note: article first appeared October 2015

Yeah, I bet that got your attention! Yeah, and I know what the answer is…”No!”  Well, at least that would be (or should be) the answer for those of you that know me 😉

But let’s get back to the article and the real intent of the headline…

A few weeks ago my prepper buddy & battle buddy made a statement to me that I thought was interesting. Not the exact words, but he said something along the lines of, “If it doesn’t fall apart by the end of September I am done with being prepared!”

I remember at the time I was a little taken back and I really didn’t respond to that statement, I just continued on to another subject. But, another interesting thing I’ve noticed the last couple of weeks is his interests shifting towards things other than prepping. He doesn’t even really bring up any negative news items like he used to. No, he has not abandoned prepping, he is just taking a little break and focusing more on other things such as family, work, music, his cars, etc. And that is fine with me.

OK, set that little tidbit of information aside…on to the next item I want to share. I frequent another prepper website, mostly Christian folks, patriots, conservative, etc. What has been interesting over the last 6 – 8 months is the shift in their collective attitude. There has been and is much more focus on things other than true prepping. A lot of dreams, visions, conspiracies, and books about the same subjects. And, a whole lot of projection of hard dates for the economy to fall apart, for martial law to be declared, for the stock market to crash, for earthquakes to split the continent, a meteor to strike the earth, etc. What I find interesting is not the event itself, but the fact they were actually setting firm dates for these things to happen. And of course when none of those events occurred you can imagine what came next.

There is/was a mix of responses. Everything from “we got the year wrong” to “they must be a false prophet” to “oh, we didn’t read it right,” etc. A few faced the fact that those people that were prophesying those dates just didn’t know what the heck they were talking about.

Now, let me change it up again for a minute and then come back to tie it all together.

In September I was a guest on a Fox radio station in St. George, UT. I was on for an hour-long live segment. One of the questions that Kate Dalley asked me was, “what would happen between now and the end of the year and when did I expect it all to fall apart?”

But, that was not the first time I’ve been asked that question and I will share my answer now.

Why share it now? Because I think it is important to think about this and talk it through. Why? Because I think there are a lot of new preppers out there that are preparing for a cataclysmic event that is imminent. I also think that there a lot of vintage preppers that are looking for some validation to what they have been doing over the years. And, I think there are folks that are looking at the world today and wonder how long we can keep going on like this before it all explodes/implodes into TEOTWAWKI.

Generally speaking I like the idea that people are prepping, I don’t really care what their motivation is, for the most part. As long as they are preparing for emergencies, disasters, and grid-down I am good with it. However, there is a cliff looming up ahead for some, maybe many, preppers if they are not careful.

Unrealistic expectations.

Yeah, an ugly thing just by itself, but even worse in relation to what I am talking about…prepping.

So normally what happens to people when they get their heart set on something and it doesn’t happen?

What happens to those folks who get all worked up about something they “know” will happen and then it doesn’t?

What happens when good, dedicated people take actions that their family and friends think are maybe just a bit bizarre? And while doing so might have spent money that wasn’t really part of the “extra” category?

My fear is some folks set unrealistic expectations for what they saw coming, wanted to have happen, or worked towards making happen…and then it didn’t happen at all. What will those folks do now?

A well-grounded prepper will be just that…well-grounded, realistic, sensible, and have realistic expectations of what might happen, what will happen, and no calendar for all of the above. Are you well-grounded?

Forty years ago if you would have described an America in the condition it is today, I would have called you insane. Back then if you would have projected a world like we have now I would have wondered which mental hospital you escaped from.

And that would be true for thirty years ago, twenty years ago, and even ten years ago. I never, ever thought we would have the crap sandwich that we have today in the United States or world-wide. Yup, never in my wildest dreams would I have ever imagined us being in the horrible condition that we have in every aspect of modern society.

Yet, here we are.

What am I getting at? Let me answer you with the same info that I gave during the radio show…

The world can fall apart tomorrow. I fully expect that I could wake up in the morning and the grid would be down, the government would be in full-on martial law, no utilities, no food, and violence everywhere.

Or, ten years from now I am looking back and wonder how we could have fallen so far in the last ten years.

Yup, a cop-out answer for sure:

1. The “fall” could happen any day, especially by the end of the year.
2. We could continue the slide even further into the sewage pit, and do so for the next 20 years.

My point is…DO NOT SET A DATE!

Don’t fall into the trap of getting caught up in blood moons, some vision, some dream, some prophecy, some panel of experts projection, some Mayan calendar, or any other male cow dung junk like that. Don’t buy into some Rabbi’s interpretation of a Bishop’s vision based on a long-dead guy’s 5th-century dream.

Preppers have to stick with the basics…we are preparing for emergencies, disasters, and grid-down events. When they will happen we don’t know. How bad they will be we don’t know. We just know that they will come and we are better off being prepared for them when they do occur.

Do not think for a minute I am saying the world around us is in no danger of collapsing. I said clearly I think it could happen tomorrow. And, don’t think I am not belittling people who claim dreams, visions, and prophecy. I believe in those things as well, to one extent or another.

What I don’t buy into is date setting by people who have no real authority or special gift to do so. Seriously, who are they to “know” some date when something will happen? And who are you to think they have some validity in what they are saying?

Think about it…Why would you believe someone who says the economy will collapse on November 15, 2020? Or, why would you believe someone who would say the stock market will crash next Monday?

Really? Who the heck are they to make such wild and unsubstantiated claims? And, why would you even want to listen to them, let alone believe them?

I don’t!! Period…I don’t.

Why? Because I think that someone, with authority, can be prophetic in that way. And, it’s because that every day, normal, average folks have been making these wild prophetic claims for years, decades, centuries, and none of it has really came true. They had no authority to make those prophecies.

OK, before some of you want to blast me with examples, don’t. A person can take a Nostradamus thing and turn it into pretty much whatever they want to make it out to be…and call it true. Don’t go there.

What I am asking you to do is be realistic. Go with what you know. Don’t buy into all of these predictions that involve specific dates. If you buy in to the date thing you are likely to be pretty disappointed.

Prepping is a life-long endeavor.

Emergency preparedness is using common sense principles to prepare yourself and your family for the types of events that would/could prove devastating. Well, devastating if you are not prepared. Look at prepping as “insurance” against emergencies, disasters, and grid-down. You pay your premium each month and sleep well at night knowing you are covered.

Wrapping this article up, I am asking you to be balanced and enjoy your life. Be a prepper and allow that prepping to enhance your life that much more, not take it over, and consume you and your family. Be happy, enjoy sunsets, love sunrises, go for great walks with your spouse, throw the football with your kids, and then work on your solar project or build your radio GoBox as time permits.

And, finally, sorry to disappoint you that I wasn’t really looking for a date. I know, I am such a tease…right?

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without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
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note: first appeared April 2015

Wow! Normally I have my articles ready days in advance to be published each morning. This morning I held off on it because I wanted to share with you something that came to light yesterday. Health & Physical Fitness.

I am 59, great health, and good physical condition. I do physical training 3 – 6 times a week. My normal workout consists of jogging, walking, push-ups, sit-ups and occasionally weight lifting. When I jog I go for 2 – 3 miles at a stretch. I have a specific routine that I worked on for years to meet the physical demands of my job. Annually I am tested to ensure I am field-ready. I have to walk 3 miles in 45 minutes or less wearing a 45lb weight vest. That is a 4mph pace.

Now, before you roll your eyes and think how easy it is, try it yourself. If you are sub-30 years of age you should be able to do it easily if you maintained a healthy life-style and stayed active. If you are 30 – 40 it shouldn’t be much of a stretch for you if you are in good shape and play sports, hike, bike, etc. If you are over 50 you probably can’t do it, period…unless you have trained and work-out for it. As I turn 60 next week I can easily do it but my hips hurt like crazy during the last mile and for the next day. Yesterday was that test.

