Nationalism has become the great bugaboo of global talking heads today. It is discussed in the marbled halls of Western capitals as a scourge that must be eliminated just as swiftly as its equally detested cousin, populism. Policies that are popular with the people and nation-states that reflect the self-determination of the people cannot be permitted!
Who says? Some very important people who belong to august bodies such as the European Commission, the United Nations, the Bank for International Settlements, the World Economic Forum, and the World Health Organization. International groups with lofty reputations have no time to trifle with the beliefs and needs of discrete peoples. The globalists are here to save democracy by ridiculing and rejecting whatever the people might want!
Sounds a little bit like an absolute monarchy, does it not? The public is not in the mood for another round of COVID lockdowns. Who cares? — it’s what the WHO director commands! Citizens are extremely unhappy with the attendant crime, cultural conflict, and expanded welfare obligations that come with rampant illegal immigration. So what? — the unelected bureaucrats at the E.C. and the U.N. are committed to destroying national identities! Westerners demand an end to money-printing and runaway inflation. Who asked them? — we do what the multinational investment firms say!
What we have today are kings and queens who sit on distant thrones and bark orders at the common people living under their rule. Those who object to being ruled are condemned as “extremists,” vulgar “populists,” and bigoted “nationalists.” From the royalty’s point of view, anyone who represents the people is a threat to the globalist monarchy’s continuing reign. Populists and nationalists, you say? Egad, off with their heads!
Why can’t the French, Dutch, British, German, Polish, Swedish, Italian, Spanish, Australian, Canadian, and American governments represent their own peoples? Because those territories are too small for their designs. Today’s “elites” have global domination on their minds. The concerns of individual nation-states are too petty for those who covet the whole planet.
We used to have a pretty good word to describe an arrangement in which many separate countries are forced to bend the knee and pay tribute to a superior power: empire.
Every empire’s defenders describe its institutions as absolutely necessary for promoting social cohesion, economic growth, and political stability. Respect for authority and the hierarchical order is touted as essential for civilization. But we are not living in the age of Caesar Augustus, Charlemagne, or Kublai Khan. Must a small collection of global “elites” really keep distinct nations under their thumbs in order to keep the peace? Not if immediate history is any guide. Peace isn’t what empires do! They command…until they are opposed by those who refuse to be conquered or until they are resisted from within by those no longer willing to obey.
During the twentieth century alone, many great empires clashed and died. The First World War brought an end to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Russian Empire. The Second World War brought an end to the Japanese Empire, the German Reich, and the Kingdom of Italy. In the aftermath of those global conflagrations, independence movements emerged in overseas territories once administered by the United Kingdom and France and set in motion decades of decolonization across Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East, and Asia. The combined results produced dozens of new nation-states around the globe.
Some had existed as kingdoms, tribes, or proto-nations earlier in their respective histories, whereas others materialized as products of diplomatic wrangling among peace negotiators partitioning military maps. The trend, however, was clear: cultural and ethnic groups all over the planet sought independence from the much larger empires that had once swallowed them whole. Following two horrific wars that had claimed hundreds of millions of lives to bloodshed, disease, genocide, and famine, the mid-twentieth century witnessed renewed calls for national self-determination, political statehood, and local decision-making.
Those calls were often ignored. For millions of Eastern Europeans trapped behind the Iron Curtain, WWII did not really come to an end until the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union nearly fifty years later. The rise of communism in Asia divided China, Korea, and Vietnam and left most of the continent in various stages of civil war to the present day. For those unlucky enough to have lived through the ethnic slaughter of the Yugoslav Wars in the ’90s, the Great War that began in 1914 lingered for most of the twentieth century.
In contrast to the proliferation of nation-states, the last century also produced a new kind of empire: the global superpower. The United States and the Soviet Union faced off in a simmering Cold War that could have easily exploded into a third world war at any time, and their respective military alliances — the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Warsaw Pact — stretched their tentacles across continents and oceans. While the U.S. and the USSR treated the world as a chessboard and nation-states as game pieces belonging to one side or the other, national independence movements often became little more than smokescreens for proxy wars between the world’s two dominant empires. Under the shadows of the global superpowers, many fledgling nations were relegated to the status of client states — vassals doing their hegemons’ bidding.
