Self Sufficient Living
by Dave Shields
RLC member Dave Shield’s remarks at the February 2010 regular Meeting of the RLCNEF.
We are here because we support and believe in conservative and libertarian principles such as limited constitutional government, a government that exists to secure our personal sovereignty not destroy it, government that exists to secure our property rights not to assume them, government that spends our money as you would your own, strong local government in the spirit of the Tenth Amendment, minimal or no direct taxation on the individual or business, sound money backed by sound commodities, no government regulation of markets and trade, a humble foreign policy void of entangling alliances, and quite simply the freedom to make our own decisions. Whether the outcome is to suffer the consequences of our mistakes or relish our personal victories. And take comfort in knowing that a body of government does NOT know better than the individual. These are principles we emphatically support BUT do we live them? Are we all prepared to accept the type of life we suggest; void of government in ways that we actively depend on today? Are you willing to change your life today?
What is your line in the sand and what do you plan to do when it is crossed?
The fundamental problem with the “line in the sand” is we are putting off action we should take now. Most folks use the term “from my cold dead hands” when it comes to touchy subjects like gun confiscation but let’s be honest, a moral conscience will stop most of us from resorting to violence when that line is crossed. Even Samuel Adams believed it was imperative to maintain the moral high ground so his cause would remain just and honorable. Humans are amazing creatures of adaption. The same way we adapt to cold or hot weather we adapt to progressive increases in tyranny – we simply just deal with it AND have dealt with it. I offer today’s current state of affairs as proof of that submission.
Why wait for a Revolution or pivotal tyrannical action to act in favor of your natural born rights and freedoms? More to the point, if you don’t believe significant tyrannical action has been taken by our government than perhaps Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was referring to us when he said: “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” Furthermore, let me quote a section of the preamble of The Declaration of Independence that I believe describes our current complacency: “Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.” Our founders faced the very plight we are facing today and knew the average person would rather suffer through what they rationalized as relative comfort than exchange their seemingly stable, yet oppressed lives for an unknown outcome. Understanding their plight, what our Founders did next is described in the very next sentence of the preamble: “But when a long train of abuses and usurpation’s, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.” Even before the shots of April 19, 1775 were fired, they wrote their exact intentions and sent it along with all of their signatures at risk of being hung for treason to the very government which oppressed them. Does courage like this exist today? It’s time to drop the non-productive and self defeating mentality of the “line in the sand” and adopt the mentality of the daily fight for freedom. Every choice we make should be weighed based on the ultimate benefactor.
Time to take our understanding of our political philosophy and put it to practice.
Our politics ultimately boil down to one thing, the sovereignty of the individual. With sovereignty comes personal responsibility to provide, not just for oneself but your dependents in such a way that you do not require government to sustain your life. A government of the people and for the people only exists for mutual self defense and the preservation of our rights against those who wish to infringe them. The minute government levies involuntary taxes and provides non-essential services to those based on their needs on the backs of those who produce; we then arrive to the Socialistic Marxism we live in today. I am preaching to the choir when I say we don’t live in a Constitutional Republic anymore. BUT if we were to be judged solely by our actions it would suggest that we either are ignorant of our surroundings, which I highly doubt, or that we willfully and voluntarily support our Socialistic system of government we have today. Don’t be offended, no one is exempt from this so follow my reasoning.
Government requires funding to exist and thus the funding it receives is directly proportionate to the tyranny it can project relative to the size of the population and GDP. In the instance of a $200,000 mortgage, let us consider the trickle-down impact it has in ultimate revenue generation for government. First and foremost the $200,000 is created out of fractional reserve practices meaning that only a small fraction of the seed money existed prior to the loan even being made. Right at that moment we have an increase in the digital money supply out of thin-air, this alone contributes towards inflation when loan creation outpaces market supply – and as you know this has been the case for a number of years now. The inflation alone is a stealth tax on your USD denominated assets through the reduction of your purchasing power. In some areas you will pay impact fees and sale taxes on construction materials from supply houses that in turn are taxed further on their profit and on the wages of its employees. Your contractors, sub-contractors, and laborers will receive taxable wages and/or profits that further down the line after being taxed yet again, will be spent in other taxable ways or placed into savings accounts allowing additional fractional reserve lending to continue. The system is self feeding with one and only requirement; that it is populated by a sufficient number of willing participants – you and I.