My hip hurt more than normal yesterday but I still had a very respectable time. I even beat a number of the 40-somethings. But we had a work project to do yesterday as well. So immediately after the test I changed clothes and we headed off to the mountains to work on a thinning project. There were large piles of cut limbs and tree trunks waiting for us to chip. Thank means we pull the piles apart, drag the stuff to the chipper. and repeat until the pile is gone. Then go on to the next pile.

Some of you might be wondering why a US government firefighter supervisor is doing such manual labor. Well, when we are not fighting fire we do “project work” to help maintain federal lands to make them more resistant to wildfire. And, if I am going to ask my guys to do it, then I am going to do it as well. I don’t go on all the projects but enough of them to show that I only ask them to do what I am willing to do as well. And to remember what I am asking of them.

So the average age of these guys is in the 28 – 32 age range. And they are all in very impressive physical shape. And the only thing I have going for me is my ego. I won’t be out-done!

So we wrapped it up yesterday about 3:00pm and headed in, cleaned up and went home. Yeah, and then it started…the pain.

I took an Aleve. Then I laid down. Then I got up to eat dinner and took two Ibuprofens. Then I laid back down. I went to bed at 8:00pm.

I got up this morning at 5:30am which is usual for me. But…and that is a serious “but” that I speak of. I was hurting. My hips hurt a lot, my back hurts some, as does my arms. And I am worn out.

So why in the heck am I sharing this with you? Simple…at least it’s simple to me.

During times of emergencies, disasters, but most assuredly during a “grid-down” it will be very physically demanding. Probably far exceeding whatever you might normally be used to. So I make the following suggestions, have an exercise routine that is right for you:

1 – The #1 thing to do is walk. I would suggest you make a target of walking a minimum of 10-miles per week, in a minimum of 2-mile increments. Walking might well be the #1 thing you will do during rough times, and a lot of it.

2 – Lift weights. No, I am not talking about body-building weight lifting. I am talking about common-sense kind of weight lifting. Start with maybe 5lb dumb-bells and doing regular curls, French curls, then overhead press, then tricep lift, etc. Work up to maybe 5 reps of 10 curls each. Do that for a maximum of 90-days and move to the next higher 5lb increment. It’s really up to you, but weight lifting can really improve your health, mental and physical, while improving your core strength.

3 – Push-ups. Yeah, good old fashion push-ups are great for you. You don’t have to be some one-armed or one-legged push up crazy person but just do them at your own pace. For me I do mine inclined. I broke my back in three places over 25 years ago in a house fire. Since then I have to do my push-ups with my shoulders at about 2’ higher than my feet to take some of the stress off of my back. Or I can do push-ups from my knees vs. my toes (called a woman’s push-up in the old days). When I am at the track doing my jogging I stop on every lap and do a set of push-ups. So when I am done with my 3 mile jog I have done 90 – 180 push-ups as well.

4 – !!!Stretch!!! This is the single most important part of exercising! I spend about 6 minutes stretching before I do my jog with push-ups. I do the following:

• Arm windmills.
• Arm stretching to the front and then to the rear.
• Next I do toe touches with my feet together.
• Then ground touches with my feet about should width apart.
• Then ground touches with my feet spread as far as they will comfortably go.
• Then 12” from the ground touches with my feet crossed over each other (outside of one foot laid alongside of the other foot). I do each foot twice.

5 – When I am done jogging and the push-ups I do the same stretch routine and add:

• Holding a 3” fence post with one hand I swing each leg forward/up and backward/up as far they will go.
• Holding a 3” fence post with both hands I swing each leg left/up and right/up as far they will go.

This exercise routine has done wonders for me! Since doing it passionately week after week my lung capacity has significantly improved. My blood pressure is now 108/68. And my stamina is far better than when I was lazy and wasn’t committed to an exercise program.

So back to yesterday and this morning – If I wasn’t into a good exercise program I can’t imagine what would have happened to me yesterday. Maybe a heart attack. This morning might even be worse. But most importantly it reminded me how important it is to be “prepared” physically and not just have food storage, water filtration and a closet full of guns/ammo.

I will be stepping up my physical training, pushing myself just a little more. Not sure what to do about the hip pain, growing old can do that to you.

How does this all affect you? I want you to think about this and see where you are. Is this an area of preparedness that you need to work on a little bit more? Maybe just a little?

Maybe just start by taking a walk with your family a couple of evenings a week.

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note: article first appeared in late September 2015

In August & September I was in the state of Washington on a wildland fire. It has been a bad year for fires, especially Washington. There were lots of homes threatened and the fire was growing rapidly.

I showed up on the fire and was given my assignment along with some minimal resources. We never really have enough it seems. I got to work and we were making a difference and saving homes but it was fast-paced and challenging.

I mentioned that there was a lack of resources and that included field operations folks like me as well. My duties quickly expanded to cover an area of the fire that was almost directly at the head of the fire. We did a large burn-out one night that went textbook perfect.

Although very tired, we headed back out there the next morning to continue the “herding” of the fire into an area that was of low value, mostly scrub trees. Our intention was to “hook” the fire once we got it past the last ranch that was threatened. As we headed to the fire we went through a ranch on their road. The same person that met me yesterday came running out to meet me again that morning.

One of the “blessings” of being a supervisor/leader on a wildfire is going in first. At least that is my philosophy; first in, last out.

The day before “Don” had came running out to my truck and we chatted for awhile. I had explained to him why we were there, what we were going to be doing, and assured him that we would protect his ranch. Don was, let’s say, “excited” the day before. And he sounded like a burned out hippie about the age of late mid to late 50’s. But all went well, and as I said earlier, things went well for us.

But the second morning Don was insane. Yes, literally insane. He was screaming and yelling at me about everything we had done. He yelled at me that we had set everything on fire. He yelled at me that we had cut a fireline on his property. He yelled at me for being an agent of the government and being controlled by the cattle barons. He told me how he had gone up against the government three times before and beat them…and he would “show ’em again.” He then started trying to engage me about global warming. All the while he was very animated as in flailing his arms, moving around rapidly, and sometimes charging right up to my truck window.

All along I was using every technique that I knew to de-escalate the situation. Nothing I tried worked, his emotions were like a roller coaster, and getting worse by the minute. I suspected drug usage…past or present.

I had told my firefighters to not stop, they were to continue to their work locations/assignments and get started while I dealt with Don.

Then Don started talking about how he was the local thermal vent investigator. He investigated the local thermal vents, the same types of vents that were underwater in the ocean around the world. But he went on to talk about how the government was lying to everyone about the thermal vents and it was all a big conspiracy cover-up.

Next up on his agenda…the local cattle barons were running the fire. And it got worse from there. But then it took a very bad turn.

Don started talking about knowing where our camp was. That he had dealt with this crap before. He knew where to go and what he was going to do. He was going f*-up some people just as soon as he got to camp, and that would be soon because he wasn’t going to take it anymore.

I rolled my window up the rest of the way and drove off, I wasn’t going to listen to his lunacy anymore. However, since he had made some not-so-thinly veiled threats I was obligated to report the incident to my supervisor, the Operations Section Chief.

Well, that conversation didn’t go too well. As soon as I related the conversation, and that it was the second incident with Don in two days, I was told to pull my guys out of the area. I reminded him that is would almost assure us of losing the fire in this area and the fire growing uncontrolled once again. The order stood, I was to abandon the area immediately.