The twentieth century’s clash of empires gave the world carnage and chaos that surpassed that of any other century and left humanity on the knife-edge of total destruction during a Cold War that carried the prospect of nuclear Armageddon. From such savagery and perpetual angst, several obvious lessons could be gleaned: empire-building leads indubitably to empire collapse. Likewise, when empires fall, people all over the planet suffer. Finally, anything in this world that is “too big to fail” represents a threat to everyone. Those lessons apply equally to financial as well as political Leviathans.
A rational person might well conclude that concentrated power and centralized government are the essential ingredients for future public resentment, social instability, and revolution. An impartial observer might similarly conclude that unrepresentative government leads to the abandonment of protections for individual human rights and the concomitant growth of brute totalitarianism. Finall
How strange it is, then, that twenty-first-century global powers demonize nation-states as antiquated political entities detrimental to world peace and their defenders as xenophobes not worthy of recognition?
Most of Western Europe cheered the fall of the Third Reich because a continent of distinct nations with unique cultures and cherished histories did not want to become conquered vassals of the Nazi regime. Eighty years later, those same European nations have become part of a continental union that promotes endless immigration from competing civilizations and recognizes Germany as its unofficial head. Similarly, eight years after the British people voted for national sovereignty over European Union membership, several iterations of U.K. governments have watered down the intended effects of a real Brexit. And the United States has spent the post-war period building a NATO military alliance, international financial institutions such as the IMF and World Bank, and a labyrinthine system of “free trade” agreements — all meant to buttress what the U.S. government and its allies affectionately call the “rules-based international order.”
It would seem that two world wars and a debilitating Cold War did nothing to dissuade global “elites” from building a new empire on the ashes of the old. It will surely suffer a similar fate.
Five Things New “Preppers” Forget When Getting Ready for Bad Times Ahead
The preparedness community is growing faster than it has in decades. Even during peak times such as Y2K, the economic downturn of 2008, and Covid, the vast majority of Americans made sure they had plenty of toilet paper but didn’t really stockpile anything else.
Things have changed. There’s a growing anxiety in this presidential election year that has prompted more Americans to get prepared for crazy events in the future. Some of it is being driven by fearmongers, but there are valid concerns with the economy, food supply, pharmaceuticals, the energy grid, and mass rioting that have pushed average Americans into “prepper” mode.
There are degrees of preparedness. One does not have to be a full-blown “doomsday prepper” living off-grid in a secure Montana bunker in order to be ahead of the curve. In many ways, preparedness isn’t about being able to perfectly handle every conceivable situation. It’s about being less dependent on government for as long as possible. Those who have proper “preps” will not be waiting for FEMA to distribute emergency supplies to the desperate masses.
Below are five things people new to preparedness (and sometimes even those with experience) often forget as they get ready. All five are common sense notions that do not rely on doomsday in order to be useful. It may be nice to own a tank during the apocalypse but there’s not much you can do with it until things get really crazy. The recommendations below can have places in the lives of average Americans whether doomsday comes or not.
Note: The information provided by this publication or any related communications is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as financial advice. We do not provide personalized investment, financial, or legal advice.
Secured Wealth
Whether in the bank or held in a retirement account, most Americans feel that their life’s savings is relatively secure. At least they did until the last couple of years when de-banking, geopolitical turmoil, and the threat of Central Bank Digital Currencies reared their ugly heads.
It behooves Americans to diversify their holdings. If there’s a triggering event or series of events that cripple the financial systems or devalue the U.S. Dollar, wealth can evaporate quickly. To hedge against potential turmoil, many Americans are looking in two directions: Crypto and physical precious metals.
There are huge advantages to cryptocurrencies, but there are also inherent risks because “virtual” money can become challenging to spend. Add in the push by central banks and governments to regulate or even replace cryptocurrencies with their own versions they control and the risks amplify. There’s nothing wrong with cryptocurrencies today but things can change rapidly.
As for physical precious metals, many Americans pay cash to keep plenty on hand in their safe. Rolling over or transferring retirement accounts into self-directed IRAs is also a popular option, but there are caveats. It can often take weeks or even months to get the gold and silver shipped if the owner chooses to close their account. This is why Genesis Gold Group stands out. Their relationship with the depositories allows for rapid closure and shipping, often in less than 10 days from the time the account holder makes their move. This can come in handy if things appear to be heading south.