Do you work long hours and pay nearly 50% or more in taxes on your earnings when you include things like income tax, sales tax, property tax, and capital gains? Is your time on earth for the purpose of living however you wish the driving force of your life? Then would it be safe to say government is taking your most precious treasure by robbing you of your time to be with your family or pursue your interests? Unfortunately the truth is even more tragic; government is not taking anything from you because your actions are voluntary and that of full and willful acceptance. As political activists we exhibit symptoms of political and psychological schizophrenia as we strongly demonstrate against government controls yet in our daily lives we fully accept those very things we denounce. We are enslaved to our current way of life. Things such as mortgages, taxes, and our own out of control spending and consumption are the shackles which guarantee our compliance to our corrupt government. We ourselves, perpetuate the very government tyranny we hate. We feed it every day with our choices. To change this means WE have to change, for our government is a manifestation of We the People. We have to be ready for Liberty, the very Liberty we reject every day by the decisions we fail to make.
Besides, who really wants to be responsible for themselves anymore? Who really wants to grow their own foods, mend their own clothes, and not depend on government services? Government welfare doesn’t just exist when you receive a government check. It exists in ALL of our salaries and incomes. US government spending is nearly 50% of the GDP! That means almost half of the average person’s income comes from government spending in some way. What happens when government returns to the role carved out by the founders? Are you ready to live on less income and be responsible for you and your dependents?
What is the answer to all of this?
Personally, I have been through the political roller-coaster that most of you are currently experiencing or have already experienced. I have had a pretty reasonable involvement in politics, written letters, placed phone calls, made donations, participated in marches, picketed the offices of our elected non-representatives, and contributed what time my family obligation as a husband and father to five would permit. All of this has been time well spent and believe it has led me to several conclusions and actions I have taken personally with my family.
The answer is not easy or is it desirable to most; however it is imperative if we truly wish our political philosophy to manifest itself in our government and our lives. The answer is twofold and up to now has been practiced separately. Like our founding fathers we must again, become self reliant yet associate politically with persistent determination to maintain our freedom. Most libertarian minded folks have a wonderful philosophical understanding of what government should be and how life should be lived yet they DON’T actively live it. It is also equally common that the self-sufficient/survivalist types who live a philosophically libertarian lifestyle often isolate themselves from society; essentially unplugging or bugging out for lack of better words. Separately both groups have failed to make a significant difference in the course of our country. Therefore I believe we must join the two together and become self-sufficient political activists that practice what we preach and prepare to receive the responsibility of what true Liberty brings.
The answer is also in what is sustainable. Is your current way of life sustainable? Do you consume more than you produce? How much of your life is possible today because of economic bubbles? What percentage of your salary is inflated over the true value of your labor, or perhaps the opposite? For me, the question of sustainability is what led me and my family down our current path of self-reliance. We experienced firsthand economic hardship due to the recently economic downturn. As we emerged from those hardships we swore never again to rely on income for a mortgage payment or to put food on the table. No longer were we going to live a life that required us to work within the system to provide for our most basic needs like food and shelter. Just the possibility of watching our children starve due to our inability to provide was enough alone to cause my wife and I to rethink our lives and formulate a more sustainable and better way of life for our family. As straight forward as that goal may sound, living outside the system is challenging but has its rewards with the most obvious being freedom.
I do not expect anyone here to follow the choices my family has made, but I would like to share what we have done to become more self-reliant and to starve government of our resources. We have replaced our dreams of a large home in a nice suburban community with a modest home on rural farm land where land prices are depressed. We have rejected the notion that everything we eat should be bought in a store and are on the way to meet our New Year’s resolution of supplying more than 40% of our family’s food from our land or through local barter. I personally will reduce my working hours so more time can be spent caring for our homestead and providing for our needs directly in addition to spending more time raising our children while teaching them our values. I challenge you to simply take small steps immediately towards your personal Liberty such as using cash for the next 30 days or make a conscious effort to minimize your consumption and reduce your interest loaded debt. An even simple thing like keeping a 30 day or more supply of food on hand has a way of giving you a sense of security. Paying cash versus using a credit card is a simple decision and is something you can do today. Why provide banks the interest income or the retail transaction fees every time you use your credit or debit card? Why provide government easy access to your purchase history when you can be private with cash? Decisions about taking on mortgages or car loans all should be weighed and considered carefully.
