sun. I (as you should be) am a Sovereign Man.

Larry G said...

it's not the trash guy. It's the fact that they created highways -by taking land from others - that you benefit from.

the taxes pay for maintenance and operations.

you and your land would be almost worthless if you had to pay other landowners for access ....over their land to yours.

If you support public roads - you support government and then taking others land, and it's hypocrisy to pretend otherwise.