This article was written by Brandon Smith and originally published at Birch Gold Group
Over the years, I have written extensively about the concept of economic “decentralization” and localization, but I think these ideas are difficult for some people to visualize without proper motivation. By that I mean, it’s not enough that the current centralized model is destructive and corrupt; it has to start breaking down or show its true totalitarian colors before anyone will do anything to protect themselves.
Sadly, the majority of people tend to take action only when they have hit rock bottom.
In recent months the pandemic lockdown situation has provided a sufficient wake up call to many conservatives and moderates. We have seen the financial effects of pandemic restrictions in blue states, with hundreds of thousands of small businesses closing, tax revenues imploding and millions of people relocating to red states just to escape the oppressive environment.
Luckily, conservative regions have been smart enough to prevent self destruction by staying mostly open. In fact, red states have been vastly outperforming blue states in terms of economic recovery exactly because they refuse to submit to medical tyranny.
I outlined this dynamic in detail recently in my article Blue State Economies Will Soon Crumble – But Will They Take Red States With Them?
The data is undeniable: the states and cities that enforce lockdown mandates are dying, the states that ignore mandates are surviving. However, with a Biden presidency there is a high probability that the federal government will now seek to force compliance from all states. In other words, lockdowns will become a national issue rather than a state issue.
For now, Biden is pretending as if reopening is right around the corner, but as I have noted in the past, the Reset agenda will never allow this. A reopening, if it happens at all, will be short and lockdowns will return. We are already seeing a new narrative being introduced to the public involving “COVID mutations”, which are supposedly “more deadly” than the original COVID-19 outbreak. So, there is a brand new and useful threat and the establishment will exploit it as a rationale for more lockdowns and restrictions.
Beyond the pandemic mandates, there are also numerous Reset agenda policies that will be implemented under the Biden administration, including insane Green New Deal related executive orders and legislation claiming to reduce carbon emissions. What they will really do is annihilate resource production. Millions of jobs will be lost and entire industries will be erased unless conservatives act to stop Biden in his tracks.
This means doing far more than stalling through political maneuvers. We are going to have to use concrete strategies to retake control of resource management within the states. Pointless globalist carbon policies composed by entities like the UN have no place in American economic planning. A message needs to be sent that they will never be accepted here.
Time is running out to prepare. Lockdowns will return within a few months and this time they will be federally enforced. Conservatives must be ready to defy these orders if they have any hope of saving their local economies. This is going to take individual efforts to stock necessities and secure their finances, but ultimately wider organization is going to be needed to weather the storm.
Conservatives must establish coalitions of counties and states, and certain economic measures will have to be applied to insulate from damage. The federal government and Biden will attempt to punish red states for refusing to submit, and we need to be ready for that eventuality.
Here are some ways that conservative communities can stop the Reset agenda…
Localization
On a smaller scale, conservatives can accomplish a lot by simply changing their buying habits. If you do 80% of your retail spending with big box stores and online outlets like Amazon and only 20% at local small businesses, then try to switch that ratio. Spend 80% at local businesses and 20% at corporate outlets. Yes, small businesses tend to cost a little extra, but who do you really want your money going to? Do you want your money filling the pockets of international corporate moguls that are working to destroy your freedoms and undermine your economy? Or, do you want your cash to circulate locally?
Individuals can also start their own business from home focusing on production of necessities or necessary skill sets. They can establish a small business co-op and encourage the community to buy locally. Often, people just don’t know how many services are available from small businesses in their area, so they automatically go to big box providers. Small businesses must work together to change the dynamic.
This strategy also extends to local farms. Consumers and grocery stores need to buy more of their produce from farms in the area and less from chains which ship in produce from other countries. There are millions of acres of farmland in the U.S. that do not grow food at all because these farms are paid by the federal government not to. Encouraging local food production is paramount to remaining free from centralized control.
Organized Refusal To Comply
The problem with conservatives is that we tend to be so independent that we avoid organization. This is a problem because it leads to self-isolation. During the pandemic lockdowns in blue states, some conservative-owned businesses refused to comply, but they were left mostly to fend for themselves with no aid from the wider community. If more businesses were to ally with each other and protested in tandem, dozens or hundreds of defiant businesses working together would be a lot harder to shut down than just a few.
