[updated 6/4/10]
While Big Brother keeps telling us that they cant afford to protect our Rights, Health or Environment because half of every tax dollar goes towards military occupations based on the fraud known as the “war on terror”, and because they’re giving too many billions of dollars to already rich bankers in this massive tax-theft called a “bail-out”, what can we do, to disconnect from this system of exploitation and destruction?
If we want real “national security” shouldn’t we be supporting greater personal and environmental health through self-sufficiency? Why not promote & support people owning their own tax-free land so they don’t have to be dependent on fraudulent Federal Reserve notes for survival, having to pay rent or property taxes their whole lives to live on a piece of Earth that should be a right for all? Why not bring back Victory Gardens so the Public can grow their own food/medicine and not be dependent on corporations for basic necessities?
Why not end our dependency on the private central bank debt-based fractional reserve system (The Federal Reserve) that our entire economy is basically run by, that is a continual crime against the American People?! The Federal Reserve, a private central bank, produces money out of thin air, (that’s what the fractional in a Fractional Reserve means basically) and then charges us, the taxpayers, interest on every dollar they produce, so that we can never truly “balance the budget”; the system is designed to create continual debt, and therefore make the Public continually dependent, and solidify the control of the banks over our society.
So how can we be less dependent on bankers and corporations who don’t care about people suffering? How can we avoid poverty without participating in a rigged/unjust monetary system?
First of all, what is poverty exactly? We are told it is lack of money. But is it really? When we think of those that are extremely poor, what do we picture? Someone who doesn’t have adequate food, water, clothing and shelter. Yet, is money really necessary for those things? If someone lives in a home they own, on land they own, and grows their own food, has access to clean drinking water, and perhaps even some solar power and a small wind turbine, what do they need money for? If they had little to none, but were content with their lives, would you call them “poor”? Isn’t that what we’re really after, security of the basic necessities and happiness, not money? But I cant afford to buy land or a house, let alone solar panels, you are probably thinking, and that’s the main problem that needs to be dealt with, as I will discuss more shortly.
“Though people have not progressed beyond the need to eat food and drink water and wear clothes and live in houses, most people have progressed beyond the domestic arts – the husbandry and wifery of the world – by which those needful things are produced and conserved. In fact, the comparative few who still practice that necessary husbandry and wifery often are inclined to apologize for doing so, having been carefully taught in our education system that those arts are degrading and unworthy of people’s talents.
Educated minds, in the modern era, are unlikely to know anything about food and drink, clothing and shelter. In merely taking these things for granted, the modern educated mind reveals itself also to be as superstitious a mind as ever has existed in the world. What could be more superstitious than the idea that money brings forth food? …Most people appear to assume that when they have paid their money for these things they have entirely met their obligations.
Money does not bring forth food. Neither does the technology of the food system. Food comes from nature and from the work of people.”
- Wendell Berry, in “Orion” magazine, summer 1999.
Increasing one’s self-sufficiency makes a lot of sense, but can be very difficult, and maybe becoming completely self-sufficient is not even the ideal. Strong communities that support each other can be a source of needed physical resources as well as friendship, service and real fun, things our modern society greatly lacks. Being dependent on private central banks for the basic necessities of life is dangerous, as Americans learned during the last Great Depression, (which was basically caused by the banks, by suddenly shrinking the money supply drastically, to cause the collapse of smaller banks, so they could further concentrate their wealth and power to even more astronomical heights, which today is higher than ever). Trying to afford the basics while having a low-paying job is hard enough, but then it may be difficult to find any job in the first place. Unemployment keeps rising, as the bankers wallets get fatter… A population that is without the means to the basic necessities of life can be much more easily manipulated and controlled by the few that have abhorrent amounts of wealth, to further grow that wealth even more. One possible future manifestation of this has been reported on by The Natural Solutions Foundation: the possibility of a manufactured flu being released on the public, and then pushing unhealthy vaccines on an already mostly unhealthy populace. Sound crazy? Well it is! But guess what? There are people that crazy in positions of great power, and historically there always has been! And in fact there is already something that crazy and wrong going on, continually, every day: fluoridation of our water supply and mercury being put in our vaccines and tooth fillings.
Back to the issue of poverty and dependency (on corporations/government that obviously don’t have our health & happiness in mind); being more self-sufficient and less controllable by government/corporations sounds great, but you may not be able to afford to own your own house or land. Me neither! That’s why this unjust social system has continually expanded the gap between rich and poor, and made it so a few earn in days of interest on the money sitting in their accounts what the majority would have to work for years to earn. It’s a system that is inherently unjust, which if after realizing this, you want to boycott, is not easy to get out of. Many Americans think getting into debt by taking out loans and getting credit cards is just the way it has to be, and so they get into so much debt they have to work the rest of their lives (doing work that isn’t their passion) just to pay it off, and never have money enough to own the land/house, etc. we really need, and that money is just a manufactured tool to obtain. There are options that I’ve discovered though, for those that want to be less dependent on money, but don’t have a large amount of money to start with to make that happen (which is the situation most people are in).
When we make choices that rely less on fossil fuels, global finance, and long supply chains and more on conservation, savings, and local production, we become less vulnerable to crises and more resilient in recovering from them. What once looked to the larger society like “hippie” behavior from the far-out fringe, now simply looks smart.