To shorten the story, we left. Remember, I am the last one out. But I am also not stupid. I talked to my 2^nd in command and told him to drive out in front of me but to hold up about 50 yards past the gate while I closed the gate behind me. He was to make sure I wasn’t left on my own with some crazy man headhunting Feds. We had also decided to drive out on a different two-track road to avoid the ranch house area all together…and maybe avoid Don altogether.

We almost made it.

All of our resources had driven out and it was just my 2^nd and myself. As we drove up to the last gate we had to close here comes Crazy Don driving like a bat out of hell. He pulled up and blocked the road to prevent us driving out. As he came back to start screaming at me, my 2^nd drove around Don’s truck, through the gate and then watched for me.

Crazy Don was screaming at me through my window accusing me of abandoning his ranch because it was on state protected lands and I was a federal resource and hated state citizens. He kept lunging at my truck door and acting like he was high on PCP or Meth. He was threatening me and trying to…well, let’s just say I had my door locked and window cracked open only about an 1”.

When I saw my 2^nd had cleared the gate I simply drove off leaving Crazy Don yelling and screaming at my tailgate.

After I got through the gate and around the corner in the road I blocked the two-track while my resources finished traveling to the blacktop road. I followed them out. Low and behold the OpsChief had called Johnny Law who wanted to meet with me. Evidently threatening a Federal employee can be a fairly serious crime.

Now, let me shorten the story a whole lot…

We didn’t return and engage the fire that day, we were told not to be there or anywhere close by. Overnight the fire moved a whole lot and we were able to re-engage the next morning. But it was too late, we lost that part of the fire entirely.

Law enforcement had a conversation with Don. Evidently it went well, he was not arrested and no firefighters were assaulted. But the damage was done. Our lack of ability to engage the fire that day probably cost a couple hundred thousand dollars, and burned up another 30,000 acres, maybe more. But that is not the point to this article.

So, what is the point?

Crazy Don is the point. He is the whole point to this article.

Don’t be a Crazy Don!

There is a time and place for everything, but not every time and place it the right time for everything.

Roughly translated that means…whatever your beliefs are, know the right time and place to talk about them. Better yet, know the right people to talk to about them.

If you are a “birther”, a “turther”, “chem-trailer”, “blood-mooner” or whatever else you might be; even a thermal vent inspector, know when is the right time to talk about it. Better yet, know when the wrong time to talk about is…and don’t talk about it if the time isn’t right.

Why?

Do you want to be the next Crazy Don?

What did all of Don’s ranting and ravings accomplish? Did anything positive get accomplished?

Or did he just make a name for himself as a crazy, burned-out hippie? And did he get on LEO’s radar? Could he have found himself in serious legal or criminal trouble?

Just think about it. I am not saying to not have sincere beliefs and advocate for certain issues. But just use common sense and be practical about it. Use good judgment in when and where you talk about it. And most importantly, be careful “who” you talk about it with.

It was obvious that Don was fairly anti-government. Did he have a kindred spirit in me?

Let’s say he did for this conversation. Did him going off the deep end in my face help him or hurt him? Was it worth it?

As you well know I want you to stand up, I want you to take action for those righteous things you believe in. However, you have to be intelligent in the way you go about it.

If you don’t…you become just another Crazy Don.

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note: post originally appeared in September 2013, edited in 2019

This morning while I was eating my breakfast I was watching some footage of the events on 9/11/2001; I just started crying. While I was taking my shower getting ready for work I just broke out in heaving sobs. I am holding back the tears even as I write this. It is so very very emotional for me that I still have a hard time coping with the anniversary each year. I rarely talk about it, and I normally call in sick on each anniversary; not this year.

On September 11, 2001 –

I had worked the previous day’s shift at Station #18, I had worked a shift for another of our Captains. We had run a couple calls that night and I was fairly tired, my plan was going to shower and get some sleep for a couple hours then just kick around the house a while.

I had just gotten home, thrown my station uniform into the dirty clothes hamper, turned on the news, and headed into the shower. I came out of the shower and saw a building burning on the news, I sat down on the sofa to get the details. I knew that due to the height, complexity and staffing of the building it was going to be a bad day for many people, a lot of people would not make it out alive. But I had no idea what was to come.

As I watched and listened I saw the second plane hit the other tower. Immediately I knew what was going on. Not because I am some braniac but the spirit bore witness that it was a terrorist attack. I immediately put on a fresh station uniform, then thought I better throw an extra uniform set into my bag. I headed out the door as I would head to a fire call from the station…rushing, apprehensive, worried, determined.

When I got to the station about 5 minutes later the entire on-duty crew was there watching TV of the events. The look on their faces was horrifying, mine probably looked the same. We did our customary “bro hug” and watched and listened as our nation was attacked. Over the next 20 minutes the crew that I had worked with the night before showed up for duty. Within another 20 – 30 minutes my normal crew showed up. Within an hour we had almost 3 full shifts of firefighters in the station.

Within another couple of minutes we had a call come in from HQ that we were to go into lockdown, a deputy was on the way to guard us and our area was the next target due to McDill AFB and CentCom HQ.

We immediately sent a couple FFs to the store for food, secured the property, and organized response crews, checked in our reserve engines, and set-up a sleeping schedule to ensure 100% manning of all equipment for the next week. We were doing what we were trained to do while tears were being shed, tempers were boiling, and feeling a complete lack of ability to do anything more productive.

Then the first tower collapsed. We were absolutely stunned and horrified; we knew what that meant. To us that meant that innumerable brother and sister firefighters were just killed trying to save the victims of the burning buildings. We had already seen the footage of people jumping and falling to escape the flames but this brought it close to home, too close. Somehow we just knew what was next…we started organizing our rescue equipment and other gear to head to NY. We knew it wouldn’t take us too long if we drove straight through. We knew we would be needed. We packed our gear.

Then we saw the next tower fall; more dead firefighters. I cannot tell you the emotions that were running through us knowing that hundreds of us must be dead. And worse, trapped, still alive hoping and waiting for us to come save them, to pull them out of their trap, to do our job as their brothers and sisters. But weren’t there for them, they died, trapped, alone.

We were organizing the vehicles with a couple other stations when we got the word from HQ that we were not allowed to go. Someone evidently told them we would go with or without their permission. We got word that any missing vehicle would be reported stolen and any firefighter that went would be gone from the department.

More than a few lockers and walls were punched out of frustration, anger, and utter despair.

Calls started coming in for us to respond as if it were a normal day at the fire station. Our station would normally run 4 – 12 calls per day, today was not any different to our residents and businesses, we still had a job to do. But it was different, different to us. We didn’t understand why people couldn’t understand that.

Three days passed with us holed up in our station. The deputy left the next day, it was his day-off and they wouldn’t pay overtime, not enough of a threat. I understood that…kinda.

When the estimates started coming in about how many firefighters died in the collapses we were simply in disbelief, denial, shock. How could nearly 400 of us die in one incident!! How could that many die burning to death, being crushed, being trapped, running out of air and suffocating. All of them dying alone.

We had broken hearts full of immense grief – I can’t explain it much beyond that.

9/11/2001 was the day a big part of my heart was ripped out. I nearly lost my soul during that time. I still can’t really deal with it very well, even now. I’ve never really talked about it before, not even with other firefighters to any degree. Most of us never talk about it other than acknowledging it, then changing the subject.

One day, one day – I will have the opportunity to know who did it, why and face those responsible. I have no idea what I will say or do, I hope I handle it with the love of Christ.

One day, one day – I will meet those firefighters that died on 9/11. I will beg them to forgive me for allowing them to die alone while we stood by helplessly. I will hug them and thank them for the sacrifice they made, their unselfish commitment to duty to their citizens…for their honor, courage, and bravery.

Maybe one day I will get back that piece of my heart and my soul might heal. I might be able to understand to all one day. Till then…..I will shed tears, feel guilty, have bouts of rage, beg God to help me deal with this, and try to get past it.