By extension, it’s not enough for conservatives to merely argue against the lockdowns and demand businesses stay open, we need to also defend those businesses that take action. We need to support them with our dollars and stand in the way of anyone trying to close them down. They are taking a big risk for us, so we need to be willing to take risks for them.
Imagine if Biden tried to assert a national lockdown order and more than half the businesses in the country ignored him? What if patrons refused to allow federal agencies to intimidate those businesses? The lockdowns would be nullified, and Biden would have little recourse.
Establish Barter Networks
In the event that the U.S. economy breaks down completely, we must create contingencies to prevent total trade disruption. Without trade, populations become desperate because no one has the ability to provide every necessity all the time. People have to be able to barter goods and services in an open market.
Barter networks are a base fundamental, the universal go-to solution during economic collapse. Every society in modern history has used barter markets to stay afloat during financial crisis and to bypass government economic controls. We must be willing to do the same.
Conservatives must start organizing barter networks within their communities now. It does not matter if you are trading with a couple of people or hundreds; the process needs to start somewhere.
Why is this so important? Because there is a very good chance that the federal government will try to fiscally punish any state or county that opposes lockdown measures and Reset policies. This means that the government will first seek to cut off federal funding to red states. In the midst of economic crisis, many regions have become reliant on federal stimulus as a crutch, and this dependency makes them vulnerable to control.
To truly rebel against the Reset, local economies need to be free from federal oversight or consequences. With barter networks in place along with possible local scrip and alternative currencies, the public will be less fearful of economic retaliation.
Take Back Management Of Local Resources
We have already seen attempts by Biden to disrupt production of carbon based energy resources like oil and coal. Frankly, the time is long past due for states and counties to take back control of federal lands. The government has been stifling American production for decades and this has hurt rural communities in particular.
In my area, the EPA has essentially destroyed the timber harvesting industry through unfair regulations. This has led to federal mismanagement of forests to the point that fire hazard has become a major issue. All the young men in the county used work as lumberjacks to support their families; now they have to leave, or work as wildland firefighters. It’s completely backwards. And this is happening while U.S. lumber prices are skyrocketing.
Conservative counties and states need to take back land and resource management and allow reasonable production to return. Biden should have no say in whether or not oil wells in North Dakota stay operational, or coal mines in West Virginia stay open, or trees Montana are selectively harvested. As long as the bulk of wealth from the resource production stays within the state where the resources were harvested, I see no downside to this kind of response.
If the federal government tries to retaliate by cutting off federal funds, it won’t matter because the states will be producing jobs and wealth for themselves independently.
Immunity From Cancel Culture
In our current political environment, it is becoming a fact of life that the hard left can and will try to harm people that oppose their ideology. Big tech companies and government are helping them to do this. Now more than ever, conservatives that wish to remain free to voice their views and share facts that are contrary to the leftist narrative must seek protection from cancellation. But how do we do this?
For one, we can work for ourselves. Being self employed means never having to worry about being fired because of your political opinions. Or, conservatives need to work for conservatives. This means conservative companies need to focus on hiring conservative employees, and if the leftist mob tries to attack an individual, those companies can easily ignore them. Of course, this also means that conservative consumers need to start making a list of conservative companies that have proven themselves to be immune to leftist pressure. We need to support these companies.
Conservatives should also look into the possibility of campaigns to build more platform alternatives to Big Tech and social media. We need more web service providers that are owned by people who respect free speech rights. We may even need our own internet.
All of these things are possible, but it takes organization and effort. Conservative communities can become safe havens for civil liberties, but this means we cannot be isolated from each other anymore. We have to be connected by more than our principles, we must also be connected through actions.
With global tensions spiking, thousands of Americans are moving their IRA or 401(k) into an IRA backed by physical gold. Now, thanks to a little-known IRS Tax Law, you can too. Learn how with a free info kit on gold from Birch Gold Group. It reveals how physical precious metals can protect your savings, and how to open a Gold IRA. Click here to get your free Info Kit on Gold.