-Fran Korten, Publisher, Yes! Magazine, Winter 2009
A growing movement now is communities creating their own debt-free local currency and individuals buying very small homes, that many people can afford to buy outright, avoiding the debt (and therefore corporate work), that is needed to live in a large house. You trade living space for increased free time/freedom, which is really a win-win, considering that a very small home would probably encourage you to go outside more, experience Nature more, be involved in your community more, and reduce materialism/consumerism by minimizing one’s possessions and simplifying their lives. It’s like the supposed down-side of renewable energy having a lower output than coal plants; we should reduce our consumption anyway so we create less demand and therefore environmental impact, so having less energy available can actually be a good thing, for our finances and the environment. Speaking of which, if you’re not familiar with Peak Oil and Global Warming, those are two more great reasons to become less dependent on corporations for the basic necessities of life.
If gas prices go up to $8.00 a gallon, the cost of the food you eat that is dependent on trucks that use petroleum gasoline to get it to you will also go up simultaneously and proportionately, it will become unaffordable for most Americans. Community sufficiency is the best way we can deal with this coming situation, as shown in the documentary “The Power of Community” , which shows how Cubans dealt with losing half their oil supply and 80% of their food supply when the USSR collapsed, by creating small food gardens throughout the country, which immediately had a positive effect on the health of the population as well, since they started riding bicycles and eating more fruits and vegetables. Click here for an excellent article on Cuba’s “Green Revolution”, which included a major shift away from artificial medicines to natural ones. Also with dealing with the crisis of Global Warming, strong self-sufficient communities are again the best place to be, help will not need to completely come from the outside, resources will be available at hand.
An ecovillage provides a framework for community-sufficiency and security, while also eliminating the necessity cars, which are a hazard in the city, or speeding on windy and hilly country roads. Check out the great books Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities and Finding Community: How to Join an Ecovillage or Intentional Community by Diana Leafe Christian for more information on that.
Another idea is to work on an organic farm or perhaps to live at/create an intentional community or ecovillage, where your labor/service is exchanged for food and shelter and/or ownership of some land. WWOOF.org, OrganicVolunteers.com and IC.org are some good resources for that. Another, and less drastic, thing you can do is sign up with a CSA (Community supported Agriculture) farm in your area, so that you are supporting community empowerment and not dependent on food coming from big corporations/long distances to reach you.
Another is to sign up with, or help create a new community garden, or turn your lawn into a food garden, or turn someone else’s unused lawn into a garden that you can harvest food from (“Landshare” is a promising example of this happening now in England, see also Shared Earth) or even garden on land that is not being utilized by anyone, known as “Guerrilla Gardening”. Or you can grow without any accessible land at all, using something like an “Earth Box”. The “Transition Towns” project is also promising:
“The main aim of the project generally, and echoed by the Towns locally, is to raise awareness of sustainable living and build local resilience in the near future. Communities are encouraged to seek out methods for reducing energy usage as well as increasing their own self reliance…”
These projects can supplement your food purchasing, as well as connect you with your community members in a positive, healthy way. See also:
From the Community Food Security Coalition: Your Community, Your Food: Seven Ways to Get Healthy Food into Your Community
Another great book:
When all the facts are considered, veganic gardening is shown to be the ideal for the aforementioned gardening projects, for health, ethical and environmental reasons.
Speaking of health, the leading cause of bankruptcy today in America is health care costs, which thanks mostly to the Health Insurance Industry, have become so high, that if your insurance wont cover the operation/medicine, etc. chances are you can’t afford to get it. The silver lining to this however is that much of western medicine isn’t really effective anyway, oftentimes it can actually make you worse off. The never ending list of side-effects from unnecessary surgeries and prescription drugs, along with treatments like chemotherapy (that kill more people than they save), have led many to look for more traditional medicine solutions, and luckily those don’t cost nearly as much and are much more time-tested than modern chemical medicine and health care that relies heavily on surgery and treatment of symptoms rather than causes. The most critical example of this is mainstream western medicine institutions neglecting the science that shows that the leading cause of death in the US, Heart Disease, is caused by a diet that is unnatural to the human body, i.e. One high in animal flesh and cow’s milk. But how can you get all the protein, or vitamin B12 you need if you have a vegan diet?, you may say automatically, due to massive societal conditioning. It’s very easy to get enough complete protein and B12 on a vegan diet, it’s not rocket science. And if you don’t think you can be strong on a vegan diet, take a look at some vegan body-builders, or Olympic Athletes.
Like wars based on lies, eating animals is a huge example of how the Public is duped into participating in something that not only isn’t healthy for them, the environment or society, but is unethical to boot. And living an unethical life, even if you are supporting the violence/destruction once-removed, has its consequences, i.e. Unhappiness. But that’s another topic in itself, and something you have to investigate/experience for yourself to verify.
So to recap, we have a society that creates dependency, a competitive/non-cooperative mindset, ill-health, and unhappiness… all of which benefit the few while harming the many.
It’s time for a change. And by change I mean a complete reversal, not the illusory change that the status-quo is offering us, like requiring health insurance, which just makes us life-time corporate sponsors with no choice about it, or telling us there will be a hybrid car available in a few years that we can afford (as long as the gas prices don’t get too high). Meanwhile there are cars running on compressed air in India right now, and there’s enough clean renewable energy available right now in the USA to power every home indefinitely.
Meanwhile the liberating truth is out there, if we seek it out, so don’t trust the so-called “elite” to tell us what it is, it’s not in their selfish/power-crazed interest to do so.
