I absolutely love mornings like this one! Here in the desert southwest it is in the 50’s, moisture in the air, sunny with high clouds, and nice enough for nothing more than a light jacket. On top of everything else that is wonderful about this morning…I ate a maple covered glazed donut from my favorite bakery as a snack. For breakfast I had green chile cheese grits. What a great morning!

So what the heck does that have to do with prepping and you? Maybe nothing…maybe a lot. The point is all of the enjoyment this morning helped clarify a number of things I had been thinking about lately. I’ve been trying to figure out where we are headed…as individuals and as a country…the future.

It is easy to talk about the past, it is a “known” and the outcomes can be checked, verified, and judged. The future is a totally different animal…we don’t know for sure what is coming or what the outcome will be. However, we can speculate, predict, and opinionate. That can provide a path/plan for ourselves, our family, our congregations, and maybe even for our community.

Why not use it as a plan/path for our state or country? Well, my opinion is such that I don’t believe we, as individuals, have enough influence to make that kind of change. Now, if you are one of the elite power brokers then you may have that kind of influence. Me…well, I am not one and I don’t personally know anyone that is. So I stick to what is realistic for me…myself, my family, my congregation, and maybe my community.

Anyone that has known me for any length of time knows I am a huge history nut…and I also have strong political opinions. What I’ve been working on for the last year or so is how to combine all that, my opinion(s) of the future, and use prepping as a solution. I have finally arrived to the point where I have my thoughts in order. Well, at least enough to start sharing them with you. However, you have to leave me a little room to modify any statement I may make. I might make a mistake when writing what I think, or I could just be wrong and have to correct myself later. Please allow me that luxury.

First step for me was to identify the main areas of the future that I believe will have the most impact on us as individuals. I believe those areas are (in priority order):

1 – Technology

2 – Money

3 – Morality

4 – Politics

Let me stop you right now and give you reason to pause…DO NOT READ FURTHER!!! Well, unless you are willing to read it all. If you only read the next part and not the last part you may become depressed. If you read to the end…there is amazing hope and light!

1 – Technology

All the main technologies are advancing far faster than our ethics. The ability to acquire personal information is virtually limitless and the individual’s ability to even understand what personal information is being collected and how it is exploited is severely limited. The two are on a collision course; acquisition and exploitation. The NSA collects, and has been collecting, all electronic communications for 20 years or so. Banks (and related financial institutions) collect all private and business financial transactions in painstaking detail. Social media collects all our opinions and views related to every aspect of our lives.

All of that data is available to the government, almost all of it is available to any corporation. And it is all being exploited for one purpose…to anticipate an individual and then control their choices and actions. And that exploitation comes in only two main flavors…lust for power and money.

As the future continues to unfold we will find ourselves bombarded more and more with ads for products and services. Those ads will be based on our personalities and our weakness (or susceptibility) to have our choices directed. That will control everything from what toilet paper we buy to what political candidate we vote for.

Paralleling the personality weakness based ads controlling our purchases will be government’s ability to control our actions. For decades we’ve seen computer AI based software direct policing decisions in major cities. Several years ago we witnessed a robot used by a police department to kill an armed suspect. Now we have seen where some cities are employing AI controlled robots to patrol city sidewalks. We are already finding ourselves subjugated to technology and it will only get worse…far worse.

Technology is all about data, the more data that a company or government controls, the more they can exercise control over its people. China is a perfect example. They employ the most advanced facial recognition software in the world. They collect and collate every piece of data from every citizen’s daily activity, including their every movement in public. And here is the scary part…they use all of that data to assign “social credit” to each citizen.  It began implementation in 2014 and is expected to be fully operational for every citizen by 2020. Some of the infractions that degrade a person’s social credit score include bad driving, smoking in non-smoking zones, buying too many video games, and posting fake news online. Some of the areas that adversely affect you for those infractions as your social credit score deteriorates:

• Controlling your ability to travel…locally or abroad.
• Controlling your Internet access, and access speed.
• Controlling where you or your children attend school.
• Controlling what jobs you are eligible for.
• Controlling access to hotel bookings.
• Being publicly designated in the media as a “bad citizen.”

And who is partnering with the Chinese government to perfect and implement that technology? Google, Facebook, Instagram, and Microsoft among others. And FYI…Google is a major player in US Government implementation of technology.

As we more deeply involve ourselves in technology as individuals we transfer power from ourselves to both corporations and the government. Technology is the single most threatening issue that empowers and facilitates the following three.

