I read once that to write a good blog, you have to write about something you are passionate about. I wrote My Electric Ride for a while to share my electric car experience with my friends. While I still love my car, it didn't maintain my passion to blog about it. I've written a few random blogs when I had thoughts that I thought worthy of discussion. I wrote The Party of both 1 percents when I thought I had gleaned some insight into what drove Republican thinking and wanted some feedback from my conservative friends. I wrote Meet Norman Litz, hero? when I read a blog by a one percenter who was going to shut down and stop employing people. I really thought this would be an interesting example that defends my position that the very wealthy are very bad at creating jobs.
It finally dawned on me that my passion was staring me in the face. My passion is discussion. My Facebook friends may have noticed this, even the ones who proudly ignore everything I post and you know who you are. I have a varied group of friends with positions that range from Cheney Republican, to deeply religious, to liberal activist, to Occupy protester, to Republican township leader and on and on. I love you all and I love to hear your opinions. I love that I can discuss issues with you respectfully. And so each week I'll ask you to share your thoughts with me on my blog. You can ignore me, you can read the blog and say meh, you can discuss this with me on my Facebook link or you can brave the very progressive Daily Kos commentariat. While this is aimed at my Facebook friends, I welcome the discussion in the comments. I will figure out what has been rattling around in my brain for the week and give you my opinion in the hopes that you share your thoughts. So without further ado, this weeks subject is: Be Prepared. Click the Orange and give me your thoughts.
I read once that to write a good blog, you have to write about something you are passionate about. I wrote My Electric Ride for a while to share my electric car experience with my friends. While I still love my car, it didn't maintain my passion to blog about it. I've written a few random blogs when I had thoughts that I thought worthy of discussion. I wrote The Party of both 1 percents when I thought I had gleaned some insight into what drove Republican thinking and wanted some feedback from my conservative friends. I wrote Meet Norman Litz, hero? when I read a blog by a one percenter who was going to shut down and stop employing people. I really thought this would be an interesting example that defends my position that the very wealthy are very bad at creating jobs.
It finally dawned on me that my passion was staring me in the face. My passion is discussion. My Facebook friends may have noticed this, even the ones who proudly ignore everything I post and you know who you are. I have a varied group of friends with positions that range from Cheney Republican, to deeply religious, to liberal activist, to Occupy protester, to Republican township leader and on and on. I love you all and I love to hear your opinions. I love that I can discuss issues with you respectfully. And so each week I'll ask you to share your thoughts with me on my blog. You can ignore me, you can read the blog and say meh, you can discuss this with me on my Facebook link or you can brave the very progressive Daily Kos commentariat. While this is aimed at my Facebook friends, I welcome the discussion in the comments. I will figure out what has been rattling around in my brain for the week and give you my opinion in the hopes that you share your thoughts. So without further ado, this weeks subject is: Be Prepared.
Last Sunday, my nephew, Jared, celebrated his Eagle Scout promotion. We are all very proud of him. New Orleans was once again struck by a hurricane. Thankfully the last death toll we've heard is only 2, and we seem to have Governments at all levels communicating and responding. Another AK-47 mass shooting and the month of August is winding up in Chicago with huge numbers of gun deaths from what the police call wilding. In response to my statement inferring that conservatives live based on fear, my good conservative friend Al (punctuate as you wish,) responded "Fear and proper precautions are not synonyms." It is clear to me that the topic I want to discuss is the Boy Scout motto of "Be prepared."
I had a dream this week that I was caught in the middle of real class warfare. Middle class Mike was on the wrong side of the anger from the poor that had been growing as more and more assets went to fewer and fewer people. I woke up thinking that maybe it was time to take advantage of my ex-Navy Seal friend's excellent business Ready-Five and prepare my self and my family for any future event and even see them coming before others. Or maybe I should restart the great spiritual and physical training I got from White Tiger Kung Fu. At the same time, my insightful sister, Nora Jeanne, sends out great daily doses of inspiration that make me think about how my thoughts create negative and positive energy which drive the events of my life. On the subject of being prepared, I've decided that my sister is on to something, but only to a point.
While there are many possible results in the upcoming election with various outcomes in the House, Senate, and Presidency, there are only two possible results that matter when it comes to the subject of Be Prepared: Romney or Obama. If Obama wins, there may be many more small cells of homegrown extremists who will rise up and create real chaos. If Romney wins and holds to the Severely Conservative rhetoric he has been holding on to, I worry about real, brutal class warfare we have seen too many times throughout history.
The best advice I ever got on living was from the Grandmother-in-law I never got to have. My wife's Grandma Pat died before our marriage, but in that short time she managed to impart a word of wisdom that is the very simple way I decide between what is right and what is wrong, "What would happen if everyone took that action or behaved in that way." Simple examples are red lights. What would happen if everybody ignored all red lights? It wouldn't be pretty. But what if people ignored a badly timed red light in the middle of the night when no one else is driving. The likelihood of problems is very small.
And so this is my driving ethic, and here's where my sister comes in. Let's say we all prepared for the pending negative results of the upcoming election, which ever way it goes. What we get is an arms build up with highly trained liberals and conservatives ready to kill for what they believe, whether that is freedom or social mobility. Civil War is likely. While I want to be prepared, I don't want to create the problem by preparing for it.
This is the most extreme example of being prepared, or at least I hope it is. But there are ranges that we need to think about. Should I put camera surveillance to cover my house and the nearby neighbors? This might be a relatively inexpensive improvement with real advantages for the neighborhood. It may be enough for potential robbers to go somewhere else or it may be a window for the government to spy on us if that is your concern. I'm leaning towards doing this since it would give my fixed income older neighbors some sense of security.
What about natural disasters like Isaac and how should we prepare for situations like that. Should we prepare for losing all electricity like the new TV Show Revolution or prepare for the fact that when we experienced major blackouts, the power here was back in less than a day. But India's power crisis lasted much longer.
I could go on and on about the other things we need to prepare for and how prepared we should be, but I'm going to tell you what I've decided and ask you for your comments and opinions.
I'm not going to buy a gun or any weapons. I plan to live a life where I won't be a target for anyone or at least less of one. If the time comes that the threat of people wanting to take over the house with the solar panels, hens, and organic garden and there is anarchy and no police, I might think about it. Until then, I will rely on my police and in the case of people trying to take back government through the second amendment, I will rely on my government. I think they are very capable in this regard.
When it comes to being prepared for a sustained blackout, I'm going to look into figuring out how to create a battery back up system attached to the solar panels that will allow me to function fully when the grid is down. I'm less concerned about a sustained blackout, but more interested in reducing my carbon footprint.
For a natural disaster like an earthquake, we've got to update our kit to be prepared to survive, but we have the canned goods and water we need to last us for a while. But, that said, there are some great things I didn't think of that Randy, the ex-Seal, mentioned. Things like plans for what each family member should do if a disaster occurs and we are in different places.
In the meantime, the organic gardening and chickens will continue, not because I'm preparing for the worst, but because it is the best we can do to sustain our environment. The water collection system is still a dream of mine, but it may be a while before I get to live that one, wife willing.
For now, I will trust in my government and institutions, as imperfect as they are, and hope we can go back to a time when our goal was to make government better and more representative of us, not just smaller.
So give me your thoughts. How prepared should we be and at what point are we creating the problem we are preparing for. I'd love to hear your opinions.