USA –-(Ammoland.com)- A recent article titled “Strategic Relocation Briefing: The Makings Of Some Good Retreat Country” on SHTFPlan.com recommends heading to the wild of Arizona for people “who can’t permanently relocate, but must have a retreat strategy as their main option”.
I used to be a big fan of ‘Bug-Out’ philosophy, but in the past few years, I changed my mind. I guess you could say that I not only went through a ‘thorough consideration’ of what it meant, but also what it caused. I am now adamantly against the ‘Anarchistic Bug-Out’ that StrategicRelocation.com suggests, and here’s why:
This article talks about planning bug-outs to areas you do not rent, own, lease, etc. Therefore, in most bug-out instances, you are telling people to go to a remote, low-populated area, and hide and consume local resources, in event of catastrophe.
Now, wait a minute. You (the bug-out fan) couldn’t bring your money into that area last decade, last year, even now, to help build infrastructure, but when you’ve helped pollute the world with liberal thoughts (or conservative plans) while in LA, Seattle, Atlanta, etc., you are then going to let the ‘cities burn’, jump in your jeep, and come to a remote pristine area that has been poor, struggling, and barren for decades, even centuries, while you toss MRE wrappers on the ground and increase demand on scarce resources (like water) for the few that did live there?
And you see this helping prevent global collapse how, again?
In reality, the same people that would go into a relatively unknown area (to their own experience awareness), and try to act like it is theirs, and intend to thrive and survive in a place that is not their own is the same mindset that has already destroyed this nation. Now, you are going to take this trash-mentality into the last vestiges of nature and remote peoples, and bully your way into either taking over, or at best, being ‘part of them’.
If you really want to ‘bug out’, buy property where you want to go, now. Pay the property taxes on it now to help finance local infrastructure. Go there, and learn the land you intend to otherwise-squat on when SHTF, otherwise you are no better than the pirates you are running from that have taken over the big cities.
Of course, in reality, most of these ‘peaceful pirates’ of the urban-yuppie bugout persuasion will most-likely die in a few days in places like those recommended here. Flagstaff? Good luck in the winter if you aren’t familiar with the area. Farmington, New Mexico? Same deal. Then again, there’s a lot (and I mean a LOT) of bad information on ‘bug-out’ location choices out there – and this is no different. I doubt Joel Skousen has spent a week camping in his life, let alone actually living ‘off the land’ in any of the places he rates 4-5 stars for bug-out locations. In reality, he’s nothing but a ‘bug-out’ Kervorkian, helping people commit starvation suicide, one reader at a time.
Do I sound bitter? Maybe. I once was on the ‘ram it down your throat’ side of this bug-out equation, but actually stopped and thought it through. It took a few lessons from people ‘imposing their will’ on me, to convince me. Jumping my fences and leaving trash while taking water is a prime example, right there with an outright argument with a fool who was determined that ‘I needed to sell him a propane tank since his was empty’. See, this is the sickened mindset that Skousen is sending into these remote areas.
Just remember one thing, not everyone is ‘in this with you’, and ‘warning shots are optional’, when it begins. Maybe you should become a paying local, before you go imposing your will in a new world where there is no 911 to get help. Just an idea.
~ Dustdevil
Also locals know each other, protect their privacy, and are more receptive to newcomers who own their own land. Tourists and visitors are appreciated-tolerated for their contribution to the economy but under stress don’t push your luck.
Land ownership is the key in the GA Mtns.