Lots of Potable Water
One of the biggest shocks that hit new preppers is understanding how much potable water they need in order to survive. Experts claim one gallon of water per person per day is necessary. Even the most conservative estimates put it at over half-a-gallon. That means that for a family of four, they’ll need around 120 gallons of water to survive for a month if the taps turn off and the stores empty out.
Being near a fresh water source, whether it’s a river, lake, or well, is a best practice among experienced preppers. It’s necessary to have a water filter as well, even if the taps are still working. Many refuse to drink tap water even when there is no emergency. Berkey was our previous favorite but they’re under attack from regulators so the Alexapure systems are solid replacements.
For those in the city or away from fresh water sources, storage is the best option. This can be challenging because proper water storage containers take up a lot of room and are difficult to move if the need arises. For “bug in” situations, having a larger container that stores hundreds or even thousands of gallons is better than stacking 1-5 gallon containers. Unfortunately, they won’t be easily transportable and they can cost a lot to install.
Water is critical. If chaos erupts and water infrastructure is compromised, having a large backup supply can be lifesaving.
Pharmaceuticals and Medical Supplies
There are multiple threats specific to the medical supply chain. With Chinese and Indian imports accounting for over 90% of pharmaceutical ingredients in the United States, deteriorating relations could make it impossible to get the medicines and antibiotics many of us need.
Stocking up many prescription medications can be hard. Doctors generally do not like to prescribe large batches of drugs even if they are shelf-stable for extended periods of time. It is a best practice to ask your doctor if they can prescribe a larger amount. Today, some are sympathetic to concerns about pharmacies running out or becoming inaccessible. Tell them your concerns. It’s worth a shot. The worst they can do is say no.
If your doctor is unwilling to help you stock up on medicines, then Jase Medical is a good alternative. Through telehealth, they can prescribe daily meds or antibiotics that are shipped to your door. As proponents of medical freedom, they empathize with those who want to have enough medical supplies on hand in case things go wrong.
Energy Sources
The vast majority of Americans are locked into the grid. This has proven to be a massive liability when the grid goes down. Unfortunately, there are no inexpensive remedies.
Those living off-grid had to either spend a lot of money or effort (or both) to get their alternative energy sources like solar set up. For those who do not want to go so far, it’s still a best practice to have backup power sources. Diesel generators and portable solar panels are the two most popular, and while they’re not inexpensive they are not out of reach of most Americans who are concerned about being without power for extended periods of time.
Natural gas is another necessity for many, but that’s far more challenging to replace. Having alternatives for heating and cooking that can be powered if gas and electric grids go down is important. Have a backup for items that require power such as manual can openers. If you’re stuck eating canned foods for a while and all you have is an electric opener, you’ll have problems.
Don’t Forget the Protein
When most think about “prepping,” they think about their food supply. More Americans are turning to gardening and homesteading as ways to produce their own food. Others are working with local farmers and ranchers to purchase directly from the sources. This is a good idea whether doomsday comes or not, but it’s particularly important if the food supply chain is broken.
Most grocery stores have about one to two weeks worth of food, as do most American households. Grocers rely heavily on truckers to receive their ongoing shipments. In a crisis, the current process can fail. It behooves Americans for multiple reasons to localize their food purchases as much as possible.
Long-term storage is another popular option. Canned foods, MREs, and freeze dried meals are selling out quickly even as prices rise. But one component that is conspicuously absent in shelf-stable food is high-quality protein. Most survival food companies offer low quality “protein buckets” or cans of meat, but they are often barely edible.
Prepper All-Naturals offers premium cuts of steak that have been cooked sous vide and freeze dried to give them a 25-year shelf life. They offer Ribeye, NY Strip, and Tenderloin among others.
Having buckets of beans and rice is a good start, but keeping a solid supply of high-quality protein isn’t just healthier. It can help a family maintain normalcy through crises.
Prepare Without Fear
With all the challenges we face as Americans today, it can be emotionally draining. Citizens are scared and there’s nothing irrational about their concerns. Being prepared and making lifestyle changes to secure necessities can go a long way toward overcoming the fears that plague us. We should hope and pray for the best but prepare for the worst. And if the worst does come, then knowing we did what we could to be ready for it will help us face those challenges with confidence.
