Regardless of who you voted for; this election illustrated one thing very clearly. It showed in no uncertain terms that as a country we are split down the middle along political, moral and philosophical lines. These differences aren’t trivial either and the reactions to disagreements we have with those who don’t agree with us are getting more intense and violent. Add to that the societal changes we are being promised and some of you may have started very seriously prepping for doomsday.
What is this doomsday I am talking about you ask? Do I really think the world is going to end just because someone from a different party was elected? What are you afraid of? A 78-year-old man who looks like a nice grandpa? Am I just being a little alarmist over this you may be saying to yourself?
Maybe. Maybe not.
Elections have consequences
“The goal of socialism is communism.” – Lenin
We have all heard the analogy of a frog in a pot. If you put a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will jump out immediately. But, if you put the frog in lukewarm water and slowly raise the heat, the frog won’t perceive the danger and will slowly cook to death.
I think most of the changes to our country are happening like the frog in the lukewarm water above. We are the frogs. These aren’t drastic changes for the most part, they are incremental usually but Covid is a giant exception. Normally, after we calm down and accept one change, they turn the heat up just a little. They take one liberty away and call it common sense and eventually we go along with it. Then the next one comes along, and we get angry and calm back down and next thing you know we have totally changed our behavior and attitudes on something we used to hold as unquestionable.
This country is moving steadily toward less freedom and more socialism – even weirdness. You can see it everywhere from local ordinances, to national politics. From the educational system to the attack on religion. The Vice President elect even seems to be championing Socialist talking points in videos she narrates. Even our language has been hijacked with words being changed to fit the situation. When a man is no longer a man based upon science but upon preference. When someone can say a word is racist just because they feel that way. When senators can claim a word is offensive and Miriam Webster changes the dictionary! The term Orwellian is not an exaggeration anymore.
The flip side of this rush to take away rights and change the culture is a version of anarchy where mobs can occupy government offices, commit murders and call for abolishing law and order. When people are openly calling for politicians to get the guillotine, the shades of revolution are hard to ignore. Revolutions don’t usually end well for a lot of people.
How to begin prepping for doomsday
I have voiced a good bit of apathy in the past with the political process. Anytime you have a system that promises free things to a majority of the people, you will never win the opposition argument. We may not ever find a political solution, but you can prepare for the downstream effects that could come your way.
Doomsday doesn’t have to look like your favorite survival movies where we have a world scorched by nuclear war and everyone is running around wearing gas masks, killing to survive. Doomsday to you could look like job loss. Doomsday could be isolation inside due to a virus for most of a year. Doomsday could look like riots and looting in your neighborhood. Doomsday could look like people occupying your town and enforcing their own rules absent any law.
Of course, doomsday could also be something much more catastrophic, but your prepping plan is the starting point for any doomsday scenario you are envisioning. It doesn’t matter which direction the chaos comes from, if you aren’t prepared to deal with it, the doomsday is going to be much more serious in how it impacts you. If you can’t feed and defend your family, it really doesn’t matter at all if it’s a gang of thugs or an EMP. The point of all of this is that if you aren’t prepared for chaos and disruptions to your life now, there are steps you should be taking.
Develop a prepping plan
Fortunately, when it comes to developing a prepping plan to keep your family safe, the basics are the easiest. We have a 5-part series that covers the basics of getting started prepping in detail as well as over 1700 articles on this site catered to people looking to be more prepared. But if you are just starting out, keep it simple. You don’t necessarily need to build the perfect bug out bag at this point, but start closer to home. The items below are worth entire posts in their own right so consider this as Doomsday Prepping for Dummies.
30 Day Food Storage Plan
A good rule of thumb is to start small when you are beginning to stockpile food for emergencies. You don’t need a year of freeze-dried foods to start with. Try just having a week or two of extra groceries that your family already eats. This is accomplished without any exotic doomsday prepper storage needs or 5-gallon buckets of grains you must figure out how to grind and prepare after the electricity is gone.
Short Term Food Storage – The best and simplest foods are like I said above, what your family eats every day. One thing to consider is that the bulk of this food should be non-perishable in case you lose power. Canned foods are great as well as pasta, drink mixes, and staples. These usually last at least a year.