Thank you for listening to me. I have spent nearly 30 years fighting fires, in 4 years till I retire and I needed to tell someone about this. I am tired.

Today: 9/11/2019 – I am still crying when I go over that day. I am not over it. I’ve been retired for nearly two years and the wound is still raw, the hurt is still real. I fear it will never go away. When I wrote the original article six years ago I sobbed uncontrollably at points. Today as I read it, correct spelling/grammar, and add pictures…well, I still cry. Sometimes life isn’t fair, sometimes evil people do wicked things, and sometimes hearts don’t heal. This is one of those times. I hate it!

2009 - 2019 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content 
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
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note: first appeared in July 2015

That was a question that was posed by a website visitor not long ago. Thank you John for asking that question, I appreciate it. John wrote that question as a “comment” on the website lately. His question was pointed and deserved more than just a casual reply. Hence, this dedicated article to the subject of “junk” silver.

Junk silver is a misleading term, although popular and used to identify a whole class of precious metals available to folks. In my opinion there is essentially three types of silver available to the average person; 1) silver bullion, 2) investment grade silver, 3) junk silver. I will give a brief description of each that is my opinion:

1. Silver bullion is silver that has been mined, refined and poured into some shape, usually bars. The mine or refiner will stamp into the bar the weight and the assayed purity. You can also call this type of silver “bulk silver” because of its form. The purity for silver bullion is supposed to be .999 but there is no guarantee of that beyond the reputation of the seller.
2. Investment grade silver. These are the silver rounds available from well-known, well-respected mints with extremely good reputations. I include the government mints from the US, Canada, Australia, etc. There are some excellent private mints as well. But for the purpose of discussing “investment grade” silver I will stick with those that I know and trust. This type of silver can be used to fund an IRA. Which means that there has to be a high degree of trust and confidence in the purity and value of the silver. Most of the investment grade silver comes in the form of one ounce silver rounds. An example is the US Mint Walking Liberty coin (a.k.a. American Eagle). These are widely regarded as the number one silver round in the world in relation to investment grade silver. The US Mint also makes quarter ounce Walking Liberty rounds as well.
3. Junk silver. This covers a wide range of options spanning over 100 years of US coins. As I said earlier, junk silver is a misnomer. The coins I am referring to are coins minted by the US government to be used as currency. Prior to 1964 the US government actually made coins that had value to them, not just some vague fiat currency that is used today. The coins I am speaking of were made from 90% silver, the other 10% was cooper.

So let me explain what I think of each in terms of buying for emergencies, disasters and for “grid-down.” I won’t go into explaining why or how much, I already wrote an article on that called “Silver & Gold…..Really?” < click here to read the article >

First up, bullion. Don’t buy it. Yup, just that simple. In my opinion you have no idea what you are buying. How do I know? I bought some. Remember, I don’t write about anything I haven’t done, tested and have personal experience with. I want to speak from personal experience. Back to silver bullion…

So a few years ago I bought several “bars” of silver, a couple of 30+ ounce bars and a smaller 10 ounce bar. I liked them, they looked kinda cool, not perfect, a little rustic looking. They had cool imprints on them stating the purity and exact weight in Troy ounces. I liked them.

Then I started thinking about it, how did I know that they were actually what they were represented to be. The guy I bought them from had a good reputation and I trusted him. But how did I know who he got these bars from had a good reputation? In other words, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. So I sold the silver bullion off. The guy I bought it from had a money back guarantee from me. He is totally satisfied with the deal he got, and so am I.

So bullion bottom line…I don’t feel that I would truly know what I was buying. In the worst case scenario, grid-down, I try to barter/buy with by silver bullion and it turns out to be virtually worthless. How so? Well, there was a case not long ago (2012) where gold bars had been drilled out and back-filled with tungsten. Gold and tungsten have almost identical density/weight. It supposedly fooled a number of people.

There is such a thing as silver plate. That is a process where they fuse a coating of silver over another metal. It appears to be silver, coz it is on the outside, but the inside is another, less valuable, metal. I have no idea how I would be able to tell the difference. So the bottom line for me is…I just don’t and won’t buy silver bullion. Nor would I accept it in a barter situation during grid-down.

Next up, investment grade silver. I love this stuff! Yeah, I am a little obsessive about investment grade silver, I just love Walking Liberty rounds. They are beautiful to look at and have a certain “feel” to them that just lets you know that you are holding something of value. But beyond the feel, the Walking Liberty rounds are recognized around the world as the most trusted silver coin. So you know you have one Troy ounce of 99.9% pure silver…and that guarantee is backed by the US government. Come on…don’t snicker.

It is easy to spot these coins and if you ever held one, you can easily spot another. Yes, they could be forgeries, but would be hard to copy the quality, weight and workmanship. To me that means that you would know exactly what you have and have confidence in that fact. And I think it would be virtually impossible to create fakes once the grid fell.

Come time for grid-down and you were trying to barter one away you would know you have true value. That in turn would give you confidence in your position and give you a strong hand in the deal. If you were the one who would receive the coin you would have a high level of confidence that you were receiving a high-quality, verifiable value for the goods/services your were trading to the other person. But there is a drawback, not all is perfect with the one ounce round.

Suppose your deal didn’t come out exactly to the ounce? I mean that you were trading 1 pound of wheat for 1-1/4 ounces of silver. The person buying your wheat has US Mint Walking Liberties and you are willing to take that in trade. So you get one, one-ounce coin, but what about the 1/4 ounce?

The two of you decide to use a cold chisel to cut a round, removing ¼ of it to finish the payment. Do you get exactly a quarter of the coin?

So there is the problem…coming up with exact amounts that are less than one-ounce increments. But, don’t worry there are some solutions to that as well. There is also “quarters” and they are exactly what they sound like, ¼ ounce versions of the Walking Liberty one-ounce coin. They are not made by the US Mint. They are made by the Highland mint and recognized just as highly as their larger 1oz cousin.

A very astute trader during grid-down might know that the US Mint didn’t produce the quarter ounce coin but they will still know it is just as reputable. Now you have the ability to get your purchase/barter to within 1/4oz of silver. If you are wanting to get even closer…there is a solution for that as well.

Finally, junk silver. I kind of like the term “junk silver” but the term is misapplied. There is nothing junk about silver. But, I don’t control the English language, I don’t even speak/write it so well, so I just go with the flow. As I was saying earlier, prior to 1964 US coins had a high silver content, 90% more or less. And that gave the coins themselves actual meaningful value. When the value of the silver outpaced the coin’s currency value, the government began to lower the value of the silver. Eventually the government eliminated all of the silver from the coin. They just hated the idea that United States currency actually had value in and of itself. Besides, they realized they could mint a 1oz, $1silver coin and sell it for 50 times what its currency value was.

So what about all those 90% silver coins that are still out there? Well, they are still out there for the most part. And they are valuable.. Now, remember they aren’t .999 pure silver like the invest grade silver I was talking about earlier. The junk silver coins are .900 pure silver, the rest is copper. And since the silver content is lower, the value is lower. Here is a chart of how much silver each coin contains –

Silver Dollar  (pre-1936)                   : .77 – .78 (troy ounces)
Silver Half-Dollar (1964 and earlier) : .3617 (troy ounces)
Silver Quarter   (1964 and earlier)   : .1808 (troy ounces)
Silver Dime (1964 and earlier)         : .0723  (troy ounces)

But, it is still silver!! You, as John did, might ask, “Why buy ‘junk silver’ when you can buy good silver?”