Every step of the way we must withdrawal our support of the system by no longer submitting our lives, time, and treasure voluntarily. We must determine every aspect in which we depend on and support government beyond our libertarian ideals. We must work diligently to reverse this role of dependence.
Some might laugh at the notion of growing your own food and finding ways to trade and barter for the things you need and want but in the grand scheme of things can you suggest any other way to starve government of your support and resources? The food supply of this nation has increasingly become controlled by government to the point where legislation has surfaced that would even control private gardens. You can’t sell as much as a stick of bubble gum without subjecting yourself to all levels of government regulation, controls, and enforcement. When I suggest self reliance, food is at the top of my list since you can’t live without bread on the table nor can you fight government that controls that very bread. Are any of you prepared for a time when government is not there to feed you as it does today? I would encourage you to Google long term food storage and learn a little more about it. Remember, it was extremely common only a couple generations ago that people would keep 6 months or more of food on hand where today people barely have leftovers from last night’s dinner
I would also like to give a word of caution. A whole cottage industry of vendors has sprung up around long term food storage or survival type supplies. I have seen many vendors spreading false rumors of looming disasters, food shortages, and so forth to cause panic purchases of their items. Please use common sense when researching these subjects or if you come across alarming information. Use your head and your own good judgment. There is an absolute wealth of information out there and I’ll provide you with a list of resources such as books, websites and magazines. Like with everything nowadays you have to be careful about what you take for fact because it is easy to be led in the wrong direction. The old Reagan saying “trust but verify” comes to mind.
I am not here to tell you what to do, or what is best for you. But I do want to make sure you all realize the importance of our actions versus spoken words and the understanding of philosophy. It is time to increase your well roundness and choose freedom in your daily lives. One thing I can guarantee, is that the path to freedom is much more difficult than the path of dependence and servitude but its rewards are boundless.
Time to take action.
Two thousand years ago, a Roman Senator suggested that all slaves wear white armbands to better identify them. “No,” said a wiser Senator – he went on to say, “If they see how many of them there are, they may revolt.” In the spirit of the white armbands, we must continue to associate politically, socially, spiritually, and commercially so that our numbers continue to grow, our message continues to spread, and so we can take comfort in our shared bondage which we will continue fight together through our self reliance.
The time for action is now. It is hard to predict if our government is salvageable politically or not, which is why I am still here fighting. What is predictable is your readiness and relative preparedness to meet the uncertain times that may lie ahead. It is on your behalf that you must act concertedly with your political efforts. You can no longer depend on a representative’s political affiliation or words to determine their future deeds when only their past record is the slate in which they must be judged. It is my opinion both major parties put on a grand show to portray division as if they represent us, but at the end of the day they eat dinner together as they carve out their spoils and riches on the backs of hard working Americans.
One shoe does not fit all but it is my belief your best chance at long term prosperity and survival will be through your association with others that are of like mind, stable, morally grounded, and similar in values. It is difficult to produce everything you need; however, when you work with others that have different abilities and experiences you typically can establish a mutually beneficial exchange system that provides all of your mutual needs. The value of your production exchanged voluntarily for a mutually agreed upon equivalent value of another’s production without government interference is the paradigm of the freedom we seek.
It is through our self reliance we will fight tyranny. A tyrannical government requires a buoyant neutral population achieved typically through emotional issues such as abortion laws, gun rights, affirmative action, immigration, and other hot buttoned politically charged debates causing division among us and allowing the old paradigm of divide and conquer to prevail. The relative ignorance and complacency of our country’s population and its dependence on government has allowed us to be easy targets for manipulation. We will deprive government of our innovation, treasure, and talents and preserve it for our fellow man who values personal sovereignty and the same goals of Liberty. It is possible to win without violence and that rests squarely with you and your willingness to act now.
In closing, it is important that you identify what you all know in the pits of your stomach to be true. That feeling is the knowledge of our bondage – amplified by our collective lack of full commitment to Liberty in EVERY aspect of our lives. Our minds are sovereign; therefore our actions will be as individuals, taking separate paths with Liberty as our common bond.
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Wed, Feb 3, 2010
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