My nickels worth.

I had a post ready to go on Monday until I read Mayberry's post about going Galt.

I scrapped what I had since it was a bit of my normal crap anyway. His post really gave me a bit to think about.
It seems to me that the solution is as old as the communes of the mid-sixties, early seventies. Only much more complex. To set aside a section of country (a reservation if you will, despite the negative connotations that presents) for those uf us that only wish to be 'Left Alone' would do wonders to a percentage of the population that is ready to start shooting now.

This raises many thoughts of 'What if" for me.
And gives some ammunition against those that wish further trepidations upon the population.

It all boils down to "What did people do before XXXXXXXX?(insert your favorite welfare program in the X's.)

Lets look at the nuts and bolts of society PRE-SOCIALISM. Considering that our current state of affairs began back in the early part of the last century, we have to assume that there were protocols in place to assimilate those in dire straits. What were those protocols?(obviously they weren't Federally mandated either)

Public assistance/Welfare: This is the simplest. People that fell on hard times would lean on Family, Friends, the Church, and other Independent social institutions that were set up to help those that couldn't help themselves. The Community chest of a sort.

Retirement/Social Security: This is the one that really gets people thinking. What did people do for retirement towards the end of their lives? The biggest thought here is that many didn't live to the ripe old age of 65 on a regular basis. Life was hard then. And yet, there were those that retired from constant working. The family is the key here. Large families were commonplace. The Grandparents were the last line of defense in taking care of the younger generation. Typically, the grandparents were the founders of a homestead, built it up to its working status, their children would continue in their footsteps and the grandchildren would be 'schooled' by the 'retirees' in their golden years. This isn't a hard and fast fact but was common enough that a brief look at the way our founders lived would bear many instances of just such an arrangement.

Public Education(read Socialist indoctrination): What public education? Most small towns(villages) would have a one room school house that took up where those families that couldn't afford the time left off. Most children were taught the rudiments(the Trivium) up to a certain age and that was sufficient for the average person to get along in life. (look at a "Primer" text from Pre-1913. Can you do half of the exercise's in it. I can and I was struggling on some of them. This was a 4th grade book and the math was the equivalent of senior H.S. education when I was in school. Compare to what the texts are like NOW.) Higher education was for those that showed promise, desire, willingness and drive to further learn the Quadrivium. Further education may have even been done during an Apprenticeship. Current Progressive Reform(a centuries worth of social reform, lets quit beating around the bush) of forced education until adulthood, child labor laws, and a minimum wage set up, have all lead to KILLING that particular training tool. The current minimum wage law has it so that educated persons have a hard time getting a job without experience due to the costs of employing them. Having seen what a business pays for the privilege of keeping an employee; I understand why many small businesses are passing over H.S. educated Graduates for College Grads(that and the actual education standards of both)(PS: Abe Lincoln, homeschooled. Albert Einstein: mostly homeschooled. Edison: Homeschooled. etc etc etc)


There are more that I could bring up but those three really show what is wrong with where we are. There are many other aspects that screw us over but those push us to the slippery slope of not pulling back to the standards of what made this country "the shining City on the hill".

Going Galt isn't going to be a reinvention of a society so much as a Renaissance of one. We don't need to reinvent the wheel, we only need to step back on a societal level to what worked. We need to teach the kids what really worked and show them how to learn for themselves how to make it better. The tech we have now isn't a stumbling block in our way if we know how to incorporate it into " the old ways". Doing so would be far easier than some may think.

Heinlein wrote about a place called Coventry in a few of his books. In those books, it was a place of Exile. In some ways, we that would like to go Galt, are looking for Coventry. We don't fit in todays society. I freely admit I don't. I see the damage of 100 years of elected retardation and I don't like the effects it has had upon those around me. I see levels of apathy towards where we are headed (and in some ways that is the cobalt rod in this reactor. The one that keeps us from completely blowing the core) and how the consensus is "Well, what can one person do to change it?"

One person can't do much of anything. Not when it comes to the bigger picture. That is where our depression lies. But a group, persistent enough, can make a huge difference. Look at the founding of this country and see what a handful of "We must hang together or we will surely hang separately"'s did. They may have fudged the paperwork (and there is some debate on both sides of the fence about that. Reference Boston T Parties book on the illusions of liberty.)but you can't deny that they pulled together a lot of people to defeat the "superpower" of the time.

I am torn between wanting Galt's Gulch and wanting out right Revolution. I can't deny that I only want to be left alone, that I no longer want to support a gaggle of leeches through Forced taxation, that I no longer want to see children subjected to the Retardation of the public school system, etc, etc, etc. I am thoroughly frustrated with our society as it has morphed into, in comparison to what it SHOULD be.

But I don't have any answers to the questions Mayberry put forth.

What I do know is that I have the knowledge and skills to keep the lights on when the grids go down. I know that I can keep food on the table when monetary means are back to the barter level without Scrip or Fiat toilet paper. I know that I can 'generate' alternative fuels to keep the wheels turning when that time comes. I know that I can educate my children in higher levels of learning if need be(and it would be needed) The knowledge is in my head and on my bookshelves: they can't take whats in my head.

But I am one person. There are only 24 hours in a day and the level of work to maintain those needs would need to be spread out among a village, town or some other form of community. One is an island, two are a group, three or more is a committee. (I could give that thought line a serious run for chaos if given half a chance. Think I will stop there for now.)

I guess until some such time as when it all comes apart or we come together, I will keep on "keeping on", trying to establish my own personal Gulch, and watch the sunsets with a cold one when the fermenter is done bubbling. Feel free to contact me if you have some enlightenment on this subject. I am sure that Mayberry will have more coming in the next few days.( Have fun with Starving Mayb. Tom is a great writer for his subject. His reading list is extensive but well worth it.)