2 – Money (currency/debt/budget/inflation/Federal Reserve)

We have never been in a more precarious position financially than now. Individuals and governments have never been in more debt than right now. The monetary systems of countries have never been less firm than they are now. The global and national financial systems have never been more easily manipulated than now.

In 2008/2009 we saw a single company’s financial crisis ripple throughout the world’s finical system to the point that it nearly collapsed the entire global financial system. Only the immediate implementation of socialist policies by a Republican President stopped it. And the follow-up to those policies by both Democrats and Republicans was a broad implementation of additional socialist and crony capitalist polices clamping firm governmental control over every aspect of an individual’s financial choices and capabilities.

We’ve seen huge swings in the stock markets over the last few years. Those swings are almost exclusively at the hand of AI powered trading programs by large trading firms. And the stock markets are way down over the last year transferring vast sums of capital from main street individuals to Wall Street tycoons.

We have no underlying fundamentals that our country’s money is based on. In other words…there is zero actual value to our dollar. It used to be gold and silver, but that is no more. It is based solely on the ability of the federal government to tax. And with the government $22,000,000,000,000 (yes, 22 trillion dollars) in actual debt, there is no feasible course for the federal government to tax itself back into solvency. It is only a matter of time before our monetary system is found with no confidence.

We are on the brink of total financial collapse…nationally and globally. While I don’t know the timeline…it could be next week, next year, or 10 years…but it is very near. And FYI…Cryptocurrency will only accelerate the collapse and make money more controllable by anyone other than the individual who thinks they own it.

3 – Morality (selflessness/civility vs selfishness/debauchery)

This particular area is one of complete opinion, you either see society and people, as moral or not. I see society as disgustingly debauched, immoral is too weak a term for me. The amount of moral-based criminal activity is beyond comprehension. Pornography is rampant, readily available, infecting children at the pre-teen level now, and destroying one soul after another. The prevalence of sex debauchery is everywhere and touted by the media at every turn.

Civility is disappearing from many areas and aspects of our nation. Just last week teenagers attacked a mother in the presence of her children over something so trivial as playing in a McDonald’s playground. Gangs are shooting young children, illegal aliens are raping and murdering at an alarming rate, drug use is going through the roof, etc.

We are seeing less and less charity work, while a dependence on government welfare programs increases. We are seeing the “me generation” as a mere shadow of what we are witnessing today. It has moved from the “me generation” to “damn right I am entitled to it!” generation.

4 – Politics (tribalism/corruption/incompetence/totalitarianism)

Politics is an evil to top all evils! Why? Because politics has moved to virtually a single motivation…politicians seeking only to get gain over others.  And the “gain” they seek is power and money at the expense of anyone and everyone. With money they can buy power. With power they can extort money.

And in the process we find ourselves with incompetent government workers, politicians unaware of problems and solutions that actually work, and citizens ignorant of who their candidates are and what they do once they are elected. Citizens are, almost to a person, completely ignorant of the founding principles of our country and why they were put into place.

As a result of the above two elements we find ourselves neck deep in tribalism. People don’t want to look at individual issues, to understand the underlying principles, and then implement the right solutions. And because people have become so lazy and ignorant they seek safety and comfort in a tribe. And with their fellow tribesmen they allow corrupt and morally bankrupt politicians to lead them. Why? Almost all citizens act and react based on emotions and laziness. That is perfect environment for the corrupt politicians to march people willingly towards their ultimate goal…totalitarianism.

Whew…that was somewhat painful!

Now that I have gone to considerable lengths to outline my opinion of the areas of most importance to our future…is there an answer, a solution? Of course there is…and it is fairly easy to identify in every issue. Well, easy if you have the right perspective. And therein is the crux of the problems…the “right” perspective.

For the last 15 years I have had the on-going internal debate about politics. I went from not caring, then to just let me live my life, to Republicans vs. Democrats. And at that time the Republicans were clearly the good guys and the Democrats were the bad guys. Then it changed to Liberals vs. Conservatives. Conservatives were clearly the good guys and liberals/Progressives clearly the bad guys at that point. Then it morphed into Republicans and Democrats vs. Libertarians. With the Libertarians clearly being the only good guys. And finally almost two years ago it was cemented in me that it was all about principles, individual principles…not labeled political pigeon holes. That made the most sense…everything boiled down to principles not some weird form of tribalism.

