I know I have been beating this drum over and over, but what I thought was fiction in The 14th Reinstated seems to be coming true. Frankly it’s starting to worry me. I was using my imagination and trying to see the worst case scenarios for where the country and the world were heading. I thought it made an interesting book and perhaps a cautionary tale about what “could” happen. But I never thought it would really follow the path I laid out.
It hasn’t yet of course, and when it does it will not be the exact same path, but the signs are there that were heading to the same destination.
American freedom has been eroded at an ever escalating pace. The government is spying on every aspect of our lives and nobody seems to care enough to stop them. They are asserting more and more control over the people and how we live; dictating everything from what we eat, to how much we should be paid. We are forced to buy a product we don’t want and the IRS will punish us if we do not. The government, including the IRS, the EPA and DEA, as well as many other alphabet groups, are increasingly bullying the people and the press into submission. The country is moving to a militarized police state, where it is OK to act as if we are under martial law, ignore the Constitution, kick in doors without a warrant, harass innocent people, demand we produce our papers and to shoot anybody who objects.
The American economy is nothing but a shaky house of cards that will have no option other than collapse. Our growing debt with China, a country that is starting to feel economic pains of its own, is so huge that it is impossible for us to pay it back. In fact, we are getting close to where the United States will not be able to even “service the debt” as the politicians are fond of saying. That is simply a euphemism for paying the interest. Once we reach a point where we can’t even pay the interest it’s pretty obvious that all hope will be lost of paying off the principal. With a loan shark, that’s when they break your legs; what do you suppose China will do?
Internationally, it’s getting even worse. Obama has proven to be a weak and ineffective leader. The world has lost any respect for America and now sees us as a paper tiger at best. They see that he has thrown our longtime allies under the bus and that he lacks any resolve to act against aggression. They know they can pretty much do anything they want without worry of U.S. intervention.
Obama reminds me of an encounter I witnessed when I was a young teenager. There was a local farmer with a mentally challenged son (we called them retarded back then.) The son had become a rural bully and was blocking the back roads and causing confrontations. My dad and I came onto a family friend who was clearly having an issue with Billy. We stopped to help just as our friend pushed Billy and yelled, “Stop harassing me!” Ever the cowardly bully, Billy stepped back and yelled, “You do that two – three more times and you might get something you don’t want.” Which reminds me of Obama’s response to any aggression around the world.
The sad part is that our friend, who was an older gentleman at the time, went home and was so worked up about the confrontation that he had a heart attack and died. Billy later married a girl of similar mental capacity who already had a young child. He put the child in a tub of boiling water to “teach her a lesson” and last I heard he was in prison.I guess my point is, “You do that two – three more times and you might get something you don’t want,” as a rather poor approach to foreign policy. It sure didn’t work with Carter and it’s not going to work with BO.
The world knows our leadership has no stomach for defense, let alone taking the lead to meet aggression head on. It’s no coincidence that within days of the administration announcing they were going to reduce our military troop numbers to 1940 levels, Putin struck out against Ukraine. I doubt he plans to stop with Crimea or Ukraine, but is probably running on a vision of re-uniting the former Soviet Union and reclaiming Russia’s place as a dominant world power. As a result, there is now a looming prospect of another world war hanging over our heads like the sword of Damocles.
The Middle East is still in chaos. Things are going south in South America, Africa is a bigger mess than usual. Most of Europe is following BO’s lead by burying their heads up their asses and hoping that no bully comes to take their lunch money. The world is closing in on economic collapse and perhaps another World War. All while America voluntarily weakens our ability to deal with any of it.
In my book, they were all in cahoots on causing this. The “Obama” like character was secretly working with the “Putin” like character as well as the other characters I drew on from modern day “leadership” to develop as bad guys for the book.
I am not prepared to deal with the “tin foil hat” fallout of saying that’s what is happening now, but I would think that anybody who is watching world events would want to keep that possibility on the table.
The best case scenario is that we come to our senses, install some grown-ups in positions of leadership and that we make a slow comeback to sanity. The “worst case” is pretty much what I outlined in the book, total social and economic collapse. To be honest, I think it’s about 50-50 right now.
So what do we do to prepare? Good question. I wish I had all the answers, but nobody does. If this is truly going to end with martial law and the government attacking its own citizens there isn’t much you can do except comply or hide. At least initially.
But, if there is one thing I am certain of it’s the innate ability of politicians to screw things up. That’s what happened in the book, they lost control. It resulted in horrible things for most of the world. But, those who prepared and who were willing to fight to survive had a chance to make it through. Either way, it’s smart to prepare as best as you can.
As I travel the country I am amazed at the people I meet who are doing that, preparing, getting ready to survive. Serious people, smart people, leaders in their fields. That makes me pay attention, because they are, as one of my friends in the gun industry calls it, “the BS flags.”
My friend talks with smart, grounded people and uses them to help gauge if his thoughts are approaching the “off your meds” stage or if they make sense. He is a very smart guy, one who built and grew a very successful business and he is one of my “BS flags.” This is from a recent email exchange with him:
“I have grave concerns about the path we are headed down. Be ready. I have been asking opinions from knowledgeable folks for the last year. No one throwing BS flag on my concerns. Not looking good long term.”
Bottom line. Don’t bury your head in the sand because it’s all too horrible to consider. Get ready as best as you can. If nothing bad happens, then so what? You may have spent a little money on a few things you no longer need. But, other than that, no harm done. So hold a yard sale and move on.
But, if things do go bad, those who did a little preparation have a much higher chance of getting through than those who did not.
That’s all I am saying.