Brandon what do you think of having money saved in bank accounts?
having some money in a bank account is useful, but don’t rely on it too much. The best strategy is to diversify. Have some savings at a bank and some cash, buy some gold and silver. Stock up on food stuffs, ammo, bottled water, and other essentials, if you can afford it.
On the note of establishing platform alternatives to Big Tech social media platforms, do you have any intention of setting up an additional social media presence outside of Parler given its present troubles? While I understand that in the longer term we may be shut out entirely from the internet, being able to leverage broader exposure while that tool is available would be handy for organizing networks in short order.
If you are already eyeing potential platforms to establish a new presence, have any caught your fancy? While I think that we’ve clearly entered an ‘any port in a storm’ phase, the whole Parler saga has made it evident that backends independent of Big Tech and platform redundancy are crucial for preventing conservatives’ networks from getting cut out from under them in a fell swoop. So it would be interesting to hear what you see as the viable short term paths worth investigating before it comes time to transition such networks onto extra-internet platforms.
I liked Parler because it was a good mix of moderates, conservatives and liberty activists and it wasn’t just a place to preach to the choir about the reset. Dan Bongino claims that Parler will be back up within the next few days, so we shall see. I haven’t decided if I will join and endorse another platform yet. I know a lot of people are going to Gab right now, but the guy that owns Gab seems to be very hostile to any competing liberty platforms, which gives me doubts. Most liberty people are on the same team after all, and the more platforms we have the better. Fighting amongst ourselves out of vanity is a bad path to go down. Maybe if the Gab guy changes his tune I’ll consider joining.
The big problem is funding. Stripe et al are the gatekeepers to monetizing platforms. Without monetizing these platforms can’t exist. We need our own banking too. This is a monumental undertaking.
Snail mail works just fine. Monetization platforms are not necessary. Convenient, but not necessary.
That’s true. But sending cash through the mail has scaling problems (crediting accounts) and being deplatformed may include Banks refusing to carry you as a customer. It’s really going to be difficult to run an openly conservative business.
You are overthinking the issue. Businesses survived for centuries without monetization platforms, and they can do it again. The bulk of your customer base will simply be local, not online. And if banks start “deplatforming” conservatives then we will be at the point of war anyway. You are worrying about the cart before the horse.
I just bought a few domain names on unstoppabledomains.com . My understanding is that they are building a new web based on blockchain technology. The domain names are dot crypto and can be used to send crypto directly to that name, as opposed to a long address. Also it is decentralized so your domain name is not controlled by a central corp. and there are no renewal fees so you own it and can sell it if you want. you have to download a special browser extension to view websites in .crypto but I have gone on just to see some examples and I found it to be fast.
The only concern I have is it’s dependent on electricity.
Do you guys think electricity would be an issue is the future? And will blockchain have a role in the coming crash?
Heh, I have been lately laughing my arse off when following our prime “sinister” ministers and presidents speeches here in Finland. Both parroting words of Dr. Evil from WEF/SPECTRA aiming to destroy individual freedoms and implementing totalitarian rule. It is like following surreal comedy of some sort. Obey slaves!!
But yes.. answer is to disconnect from this laughable globalist madness and establish local healthy economy of happy and free people.
Brandon. I continue because your article is so important and inspiring.
The local barter economy to function properly needs to have an independent monetary unit.
Silver ounce is the best but I am afraid it will be confiscated and made illegal (by WEF elites/this laughable SPECTRE) soon. But anyway buy physical silver and don’t let anybody to take it away… it will be needed in the near future in barter economy. Silver = Freedom.
Besides precious metals, good barter items are staple food, fuel and fire wood.. but not so easy to carry around. Food, transportation and energy are the most vital things to preserve independence and freedom. Plan accordingly..
If they try to confiscate people’s silver and gold to prevent them from trading independently, then it will mean war anyway.
Any thoughts on LODE project? https://www.lode.one/faq/
It’s crypto backed up with physical metals.