Medium Term Food Storage – For the 5 – 10-year range MRE’s are a great option although they are heavier, and their convenience comes at a higher price. I have several boxes of these, and I like MRE’s because they are self-contained and don’t really need any water. Freeze-dried camping foods like Mountain House are another great option to just add hot water to. Rice and beans make great additions to this category because you don’t really have to do anything crazy to store them as long as they are kept cool and dry.
Read More: Prepping 101 – 30 Days worth of Food
Survival Water Plan
Water is one of the easiest preps to cross off your list since it is so vital and ever present to us each day. To calculate how much water you need, just multiply the number of people you are prepping for by the number of days you want to be stocked up for. In my family, I have those who live with me (4) as well as extended family who I plan will come to our location (another 4 potentially) as well as some friends (add 4 to that) so I am looking at potentially needing to supply water for 12 people. 12 people for one month is 12 X 30 = 360 gallons of water.
I have a few different ways to store water. The first is stored in heavy-duty plastic containers that hold 7 gallons each. These are great because they are more portable, they stack and I can get some storage in smaller spaces, like the shelves of a pantry. I can also easily transport a few of these to my Bug Out Vehicle if necessary. This storage only lasts a week.
But no matter how much water you have stored up, it could still run out in the worse emergencies, so it is important to have an alternate plan to acquire good water afterward. I think it is more important to plan to procure water than it is to stockpile it in the long run.
Read More: How to Store and Carry Water in a Survival Situation
Emergency Shelter
This is simply a way to keep out of the elements. If you have a home and it isn’t blown away you have shelter, but what if the power is off in the summer or the heat is out in the winter. Make sure you have plans to keep warm and cool. Sleeping bags work great in the winter, but summer there are fewer options. Unless you want to build your own swamp cooler.
Self Defense Plan
Disasters bring out the worst in people, but it doesn’t take a disaster to bring violence to your town. Just look to Portland and Seattle as recent examples of violence and crime that impacted neighborhoods recently. Riots break out all the time over sports games. Imagine if the power is out and the grocery store shelves are bare, and people are hungry.
Make sure you have a way to protect your family from people who either want what you have or simply want to burn and destroy things. At this level, you don’t necessarily need to look into body armor or tactical gun belts. On that subject though, I recommend legal firearms for responsible adults but that itself isn’t a solution. You have to know how to competently and safely use that firearm.
Weapons themselves aren’t the only option to consider if you are prepping for doomsday, but they deserve a hard look. You could harden your home, you could take self defense classes. You could come up with non-lethal options for defense. Just make a plan and start implementing it.
Read More:
- Prepping 101 – Best Gun For Home Defense
- WROL – Protecting Your Family When The Bad Guys Come Down Your Street
Financial Security Plan
Financial security is more difficult, but I know we can all take steps toward accomplishing this goal. The worst culprit is debt so elliminating debt you can control (credit cards) should be a priority. Should you pay off your house? Maybe, but that at least has value. The sandwich you paid for two years ago on that credit card does not.
You can set aside cash in the event that banks declare a bank holiday or severely limit withdrawals. This also works for power outages too when the ATM machines simply aren’t working.
You can also look to take on a second or part time job. There are millions of ways you can go into business for yourself and begin making extra money that you can use to pay down debt, purchase vital prepping supplies or simply augment your income. If you are like me and already have a day job, be thankful. A second or third part-time job isn’t without cost and effort, but it can pay off in big ways and give you some breathing room if you lose one job due to a downturn in the economy.
Final Doomsday Prepping Thoughts
Technically the election isn’t even over. Just because the media says someone won, that really doesn’t mean anything.
This article shouldn’t instill fear in anyone, and I don’t believe that is what prepping is all about in the first place. If it motivates you to take steps to get more prepared for the unexpected, that’s great. Preppers in my experience aren’t fearful, at least not ‘hide under the covers’ fearful. The preppers I know have concerns, maybe you call them fears, but they use that visualization to galvanize their resolve. Preppers don’t complain, they get things done. Preppers aren’t scared, they have grit and determination.
Who knows what the future holds for our country? I will keep an eye on the horizon like so many of you and quietly prepare for likely scenarios that I hope never to come to pass. What will you do?