Valid question and there are a couple of reasons:

1. Junk silver coins are already broken down in dollar, half-dollar, quarter and dime denominations. That makes it really easy to identify sub-1oz amounts. When the value of your trade/barter/deal needs a specific value in silver, using coins (junk silver) makes it easy to identify that exact amount. I can imagine that post-apocalypse folks identifying values in “silver dimes” as a standard valuation.
2. Investment grade silver usually carries a hefty premium over the spot price of silver. However, junk silver coins can be bought below spot if you are watchful. What I am referring to is eBay. Search for eBay auctions that are for junk silver coins. Look for two kinds of auctions; 1) auctions that end at weird times like 2am on a Weds, 2) odd combinations of coins like 2 quarters, 10 dimes and a half-dollar. These auctions are often time passed over by the folks trying to scoop up larger quantities and who are a little more professional in their approach to buying silver. The “odd time” eliminates a lot of the folks that want to bid right at the end to avoid driving the price up. And that should be a great hint for you as well; wait until the very last couple of seconds before submitting your bid. That avoids running up the bids. But make sure you submit your “maximum” amount the first time. eBay will only run it up to your maximum but also, only enough to win the auction. So you might get it well below your maximum bid. I would go with spot price as my maximum bid.

So there you have my case for buying junk silver. Now, remember that I have also bought investment grade silver as well. I think there is a time and place for each. The investment grade stuff is for protecting my retirement. It is the hedge against inflation or the dollar getting ruined. Yes, it will be very useful during grid-down and I explain all of that in the article “Silver & Gold…..Really?”

I hope that answers your questions and explains my philosophy on junk silver.

One interesting little side-note: if you look at silver dimes they are supposed to have a serrated edge to them. There was a time that some folks would scrape the serrated edges off the dimes and collect the silver from those scrapings. And then continue to spend the dime when they were used as coinage. In today’s world I think there are some folks who still think they can get away with it. So when buying silver coins look closely at the edges to make sure they are intact and no one is trying to sell you a less than full-weight, intact coin.

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.

note: this article originally appeared in March, 2015, edited July 2019

This is Part #2 of a two part series of posts about money & power, how it affects us now and, more importantly, how it will affect us in the future. And then the absolute most important part of this series, how “prepping” can mitigate the affects of “money & power” used against us.

In Part #1 (appeared 2 days ago on the 27th) I reviewed the last seven decades and how we slipped into bondage with the government as our master. I also showed how each President since Kennedy affected out country and who the real power was/is behind the curtain. I made it clear that

“money & power” is the control of this country and how it has eliminated virtually all of our now extinct rights, freedoms and liberties over time.

Lets move on to the next installment of “money and power” – the relationship between the two is interesting.

The Ruling Class (our government, all layers of government) want virtually all of both money & power, leaving just enough to allow us to survive. Even giving us the allusion of thriving. Yes, that sounds diabolical and extremely conspiratorial. But I challenge you this, prove me wrong! Show me the actions of government at any level in the United States that isn’t sucking power away from individuals and taking it unto itself. Better yet, show me a single instance where the Executive or Legislative branches of the federal government is truly reinforcing an individual’s rights or liberties in any meaningful way!

In America today, the only people that will benefit from any government action do so at a price that others pay. So what little government gives back to one group of people (usually money) belongs to another people group of people, NOT the government. The government in America today, at all levels, only takes power, it never gives power. Why?

Because, “Power cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be moved from owner to another.”

Government cannot create power, but it can take power or move power from one group of people but only at the expense of that group. But even the ability of transferring power is against God-given natural rights. In America, government have always seized power and authority from the people, or bought it. It doesn’t give power back to its owners…the people.

Remember the saying you probably heard at some point in your life, “money is the root of all evil” or some variation of it? The truth is, the statement is far more accurate than most would think. But to me it is only half right. The half that is missing is “power.” So changing the saying slightly, “Power and money is the root of all evil!” now becomes absolutely true, yes?

Well, not really. Yeah, it sounded as if I was leading you down that path to say “yes”, but I am not done with that concept of money and power just yet. To continue to refine the saying I would have to ask, “can money and power be good, or at least can it be used for good?” I think anyone who has any intelligence would have to say “yes” to that question. So “money & power” by itself is not evil. However, how that money and power is used makes the outcome evil or good.

Yes, I make a clear distinction between good and evil. For me, anything that goes against God’s plan for us as individuals is evil. Conversely, anything that supports God’s plan for us is good.

Let us test that…

We know that God gave man agency, the right to choose what we do. Granted, there are consequences to doing evil (i.e. murder) but God does not force us to not murder. However, He teaches us the principle that it is wrong. And therein is the difference – “force.” When we are compelled into doing something we lose our agency. When we are free to choose, we enjoy or suffer the consequences of those decisions that comes from exercising our agency. Example: If we drive recklessly and cause harm or damage we should be held accountable for those actions based on the choice that we made top drive recklessly. Hence, we cause damage or harm we compensate those that were harmed by our actions/choices. However, if we drive recklessly and cause no damage or harm to anyone, what difference does it make to anyone?

Traffic statutes today are long, complicated and tedious. They are designed to compel us into certain types of behavior. The authorities use these statutes to control our behavior (i.e. reduce the ability to choose) regardless of any harm or damage actually being done to someone. Statistics would make a plea that traffic laws prevent accidents, thus saving lives and reducing property damage. This argument is completely and utterly false. If their primary concern was saving lives and reducing property damage they would prosecute drunk drivers to the fullest extent of the law. Or, they would advocate for the total elimination of cars since they represent and average 50,000 deaths per year in America.

Notice statists (those people who love government and use it to control people) will create statute after stature to control behavior but are extremely lax in holding people accountable for their actions. And here is just one example of how that is done – there are large numbers of laws on the books to control people and their driving habits. There are even mandated DUI checkpoints wherein people are subjected to questioning, searches and mandatory sobriety testing; all without “probable cause” required by the Constitution. These mandatory checks even include forced blood draws as you are restrained, should you object to the field sobriety test.

But how many times have you heard one convicted drunk driver after another let off with a light, or no, sentence who then drinks and drives again killing someone? Exactly! There are plenty of “behavior control” laws but weak “enforcement” laws. Why is that do you think?

To answer that question we will subject the scenario mentioned above to the “money & power” test. We will take the easiest test first – power. When our non-harmful activity is controlled by the government does power move to the individual person, or is it taken from the person?

Example: A DUI checkpoint – without due process of law a large number of people are stopped against their will. They are questioned by law enforcement officers and often forced to submit to a variety of sobriety tests, including the potential for an invasive blood draw. So which way does the “power” flow? To the person…or to the government?

Let’s now touch on the money aspect. If a person is stopped for DUI what happens? Regardless of anything else, they are fined. And that money goes to a government entity. If the defendant seeks legal defense then money flows to lawyers. Regardless of the outcome of the case the legal system gains monetarily from the alleged DUI infraction.

Then with a DUI conviction on his drivers record insurance companies charge more for car insurance. And who issues business licenses to insurance companies? Correct, government agencies charge insurance companies for the right to conduct business in their states as well as charging a variety of other taxes including, in many cases, corporate income tax.

And interestingly enough…DUI is seldom discovered at DUI checkpoints; normally, it is expired insurance cards, expired drivers license, or out of date vehicle registration. All of which take money from the individual push it into the government bank accounts.

And finally, why are law enforcement offices so supportive of DUI checkpoints? Overtime Pay! Yup, money.

And where does the money come from to pay that overtime to individual officers? The federal government.

The federal government sends billions and billions of dollars per year to local police departments. And why do you think they do that? In the old days they would call it what?

So regardless of any damage or harm done by the driver, power and money flow directly and indirectly from the individual to the government or government employees.

Apply that same test to every aspect of government intrusion in our lives. And I mean every single aspect. Now, be ready to answer a simple question.