Visit goldback.com and upma.org to learn how to use gold as currency.
good article, especially about the important of organization. However, I think it is worth pointing out that the red state governments are terminally corrupt and beholden to the GLOBAL powers that be and will not take major action to defy the agenda. Resistance will come from we the people, or not at all.
Red state Republican politicians are not needed in order for conservatives to organize.
Is this how you see it?
1. Organize locally
2. Localities cooperate regionally
3. State governance is taken over by these regions legally or if not possible, organize their own government
4. Regional governments cooperate for a sort of new united free states
I honestly think that’s not a terribly relevant problem so long as the will to action exists among the people. If gun owners could successfully scare the Virginian government into backing down on the majority of its gun grabbing agenda by simply massing at town halls and pressuring their county governments in a state where the local GOP is both ineffectual to the point of parody and conservative demographics are in freefall, similar resistance can be mounted in the conservative bastions of the US regardless of how captured and compromised the state governments may be.
Good relations with local law enforcement and lower lever officials would be also good. Those lower lever guys do the dirty work. But the can do also some useful things, look another way when someone breaking some regulations and give useful information. All insiders, especially in lower level are not evil, they are mostly normal people.
“Those lower lever guys do the dirty work.” Which means, they’re dirty, therefore; you can’t trust ’em.
…The scorpion and the frog. Just obeying orders, normal people. Sure.
Any thoughts on securing your household supplies? I’d guess there’ll always be people trying to steal from those who prepared. Heck even neighbors might if they get hungry enough.
Choose better neighbors. This is why organization is so vital for conservatives to survive. Without it, they are done for.
I spent quite a bit of time back in 2005 or so on FerFal’s blog. It was hard to find the kind of real world information online that he had back then. I remember finding your Neithercorp writings around that time, too. All, good stuff.
I came up against a hard wall at Ferfal’s for suggesting that people needed to get out in the streets and face their oppressors instead of going Grey Man. Looking back on it, I suppose from an Argentine viewpoint – unlike in the unitedstate? – they saw that the battles were already lost & it was likely the best tactic. I don’t know.
Anyway, one thing I learned from his experiences, barter clubs don’t work. I imagined them to be like our farmer’s markets only they bartered. Some even tried using scripts in place of fiat money. It didn’t work. Maybe, at first it seemed to work, but afterawhile it all fell apart. I could be misremembering one flaw, the scripts were counterfeited. I don’t see a workaround for that. The other problem was, much like getting frequent buyer rewards of sorts here at flea markets and such, a person would amass scripts, only to find that the barter market had nothing of value you wanted so you’re stuck holding nothing of true value and you were out what you traded to get the scripts. A double-whammy.
A decentralized one-on-one neighbor barter network might work, okay, just pointing out how it’s failed on another level. I suppose you could say, centralized barter hubs don’t work.
Actually, barter networks were the MOST prominent form of economy right after the collapse of Argentina’s currency. They lasted for YEARS. You must have received some disinformation. There really wasn’t any kind of scrip system in place at the time, so I’m not sure how such a system could fail when it was never widely applied. Also, there’s really no such thing as a centralized barter hub. There are open markets, but no one controls that, nor would they be able to if they wanted to.
Brandon is absolutely right. Barter works pretty well. Just go for it. I am a seller in local farmers market here and we do barter there mostly with other sellers. In winter fleamarkets are excellent place for barter.
Visit farmers markets and flea markets and start barter. Become a seller/vendor because you need merchandice for exchangdäe. As a buyer you can bring some useful items (tools, toys, etc) and try to barter with seller. Just try.. Best thing in these markets is that you get to know like minded local people. Start networking and barter becomes easier..
Problem is that the corona restrictions suppress this kind of activity. Maybe that is the purpose..
And one more thing.. Start using silver as a Money. I would happily accept it as a vendor. I would even give you 50 % discount if you pay me with silver instead of corrupt, fraudelent, laughable fiat currency.
Please watch this Chris Marcus quite long video insight about recent happenings in the silver rigging.. the main message is in the beginning..
https://youtu.be/mbGWnjSBqbA
Start using silver now as a Money. Lets make this a global movement.. buy physical silver coins.. and use it locally!