Now that I had it down to principles I could rather easily identify which principles were good, bad, or evil. To me there are only those three categories. However, I did realize that “good” was actually; good, better, or best. Bad was mostly just based on being stupid or ignorant. And evil was clear…imposing something on another to get gain. Both bad and evil being grouped together one respect since they were both at the expense of someone’s rights, liberties, or freedoms.

But since good, bad, and evil are subjective…what to base those judgements on? Ah, then I figured out that maybe it wasn’t subjective after all. Maybe there was a foundation on which to make those judgements that went beyond being subjective. Yup! There is.

Now understand this…all of this is only my opinion. So while the anti-subjective foundation is used as a basis of judgement…it is also my opinion of such. Here goes…there are certain things that are right and wrong…”eternal truths” I call them. And yes, I borrowed that term. But applicable all the same.

For politics it was simple…anything that subverted individual rights, liberties, or freedoms was either bad or evil. Along those same lines anything that strengthened government control, moved power from people to government, was also bad or evil. Anything that strengthened individual rights, liberties, and freedoms was good.

For justice (including the “legality” of something) it was just as simple…anything that forcefully took something from someone else was bad or evil. That is the taking without their permission or full knowledge.

For morality, once again simple…selfishness was bad or evil. Selflessness was good.

It all boiled down to something that simple…period. And don’t forget the determining factor of bad vs. evil isn’t hard to understand either. If something that is “bad” is done to get gain over another person, or to force a person to do something, it moves from “bad” to “evil.”

To further determine what is good look no further than some underlying principles. For example the Ten Commandments cover murder, stealing, and fraud. What a great foundation for any legal system that any sane person can agree on! For the political system of government look at the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights as governing principles.

Just for a moment if you don’t mind: We have the unalienable right to life, liberty, and happiness from the Declaration of Independence. Meaning…the right to a fair judicial system and due-process as the only way a person can be deprived of life. Also to be able to live life unencumbered by government, complete self-determination, and the right to enjoy our property unrestricted by government. The Constitution and Bill of Rights are additional documents to ensure that the above rights are adhered to.

So truly the future is based on good vs. evil. Which do we want…Which do you want?

Solutions?

Now is the time for me to share a few things to get you thinking about your solutions to the above problems…and the overriding solution is “self-sufficiency” in its purest form.

1 – Technology:

• Be, or have the capability to be, as independent from technology as possible.
• Along with that, make sure you can live without technology should the need arise.
• Use technology as an informed consumer. Know and understand that the more you use technology, any technology, the more you expose everything about you and your life to those that would use that information to manipulate your life.

2 – Money:

• Be as independent from money and the financial systems as feasible.
• Along with that, make sure you can live without money and the financial system should the need arise.
• More specifically –
  • Have a manual skill or two that can generate money and/or barter.
  • ZERO debt! (as much as possible)
  • Food storage and capability to produce food.
  • Some stash of precious metals, the amount is up to you and your circumstances. (Yes, lead and brass count as precious metals…to a point.)

3 – Morality:

• Have a clear sense of right and wrong that is based on eternal truths…and stick to it. Do not engage in situational ethics.
• Avoid anything that is bad or evil…don’t embrace or support any of it.
• Find God…embrace religion that is founded on universal and eternal truths.
• Give service as much as you possibly can. Perform big acts of charity, small acts of kindness, random smiles, and don’t expect anything in return. Avoid selfishness at all costs. Make selflessness a life goal.
• Make your family the center of your universe.

4 – Politics

• Deal only in principles…not parties.
• Embrace and support only those principles that are based on our founding documents (Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and the Bill of Rights).
• Leave all political tribes, don’t associate with, or support, any political tribe…ever.
• Vote in every election. Vote only for those candidates that best match your morality and political principles.

If I were to sum it up I would have to go back to being self-sufficient in those areas that I outlined. And that is especially true with the morality and political issues. Without a moral base or foundation, you can and will be tossed about by different passing fads. You will potentially get caught up in hero worship. You will look for and then follow anyone who strikes you as a “white knight” but there are no white knights. Don’t depend on anyone to guide you in morality or politics. God is good enough to guide you in morality and you can figure out the political issue if you concentrate on principles and the country’s founding principles and Founding Fathers of our country.

There you have folks…the future world and how to deal with it…according to AH Trimble!

2009 - 2019 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content 
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
See Content Use Policy for more information.