I was reading one of James Howard Kunstler’s exquisite essays when I stumbled upon a hilarious conversation in his comment section. Discussing President Trump’s turbocharged criminal alien relocation efforts, a reader named Mitch observed, “People keep asking who’s going to man the grills, pick the crops, clean the houses when all the illegals get deported. We have lots of useless government-paid parasites that could fill those jobs nicely. They’re educated, speak English, and currently produce nothing but obstacles.”
Bandit replied, “But bureaucrats don’t do work. They wouldn’t have a clue how to do anything useful, and I’m sure they don’t have the mental capacity to learn.”
Il faut savoir noted, “Working on farms is hard and demanding. We have produced SOFT generations, heads down on their cell and social media, and have hyped their worthless degrees as big deals. Getting some time on the farms and doing hard hand labor would not only get them in shape, but show them what the true value of work means.”
Finally, Beth Nicolaides dreamed, “I’d like to see a new IRS hire picking lettuce.” (Me, too, Beth!)
I think this online conversation gets to the nub of the most pressing crisis in America: there has been a decades-long disconnect between the vast government bureaucracy and the American people whom that bureaucracy purportedly “serves.”
When President Wilson first empowered a permanent administrative state to handle the “business of governing,” he envisioned an educated workforce immune from the day-to-day passions of politics but uniquely qualified to direct the operations of the American state. That was at best a naïve dream and at worst a calculated strategy to deprive the American people of their democratic powers and elevate a faculty lounge of Wilson clones as a new noble class. (When it comes to academics, it’s difficult to know whether their love for impractical theorizing or narcissistic god complex is the root cause of their real-world failures.)
Without any doubt, the steady expansion of the federal government over the last hundred years has been an unmitigated disaster. From its inception, Wilson’s “modern” bureaucracy became a home for scarcely camouflaged Marxist-socialists who wished to burrow inside the federal government and “transform” America’s Constitution from within. They sabotaged Americans’ interests and undermined Americans’ individual liberties. By hook or by crook, they constructed a hiring system that prevents their subsequent removal. No matter how poorly they perform or how malicious their intent to damage the United States, bad government workers remain employed.
“Rule by mediocrity” has created a widening gulf between the American people and their government. It has enabled a few million bureaucrats to work around the will of voters. It has effectively transitioned America from a representative republic to a “blob”-ocracy that listens to and represents only the blob. Consequently, Americans see their government as something separate from themselves — an exotic beast that has grown in spite of the Constitution’s explicit limitations.
Adding insult to injury, none of Wilson’s dreamy benefits materialized from the construction of a “professional” government. Elevating “experts,” he insisted over a century ago, would allow the federal government to react quickly to domestic problems and foreign challenges. “Smart” people who were well trained for the tasks at hand would be equipped to overcome any difficulty at a moment’s notice. Do those descriptions remind anyone of the federal government?
It’s been four months since Hurricane Helene devastated the southern Appalachians, and FEMA still can’t find western North Carolina on a map. The Pentagon wasted billions of dollars over the last four years fighting “climate change” and “white supremacy” while fast-tracking delusional men with fake breasts into positions of command. California — which prides itself as a kind of premier “laboratory” for the federal government — cut its firefighting budget, stopped executing controlled burns of dangerously combustible brush, and diverted record rainfalls into the Pacific in order to save a “sacred” fish.
When wildfires predictably destroyed parts of L.A., California’s inept “laboratory” of “professional bureaucrats” were not smart enough to understand that empty fire hydrants had been the city’s undoing. Instead, the “experts” blamed their own incompetence on “global warming.”
Those are just three well known examples of lethal bureaucratic failures. An honest auditor could start making a list of government-created crises, and the list would never end. Because most of the government’s auditors are equally incompetent (or corrupt), the “professionals” who monitor all the other “professionals” rarely see anything wrong. Negligent supervisors breed government malfeasance exponentially. Like a hydra-headed monster, as soon as one bureaucratically engineered problem is fixed, ten new problems take its place! (For those keeping score at home, this is why President Trump recently fired a score of inspectors general whose investigatory faculties appeared crippled by willful blindness.) Rather than proving themselves skilled managers capable of deftly executing solutions, as Wilson promised, the permanent bureaucracy operates the “business of government” at a glacial pace. During the “reign of experts,” Uncle Sam has demonstrated remarkable flexibility only in his uncanny ability to stick his head up his own derrière.
The online commenters whom I quoted at the beginning of this essay articulate our predicament adroitly. After a century of bureaucratic expansion, we have millions of unnecessary employees who greatly overvalue their own contributions to American society and remain oblivious to the reality that non-government workers are the country’s only essential workers. People who grow, build, move, and fix things are the lifeblood of our nation. Government bureaucrats are leeches who drain that blood in the form of taxes and senseless rule-making so that hacks with few skills can pretend to be “professionals.” Professionals in what? Who knows? Even most of the “experts” realize that they are expert only at doing little and getting paid.
After President Trump’s executive order forcing federal workers back into the office, Wilson’s “professional government” ran to social media to shriek about the horrors of having to put on pants and function as adults. Who would watch their children? How would they ever be able to work that second job that they do when they’re pretending to work their federal jobs? How can they be expected to rejoin their coworkers when it’s been only five years since the beginning of COVID? If you watch enough of these videos online, it is impossible not to conclude that a substantial percentage of the federal workforce do absolutely nothing to justify their burden to American taxpayers. They are the definition of dead weight.
Unsurprisingly, many of these federal parasites are advocating for sabotage of the Trump administration. The clever writers over at Twitchy have highlighted a lengthy post from an intelligence officer who describes in detail how federal workers can undermine the president while hiding behind a pretense that they are doing their jobs “by the book.” The fact that unelected bureaucrats feel so untouchable that they publicly incite subversion is sufficient evidence that the administrative state should be dismantled and disbanded. As one commenter properly concludes, “if they are not going to do their jobs in an apolitical manner … they should be treated like political appointees and forfeit the protections of the civil service.”
The administrative state is a giant python that chokes the Constitution and swallows the American people whole. It should be destroyed. If it cannot be destroyed, it should be chopped into little pieces and dispersed across the frontier wilderness of Alaska. If Congress and the courts prevent federal workers from being terminated, then President Trump should set them to better tasks. He’s already “immediately halted” the hiring of IRS agents. Now it’s time to do as Beth Nicolaides suggests above and send remaining IRS agents into the fields to pick lettuce. Transitioning the federal workforce into farmhands would give bureaucrats a chance to earn an honest living.
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.