Here’s the question –

Are you OK with this kind government action, taking of money and power from the individual by the government in every aspect of our lives?

Remember, power is neither created or destroyed. Power exists in only one spot at a time; either it rests with an individual or it rests with the government. And the individual must freely give it up; or, conversely, a government entity must take by force the power from the individual.

Let’s make the test even simpler. Do you trust individuals more than the government? Or, do you trust the government more than individuals? Who is easier to deal with in a dispute, an individual or a massive bureaucratic government?

So you really want to know what this has to do with “prepping” and such?

Well, it goes first to “mind set”; the mental capacity to understand what you are up against as your prepare for emergencies, disasters, or grid-down.

Let me really test your “statist quotient“. Do you support the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights? Do you?

OK, great! Please answer the following questions:

1. Federal regulations controlling civilians owning automatic weapons are appropriate?
2. Federal law prohibiting convicted felons from owning guns is the right thing?
3. Federal law prohibiting guns being sold online or shipped in the mail make perfect sense?
4. Federal law requiring the 4473 form to be completed and FBI background checks just makes sense?
5. Federal law preventing kids under the age of 18 from buying guns is needed for public safety reasons?
6. Banning of ‘bumpstocks” or “slide fire” accessories is OK with me?

Well…the Second Amendment to the Constitution contained in the Bill of Rights states,

“…the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

If you answered “yes” to or agreed with, any of the six questions above then you do NOT support the Constitution and you are a statist.

Yeah, you may not like it, but you are. Yes, you can argue it and debate it all you want, but the wording in the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights is clear, perfectly clear. And you either support it or you don’t.

As soon as you start coming up with reasons to restrict gun ownership or gun purchasing then you become a big-government statist.

So why are there gun laws?  Apply the “money & power” test to it.

The federal government makes huge money off regulating guns. They do so through the BATF via gun dealers. If you want to own an automatic weapon, you have to pay a huge fee to the government for them to give you that privilege. So the “money” test clearly shows that money flows from the individual to the government.

Now test the “power” aspect. Does the individual currently have the power to do as they wish within Constitutional rights? “No” is the only answer to that question.

Let’s take felons first since they are prohibited by federal law from owning a gun. Why? The Second Amendment makes NO exception to prohibit felons owning guns. So some politician decided to take that power from felons.

Can a minor buy a gun or does federal law prohibit that? Answer – minors can not buy a gun based on federal law because some politician decided to take that power away from individuals.

Can the federal government deny a person the right to buy a gun?

Yes. Through the 4473 form the federal government can prevent a person from purchasing for virtually any reason, including a simple mistake on the form itself. So does power flow from the government to an individual or has the government seized power from the individual?

And why does the statist, via the government, want this particular power, gun ownership, to move away from the people, and to the government?  Our Founding Fathers addressed that subject:

Thomas Jefferson said – “The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”

George Washington said – “A free people ought not only to be armed but disciplined…”

George Mason said – “To disarm the people is the most effectual way to enslave them.”

Noah Webster – “Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops.”

Elbridge Gerry  – “What, Sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty …. Whenever Governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins.”

And why do you think they said those things?

Because they were all too familiar with the face of tyranny and its evil and its destructive power. Tyranny is not bottom-up…it is top-down from government against the people. Our Founding Fathers recognized the tyranny under British rule, opposed it, fought against it, some died fighting it, and they won freedom from it. They had no desire to allow tyranny to reign ever again in America.

That my friends is why the federal government promotes gun control, when they own the ballot box, there is only one last option to throw tyranny out. Now you understand why Progressives are such huge proponents of gun control, to preserve and promote power flowing to the government not to the individual. And Conservatives rarely object to those restrictions of gun ownership not being infringed.

Have I answered the “prepper” relationship question yet?

Let try this on you – applying it to any scenario where “preps” are needed, which way will the power be flowing?

Remember the terms “state of emergency”, “curfew”, “checkpoints”, “mandatory evacuations” to name just a few? Who loses power in these cases and who gains power?

Then there is the ultimate transfer of power, “martial law.” In this case, all power is moved to the government and the individual loses all their power, rights and liberties for as long as the government deems appropriate. And what is the outcome every time? Show me an example where the federal government seizes power, deprives rights and liberties to its citizens, and it turns out well.  And how do they control people under such a power grab?

They do it with a carrot and a stick. They promise food, hand out debit cards, open emergency shelters and pass out water. At what cost? You must do exactly as they say.

Do you want to depend on FEMA to take care of your family in times of need? The same government style bureaucrats that run the IRS?

Do you want that for you and your family when an emergency or disaster strikes? Or would you rather be self-sufficient? Or better yet, able to help out family, friends and community? You can only do that if you retain “power” within your situation. And you do that by NOT being dependent on what the government is offering.

The more power you retain to yourself, the ability to take care of you and your family, the less control the government has over you. And ask the people who were ever under total control of, at the mercy of, the federal government during any emergency or disaster. Ask them how did they do? How did it work out for them? Would they have avoided it if they could have?

Now, let’s take the ultimate “grid-down” scenario; do you want to trust and to rely on the government to take care of your family? Would the government even have the capacity to do so?

Actually, let me ask a more fundamental question; what actions would the federal government take in the event of a “hard” grid-down? What policies would they implement?

Having a problem answering that question? Really? I doubt it.

Can you use the “power & money” test today in everyday life? Sure! Use it to test all things political, or anything related to the government. Simply look at who benefits in relation to the flow of money and the flow of power. Therein you will see who is the loser and who is the winner.

Example: Net Neutrality.

Money: Through Net Neutrality the federal government is able, through the FCC, to charge any fee or tax to any aspect of the Internet industry just like they do phone and cable bills. Get out your cell phone bill and look at the extra charges on your bill levied by the government. So in the case of Net Neutrality the money flows from the individual and businesses to the federal government.

Power: Through Net Neutrality the federal government is able, through the FCC, to control and dictate to any Internet related company whatever policies they, the FCC, deems appropriate. The same is true for TV, radio, cable, and Ham licensing. They can control access, content, speed, and every other aspect now enjoyed by the individual person.

In the case of Net Neutrality both power and money flow from the individual to the government resulting in a huge loss of freedom, rights, and liberty for the individual. The government took control, again

As you prepare for emergencies, disasters and “grid-down” think about the way those scenarios might play out. Prepare yourself mentally on how to deal with it by understanding principles.

To better understand today’s political environment simply apply the “money & power” test against any law, policy, proposal, rule, or speech. Where does the money go?  Who gains the power? Answer those two questions and you will know the difference between good and evil.

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.

note: this article first appeared in March, 2015. Edited in July 2019.

Pretty dramatic title to this post but I assure you it is 100% accurate and timely. How does it apply to “prepping” for emergencies, disasters and grid-down? Well, that my friend is why you need to read both Part # & Part #2 articles. You won’t be disappointed. And you will be far better prepared because you will more fully understand human nature, albeit the darker side of human nature.

So let’s cover a little background first – I’m old. I can remember President Kennedy. Granted I was young at the time, but I remember my parents talking about him and I remember when he was killed. President Kennedy was seen by most as a strong leader with America’s best interest as a priority. While he might not have been a Progressive, but he was for sure part of the Ruling Class.

Ruling Class? Yeah, sorry, I should explain that term since I will be referring to it regularly in this article. The “Ruling Class” are those people and families that have the real power in our country. Yes, the same could be said for the world; but for now I am just talking about our country. There are the old money families of the Ruling Class and new money members.

The new money are those individuals that have so much money that has been recently acquired that they simply “buy” their way into becoming part of the Ruling Class. But the old money members of the Ruling Class are the most powerful.

