On Martial Law

Sometimes when I talk to friends and family about why they should get interested in prepping I feel like pulling my hair out. Reponses range from "you're over-reacting" to "if everything goes to hell then what's the point of surviving anyway". After doing some study on Martial Law and considering the aforementioned responses I came to the following conclusions.

The average prepper looks at Martial Law with a wary eye at best and with resistance in mind at worst. For anyone with a thousand MREs and a basement full of guns'n ammo the thought of having some government thugs take it all away is enough to keep them up at night. But for the nine out of ten folks with a quarter tank of petrol, a weeks worth of food, and nothing effective to protect themselves with when the SHTF, Martial Law will seem like a godsend compared to the alternative. Let's face it, nobody will be concerned by the squashing of any number of civil liberties if it means the scumbags down the road are contained by checkpoints and their kids get enough food to live another day. Who can blame them? For most the end will have come like a thief in the night and if forced to choose between martial law and total anarchy there are no prizes for guessing the outcome.

What does that mean for the average prepper? Well for a start it means that living in the country becomes even more advisable than usual. The farther the better, because when the police and the military start wearing the same hats they may well be going door to door in the cities and suburbs. Like busy bees they will harvest "excess" food and fuel. Despite this, your guns and ammunition will be the first to go (any that are registered that is) in order to maintain law and order. I would bet the farm on that one. In fact, guns and ammunition will be one of the few things they travel out to the sticks to collect. This is in no small part because, unlike your food and your fuel, they have a detailed list of what guns to look for and where to look for them. Driving a hundred miles to take a few cans of beans from some hick's pantry is clearly pointless but our weapons are another matter. If they arrive on your doorstep and you give them some cockamamie story about how "they were stolen" then expect to be arrested at best and executed on the spot at worst (martial law is not pretty).

So where does that leave the country folk? In a tough position.That's where. As I said, the farther out your are the better off you'll be. You'll have a longer warning period and more time to prepare your welcome for any "creative taxation officers" coming down the road. The only legal option will be compliance. Some will cache their food in hidden locations on or off of their own property. Some will defend what's theirs to the death. It will be a fluid situation with no way of knowing in advance what the best way to respond will be. This is because we cannot predict how well equipped (if at all) the government will be to carry out these confiscations. Furthermore, when a military truck comes rumbling down your driveway there are no promises that it wont be filled with looters who've managed to think outside the box or soldiers who've gone "freelance".

Of course there are solutions but as I said, the only legal option will be compliance. 

So the un-prepared will wish for Martial Law.

The well prepared will wish for anarchy (as the better of two evils).

The rest of us? 

We'll have to choose one way or the other when the time comes.

On the matter of news, the avoidable death of a young boy from a completely treatable condition is a tragic and timely reminder that books like "Where There Is No Doctor" are worth a read whether the S has HTF or not. I'd rather demand a second opinion (forcefully) based on my own diagnosis and be proven a fool than remain uneducated and silent only to lose a child.

Meanwhile the stories of fake census collectors bashing, stabbing and robbing people are everyday reminders that an "it'll never happen to me" mentality is not an option these days.

In other news, if we weren't faced with a global food shortage then protecting the Great Barrier Reef from pesticides would be common sense, but under the circumstances we can file this under "something's gotta give". What "something" it will be is anyone's guess.

And on the lighter side of things, as if the taxpayer didn't have enough on his plate, we can now look forward to a new taskforce to protect "companion animals". Perhaps those seeking to have "Old Yella" put down will have to fill out a means test and provide proof of hardship to show that they can't afford his arthritis meds. Quoted was this piece of pure hilarity:

"These are shocking statistics and the establishment of the taskforce recognises the rights of the tens of thousands of companion animals, and will ensure that their voice is heard in Parliament."

I can't wait for the member for Greensville to take the stand and addresses his peers:

"Woof woof. Meow meow."