#silverqueeze
Creating some sort of savings account with silver is a great option to help cover your fiat currency! It’s can be easier to buy than gold for people on a budget, plus there are so many sizes to choose from including silver dollar coins to a 10 oz silver bar or even 100 oz silver bar.
A bit of hope from a conservative in an ultra-liberal New England state. I have been selling at a farmers’ market for 13 years. Most customers are quite liberal, but are very “local-minded.” Most vendors are liberal, but are quite aware of the dangers of centralized big government — their concern grew during Obama’s reign and Trump’s and is now accelerating during Biden’s first days.
I strongly suggest the following:
1. start gardening and learn how to save seeds (open-pollinated) especially as Tom Vilsack is likely to be Sec. of Ag again
2. instead of “drain the swamp,” stop feeding the swamp by not needing to earn as much money as possible in order to have as little taxable income as possible — do without and make and grow as much as you can to avoid having to buy things
3. yes, barter; the only problem presented here is when no one wants what you have or one’s service or good is a lot more expensive than what you provide (thinking about needing a plumber, electrician, car/home repair, electric bill, gasoline purchases, etc…) — how about signing IOU’s or “contracts” on future goods or services you can offer
4. There may be locally owned stores that will trade their goods for your goods and services — just ask, you will be amazed
“Buy local” can work. Have patience, courage, perseverance, and kindness (donating your service or product at times to those in dire need will go a long way).
Kindest regards
Rural VT
Never use IOUs in barter. It will only lead to problems. Instead, just make sure you produce goods or have skill sets that almost everyone needs. If you don’t have any skill sets, learn some now. It’s not too late.
I was stunned recently in discovering just how MUCH of the land West of the Missisippi was under Federal control of one form or another; BLM, National Park Service and etc.
Turns out that that figure – as a per centage of the total land in the region – is well north of 80%…simply unbelieveable.
This cannot but serve to buttress every argument against Federal Ownership/Stewardship of all land not directly necessary to the proper function of Governance including Military Reservations. Is it any wonder that the exuberance of the mid-20th Century came to a halt later – when so many migrated westward – in the face of so much of the land upon which this nation is situated is ( effectively subject to odious, bureaucratic control?
What frazzles me profoundly is the fact that people- as yet – have failed to connect the dots between thiee ongoing enmeshment in the Federal System(s) and the concomitant CONTROL they therefore cede to same…the conclusion is logically inescapable.
Indeed, Brandon’s several suggestions are perfectly geared to prying the grip of of the Federales from the local and regional resources which – in fact – naturally belong to ” We, the People”…and NOT the Federal edifice.
“Cash is King”…how often have you heard that description of money? In truth it is a rather profound observation of the dynamics of exchange bound up in a tight, succinct statement…functionally, untraceable and hence fully explanatory of why the Financiers are so damned determined to phase it out completely.
Virtually anything CAN serve as a medium of exchange if it meets a few simple criteria. 1) it must be relatively scarce, 2) it must be ‘Verifiable’ in a simple sense. Without an adequately divisible means of exchange barter – something I’ve hear from many, for years, is an otherwise very difficult system to execute; too much remains unresolved on the trading table typically.
The historic, natural base of money has historically been PM, though it remains to be seen how trustworthy those can be in an age where even Wall Street Gold Brokers can be fooled by Chinese counterfeiters.
However, the truly central difficulty all liberty minded folk face in the times which are now approaching is singular, that being the ability to communicate freely without the three letter Agency in Utah being privy to every iota of what one communicates, one to another. Put simply, that sole weakness exposes and wholly undermines any potential attempt to divorce ourselves from Federal oversight.
FWIW, the math necessary to base a ferociously secure message based communications system has long been available…it requires only the efforts of someone well familiar with coding but does require the services of a competent Mathematician as well.
Specifically, what I am here referring to is the Blowfish algorithm; one which the three letter agencies loathe rather passionately inasmuch as decrypting something based on an N dimensional spiky-ellipsoid has proved – to date – intractably difficult.