A few examples of Old Money Families (will include descendants with other family names) – Brzesinski, Bush, Carters, Cheneys, Clinton, Emanuel, Ford, Morgans, Rockefeller, Roosevelts, Rothschild, Udall, Vanderbilt.

A few examples of New Money Families (will include descendants and relatives with other family names) – Allen, Bloomberg, Gates, Koch, Lewis, Louis-Dreyfus, Murdoch, Pew, Soros, Zukerberg.

After liberal Kennedy was killed then came President Johnson. He was an extreme Progressive. He loved both war and Marxism/Socialism. He excelled at both. He was responsible for the huge increase in social programs designed to establish and maintain a permanent welfare class of people. The program was called The Great Society. A greater implementation of socialism in America hadn’t been seen since the introduction of massive socialist programs during the FDR years.

Then came Nixon. Nixon was an interesting guy, a Progressive and globalist, but also inept and void of morals on a personal level. He was the first president that I really paid attention to, that I was “politically aware” of. He failed our country with the Watergate Scandal. Interesting how minor in nature the Watergate Scandal was compared to later presidents. But the country was full of anger, hate and pent-up frustration over the Vietnam War; Nixon bore the brunt of all it…deservedly so.

President Ford was a complete waste of time. His sole purpose was to pardon Nixon and then fade away into history. He was an utter waste as a president. However, he established a new type of person to move into high office, established career government officials from intelligence community (i.e. CIA dark spook types) and a globalist as well.

When Jimmy Carter was elected president I knew the country was in serious trouble. Jimmy Carter comes across as this kindly gentle grandfather. But he is anything but that. He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He absolutely hates anything related to Jews, loves everything Muslim and he is a raging Progressive and globalist. His four years as president was almost enough to destroy America. And there is absolutely ZERO doubt in my mind that his mission was to turn America into a third-world country. He nearly succeeded.

Just when the country was about to collapse, America elected Ronald Reagan. If you weren’t alive back then you have no idea just how much Reagan meant to our country. He was the last remaining hope to turn America around from certain destruction. And he did. Reagan pointed out the evils of government and how we could choose a great America or a dark and destructive America. He gave us a pretty decent America for 8 years. He was not perfect and wasn’t able to do all that was needed, or promised, but he opened many people’s eyes to the utter evils of Progressivism and globalism. I was one of those people that woke up. When he said, “Government is not the solution to the problem. Government is the problem!” made me realize for the first time in my life exactly where this country was headed, why, and how disastrous it would be when we arrived…if we didn’t change course.

Then America got suckered into electing George H. W. Bush. There was great hope that he would continue resurrecting of America through Constitutional and conservative principles. Unfortunately Bush was a liar and just another Progressive and globalist. Bush came from an “old money” family that was establishing itself as a family political dynasty. Bush came up through the political ranks and served as the Director of the CIA as did President Ford. That should have been the clue for American voters. He was nothing more than a career political lusting for power and wealth…establishing a political dynasty.

Then the country was ready for a change and wanted someone young; Bill Clinton was elected. Clinton is a dedicated hardcore Progressive/globalist and the latest version of leadership evil. He was void of any morals or ethics. He lived his life as a hedonist without any regard for his family or his country. He was the ultimate politician concerned with only three things; power, money, and feeding his debauchery. Clinton was able to sell out America from the groundwork that Bush had started. Clinton had the very rare honor of being one of only two U.S. presidents to ever be impeached.

People got tired of Clinton’s style of immorality and decadence and wanted someone with some morals. America elected George W. Bush. On the surface George W. Bush seemed like another Ronald Reagan, someone that could steer America away from the destruction that Clinton had caused. Few knew just how Progressive Bush was and how much he loved war as a globalist. When 9/11 struck, the massive Progressive machine saw a perfect opportunity to move against America. A series of laws that included the Patriot Act and Executive Orders eliminated many of our Constitutional rights. The NDAA continued a relentless onslaught against the Constitution and allowed the federal government massive unilateral authority over Americans without the protection of the Bill of Rights or the rule of law. The Constitution was on life-support under Bush #2. As Bush concluded his presidency a financial crisis began that looked as if it would rival that of the Great Depression. Bush, along with his Progressive cronies, moved against America implementing a financial “bailout” that moved massive amounts of wealth from the average person to the hands of the ruling class.

Then the darkest days of America struck; Barak Hussein Obama was elected. Obama is the ultimate extremist Progressive and globalist. His elitist anti-American beliefs run deep. His abject hatred of the Constitution and our founding principles are evident in everything he does. His socialist/marxist beliefs are even more socialist/marist in nature than President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s. Obama wants nothing less than the destruction of America as a Constitutional Republic and transforming it into a Progressive totalitarian utopia. He was well on his way before his 8 years were up..

What does this trip down memory lane have to do with “prepping”???? Please be patient, I need to make my case and that takes background information to get the whole picture.

So what happened during the 54 years of presidents that I just reviewed?

A massive, history making, power shift took place. More accurately, a massive power shift accelerated. Power was moved from the individual to the government. I use the term “accelerated” because it actually started long before President Kennedy…around the turn of the century when the Progressive movement really started and propaganda (public relations) was born.

Albert Einstein gave us an eternal truth “Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another.” I would like to modify that universal law with your permission. “Power cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another.” But I don’t speak of “power” in the sense of physics or thermal dynamics; I speak of it in terms of politics and government.

When it comes to politics and government power can only exist in one place at a time. When it comes to an issue, either an individual has power, or the government has power. It is absolutely impossible for both to have it equally.

Let me explain…

According to our Founding Fathers, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and a long list of people dating back multiple-hundreds of years…all “rights” come from God. Hence the terms “God-given rights”, “inalienable rights” and “natural rights” was the foundation of our Constitutional Republic here in the United States. So the “power” comes from God and was placed in the hands of the people according to all the great minds of the last 400 years or more. As a Christian I know that to be true; God gave us certain rights. While this is not a discourse in natural rights, it is understood that people have the right to; defend themselves, own property, pursue their life’s ambitions, and to do so without the interference of government. The caveat to that is that a person is entitled to do so as long as their exercise of natural rights doesn’t impinge on another person’s exercise of their natural rights.

So the very basics of natural rights for the last 400+ years has been that power originates from God, rests in the hands of the individual, and government may receive power only from the consent of the people.

In most societies people delegate some of that power to different levels of government for convenience; but never relinquish it. Our Constitution and associated Bill of Rights spells out those limited instances where the people delegate a restricted amount of power to government. But most of the Constitution and Bill of Rights is a document outlining the restrictions placed on government exercising power against people. Why? Because our Founding Fathers lived under tyranny and wanted to ensure that America didn’t suffer that same fate again. So from God our rights are given to us and the Constitution ensures it stays that way.

Unfortunately it is the nature of most men to desire control over others; and government is a perfect mechanism to do so.

We have seen over the last 200 years a gradual shift of power from the individual to the government. And I speak of government at all levels. Since the advent of Progressivism (simply a Communism/Socialism version of Liberalism on a global level) in the late 1800’s a shift of power has taken place from the individual to government has accelerated dramatically. Today we see ourselves, as individuals, at the mercy of multiple layers of government. We have virtually no true freedoms & rights left, even the basics of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” that was outlined in the Constitution are quickly evaporating.

The basic tenant of Progressivism is that a certain group of elitist people (i.e. the Ruling Class) knows what is best for the masses. And then they impose that agenda by force on everyone through the power of the government.

A case could be made that Progressives originally had a well-intentioned objective, “to cure the ills from the industrial revolution.” But in reality Progressivism is nothing more than a massive attempt to shift power to a very small ruling class of people. And those elites “would set America right because they knew what was best for all Americans.” However, that meant they had to force it upon Americans because individuals had to be deprived of their natural rights to enable the government to gain enough power. And that began the shift of power from the individual to the layers of governments. All in the name of good intentions, but a steady march towards authoritarianism.

One of the the first true large-scale shifts of basic power came under President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he managed to create situations where individuals became dependent on government money. The next large-scale power shift came under President Lyndon B. Johnson when his “Great Society” created the permanent welfare class of people in the U.S. who were dependent on the federal government for virtually everything. And those moves ensured a huge permanent voting block for Democrats because the welfare class would always vote for more handouts, and the Democrats were always ready to do just that.

Once the individual was significantly subjugated about mid-1990’s, another massive shift of power was well underway, and it was accelerating with each passing year. That power shift consisted of moving power from the local levels of government (i.e. cities, counties, and states) to the federal government. As of early 2015 that shift of power is nearly complete. Meaning? The federal government has consolidated virtually all power unto itself. Where the federal government lacks statutory power, it creates monetary power. Simply put, whatever power the federal government has not been able to legislate away from lower levels of government it has bought.

And therein lays the basis of today’s world – money and power.

Yes, money and power.

In Part #2 (day after tomorrow) I will continue to explain how all this fits together and most importantly, I will explain how “prepping” can be the answer to arresting the effect of “money & power” on you and your family.

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For over a month now I’ve been working extra hard on writing preparedness articles. I love the way they are coming along. But, one question keeps coming back to me…

“What is the most important skill or trait for a prepper?”

Then it changed into…

“What is the most important thing for prepping?”

Either way you look at it, I was trying really hard to answer both of those questions. But, I kept coming up empty handed.

Well, that’s not entirely true…I kept coming up with a long list of “most important.”  I had a hard time accepting that I couldn’t identify the most important anything for preppers. I still don’t have a good single answer.

I could always fall back on Situational Awareness (SA). I mean the case for SA is so easy to make. You have to be aware of what is going on around you…before and during an incident. Otherwise, you will either miss that an incident is about to happen, thus failing to properly prepare and respond. Or, you will miss something important during an incident and respond incorrectly or not at all. And of course, missing something important can easily be fatal, especially in the most dangerous, complex, and stressful of incidents.

Then I could make a case that without the skill(s) to deal with the “something important” it doesn’t matter how easily you recognized that something was happening. So, skill is just as important, maybe more so, than SA.

But what about gear? If you see an incident about to occur, that means you have good SA. If you then know what you should do, and are trained to do it, even better. That shows you have a good skill base. But, what if you don’t have any gear or equipment to make good on all your great skills and training?

You know what I am talking about. What if you need to defend yourself against a mob and have no weapon? What about if you need a fire for warmth but have no way to start one? What if you know you need water, know how to find it, and have absolutely nothing to use to filter the water? So, equipment and gear is also vital.

But, if you don’t have the “will” to survive you are just as defeated. Yeah, if you have the skills and gear but not the will to survive…then you are doomed.

Then I could always reach for “community” to be most important thing because no one person or family can provide all the manpower, skills, gear, and equipment for success long term in a grid-down. That may well be true for a simple disaster as well.

So what is most important to preppers?

Well, I think I might have figured it out this morning while was meditating on just this very subject…it is “humility.”

Are you completely let down?

I hope not, give me a chance to explain why this simple answer to an apparently complex question is the right answer.

Before I give you my definition of what humility is, let me share with you what I feel it is not.

I am sure we’ve all met that person, maybe in the mirror, they are the one that really knows-it-all…and let’s you know they know it all. They feel ultimately qualified to do just about everything. They can build a fire with toothpaste, shoot the eye out of a flea at 2000 yards, skin a deer in 20 seconds with only a dull rock, hike with a 100lb pack at 6mph for 2-weeks and no sleep, been a Navy SEAL, got bored then became a Delta operator, can predict the future about anything because they dream, and can heal anyone of any disease with only an oak leaf. And all that…before lunch!

So, we all know that person and I see them as arrogant.

When someone tries to teach them something…they already know it…and more…and better…and for longer. They want to teach the teacher. In other words…they are not teachable. And they normally “on up” anyone else’s story.

So, if that is my impression of the opposite of humility, then what exactly is humility?

To me, humility means a person is teachable. And if you are teachable, then that means whatever you don’t know, you are willing to listen and learn. And that is the most important thing for preppers…humility…the ability to be taught…to listen…to learn.

Before you go off the deep end on me thinking me some raving lunatic, give me a chance to throw a couple of other things at you.

Don’t confuse humility with weakness. Weakness means you can’t or won’t do something. You can be humble and still be very strong, in mind, body, spirit, and will. Weakness usually manifests itself in character. Any ability-based weakness can be overcome through training and experience. Weakness in “character” is tough, although not impossible, to overcome. In my opinion to overcome weakness in character you have to have both a strong desire, or motivation, to overcome that character weakness plus a mentor/example to lead you through it.

Being humble opens the door to many more opportunities. How many people do you know that actually like arrogant people? How many people do you know that enjoy being around arrogant people?

Most of the people that do enjoy the company of arrogant people are themselves arrogant as well. Politicians and their groupies come to mind. Watch how politicians treat each other, watch how their staff members fawn over them. So we know at least two groups of people who enjoy arrogance…politicians and their groupie flunkies.

I have had the opportunity to know some Special Forces guys, most of them were pretty humble on the outside as far as I could tell. Sure, they enjoyed cutting up and razing each other…and me. But, they were not arrogant in-your-face kind of guys bragging and whatnot. I could say the same thing for some of the best firefighters I have ever known…quiet, humble guys. But when the bell sounded, they were some of the best of the best in a fire situation.

Also, don’t confuse humility with lack of competency. Humble people can be very competent in many areas. But, they will also know where they can improve, or learn something entirely new. Just because you are good at hunting, doesn’t mean you are good at explosives. A humble person will know that, and they are more than willing to sit down and be taught what they previously didn’t know.

I guess a good way to look at it…they know that they don’t know…and they are willing to be taught.

What? Yeah, an arrogant person is more like…they don’t know that they don’t know...because they think they already know it all.

Hence, if you know that you don’t know…then you can learn what you don’t know. An arrogant person is more interested in impressing you with what they do know vs. admitting that they don’t know something. Especially if you know what they don’t know.

That was fun!!! I hope you followed me through all of that…I had fun writing it.

OK, back to “humility.”

Don’t confuse meekness with humility. A humble person will tend to not bloviate just for its own sake. When a subject comes up that they don’t know anything about they will usually sit there and learn. And they will ask questions and/or try to apply it to life’s situations to get advice. You try to feed them BS and they will call you out on it. And true, if they get lost they will almost assuredly speak up and ask for an explanation. This is especially true in a tactical situation. They are not meek…they want to know what is going on and they want to figure out their own knowledge gaps. That way they can learn, fill in the gaps, and help ensure mission success. A meek person simply fades away into the background, stays there, and is perfectly content with that condition. A humble person will work to learn and participate to their fullest.

By now you should have a really clear picture of what I feel is the most important “thing” for a prepper…humility. 

Humility in terms of a person willing to be taught. And that takes a great deal of confidence in knowing who you are, what you do know, and what you don’t know…but need to learn. You have to be willing to say to yourself, “I don’t know enough about that.” Once you can do that, you are then you are open to being taught and learning the very thing that was holding you back. As a prepper you can’t afford to be held back…that could be fatal to you and/or your family.

My friends, I encourage you to be teachable…to be humble. We can’t know everything, but we can learn anything. Don’t let your ego make you arrogant and unteachable. You can do anything, I am sure of that, and together we can surely handle any problem. Arrogance will only get in the way. Humility will pave the way for success.

Let us all be teachable…humble.