It is this single point that dooms all efforts to extricate ourselves from the oncoming “Nanny State” which our ‘Betters’ seem so intent on installing as a control mechanism permeating our lives. China’s comprehensive “Social Credit score” – effectively – already exist in THIS country in a gentler form, your “Credit Score”…by which the PTB can deny you almost anything at all, at whim. I do not believe that it is impossible that in time to come we’ll see the same “Debtors Prisons” appearing here in the USSA which once were a not insignificant part of the reason the Founders were so determined to sever ties with Great Britain.
In truth, this was already attempted HERE previously; think of the ‘Company Store’ referred to in Tennessee Ernie Ford’s song, “16 Tons”. The Peabody Coal Company set those stores up exactly tuned in a fashion that ensured that thier employees would never be able to work off the debt they incurred just living and eating whilst buying therefrom. If you think about it just a bit you’ll realize that that system encompassing virtually everything around us today isn’t terribly dissimilar…endlessly encouraging people to gorge on debt in order to have the latest ‘new-fangled I-Toys, cars, houses, and infinitum, and nauseum.
Dwell on it for a bit, eh?
JOG
Thanks for a great article! I have long believed in self sufficient communities and believe that this is the only way forward. Aside from food self sufficiency and localized business, this should also lead to decentralized communication networks and power. One thing good to come out of all this censorship lately, is that big tech has shown their hand and greatly underestimated our options. As seen by the number of pro freedom and privacy social media apps and the start of new internet projects to build a decentralized web based on blockchain technology, where eventually conservative communities can communicate and support each other without fear of being shut down. We should support these projects as they take power away from big tech and government and give power to the people.
Tesla’s new business model
1. print stock
2. buy BTC
3. profit
https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/the-dark-side-of-bitcoin-craze/
It is difficult to know how to proceed as a low wage worker in NYC.
No car, no house, small savings. No connections in other parts of the U.S., other than an old friend in N.C.
I have lived in the Bronx for 8 years. I know no one here. Virtually no one here is of my decent or speaks my language well, and I do not speak there’s at all.
At 55, the idea of chancing it in a new town is scary, to an extent, yet I refuse to believe that everyone that is low-income is stuck for good wherever they currently are.
There must be ways to start anew, even in these times.
I never understood why poorer people in NYC think they’re stuck there. In my town of 30,000 you can rent an apt or house for $600 and just get a job easily enough. There are so many small towns to easily move to.
Hi Brandon, I understand that the real economy is already collapsing, but do you have any thoughts on the publicly traded assets (stock / bond / crypto market) ? The reason I am asking is that recently I noticed about 50% of the people at the gym talk about cryptos, stocks and even gold and silver. This feels to me like the shoeshine boy giving stock advice, which used to be a clear sign to get the hell out. But if we are about to (hyper)inflate I rather own them now than wait for a cheaper price that might never happen.
“We must hang together, or surely we shall hang separately” B. Frank
Or surely become the hopeless drudges, as seen in the forewarning classic, Metropolis.
Brandon, I’m guessing you’ve read this thread on SHTF by an alleged Bosnian war survivor, so I’m curious on your thoughts on the thread itself and how much ammo people should have (whether they’re in the city or living rurally). https://lulz.com/surviving-a-year-of-shtf-in-90s-bosnia-war-selco-forum-thread-6265/
..
Also, what gun gear should one have? In other words, I recently purchased some arms, but I realized that I may need:
– a good scope for my rifle (is there one you recommend?),
– binoculars,
– megaphone (in case I prefer to warn trespassers at far distances to leave before shooting),
– headphones (so I don’t prematurely go deaf from the shots fired)
– are cleaning / maintenance / grease stuff essential for the functioning of the gun?
*I’m guessing that there are many out there like me who could use this advice.
Also, are there other SHTF-stuff you would recommend that people load up on besides the obvious like canned and dried foods?
For older folks, who belong to AARP, ditch your membership and join AMAC instead.
(AMAC is the conservative alternative to AARP)