1. Security
Whether it is defense against authoritarians who want to limit freedom or the mitigation of crime, security is a critical need that must be solved in free society.
Defense in Layers
A good general strategy for defense is defense in layers. This utilizes existing societal structures to provide resistance to encroachment on freedom. The federal government is most likely to be co-opted by authoritarian leadership, so it is of little value. Currently, many major institutions like education, research, government, intelligence and law enforcement are and have been infiltrated by left-wing groups seeking to impose their will on Americans.
State-Level Resistance in Red States
The first level of resistance is state-level governments. Stick to red states, as those are the states most likely to oppose the current threats of left-wing authoritarianism. If right-wing authoritarians were taking control of institutions, deep blue states would provide better refuge.
County-Level Resistance
Choose counties without any large cities in them, within the deep-red states. These counties will tend to attract fewer authoritarian personalities, have a more “hands-off” governance and policing strategy, and lack the resources to enforce draconian restrictions even if they wanted too. You are also more likely to find sympathetic allies in your local communities here. In these rural counties, there is a much higher chance that freedom-loving people can take control of county-level political offices like the county Sheriff. Controlling county-level political capital allows you to steer those resources away from the infringement of freedom and towards shielding people against authoritarianism.
Community-Level Resistance
We need to get liberty-loving people together, living in the same communities. If we are going to help each other and defend each other, we have to be neighbors. That means many of us will need to relocate and put our money where our mouth is. This requires commitment and, for many, extreme lifestyle changes. But with communities of people who are willing to root out crime and come to each others defense, this will provide a strong disincentive for authoritarians to target these fortresses of freedom.
Individual Readiness
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. A community full of liberty-loving people who are out of shape, mentally weak, and lack defensive skills, will not be very effective in deterring those who intend harm. Each of us, have to take steps to improve our individual readiness. Strong, freedom-loving individuals, cooperating with other freedom loving individuals, make for strong, defensible communities.
2. Communication
Critical infrastructure for circulating news, coordinating efforts or just staying in touch will have to be created or hardened against malicious actors.
Encryption
Strong encryption technologies frustrate government surveillance efforts. Encryption allows secure transmission on existing government infrastructure because hostile actors are unable to read the content of the message. Luckily, new encryption technologies are being rolled out. Apps like Signal offer end-to-end encryption of text messages and phones calls to prevent unwanted disclosure of your communications. Encryption alone isn’t a panacea as there are potential ways to defeat it or get around it, but it is a massive step forward in communications security. There is a reason why the US intelligence community wants encryption backdoors.
Decentralized Networks
Decentralization of communication networks is the most promising direction to maintain communications under a domineering government bent on controlling the national narrative. Blockchain, the technology used in cryptocurrency, is already being used in experiments for decentralized hosting of data. Imagine a liberty-minded version of Wikipedia. If that website sits on a handful of servers it would be very easy for authoritarian government to shut it down. But if that same website was distributed over thousands of devices, shutting it down would be nearly impossible.
Direct communication technologies are also underway. Projects like the LoRa mesh communicator offer hardened communication channels utilizing existing infrastructure. But this all; requires buy-in. We need more people working on developing these technologies, and more people using them in their daily lives. We have to start investing in these alternatives and figure out how to use them in our daily workflows.
Data Control
Data is quickly becoming the new oil. Liberty minded people should take precautions to strictly control access to their data. From medical records to communications to browsing history. Data is valuable, and in the hands of a hostile power, it can be used against you.
3. Finance
Having a means to transact and store your wealth is critical to a functioning society. Authoritarians are weaponizing these systems against their enemies.
The Next Battleground
We’ve watched conservatives, libertarians and even left-wingers who question the establishment, get thrown off of social media in a series of purges. The excuses are many, but what is clear is this trend will continue, and it will move outside of social media. The next battleground is financial institutions. This effort began under the Obama administration with Operation Chokepoint, which threatened banks with audits if they worked with businesses like gun shops. More recently Bank of America gave customer transaction data to federal agents to aid in the investigation of the January 6th, 2021 Capitol protest. The disclosure included the data of many innocent customers and was obtained with a warrant. These are just two of many examples. The point, enemies of the establishment will soon find themselves targeted by their own banks. We need to start investing in alternatives.
Independence and Privacy
Precious metals like gold and silver remain a good fallback, but we really need more accessible ways to buy and sell goods and services. Luckily, there are some solutions available. Cryptocurrencies offer some hope here. They are not perfect as this technology has limitations, but it does offer a more convenient way to buy and sell than trying to use physical gold and silver, or just trading goods. Privacy must be top-of-mind though. The popular cryptos Bitcoin and Ethereum have public transaction ledgers which means transactions are very easy to track. The path forward for liberty-lovers is with alternatives that are not trackable. Monero is one-such privacy-coin that is very promising. However, the US government is already working to find ways to break this privacy. Our government wants access to every detail of our financial transactions. They believe you do not deserve privacy from them. We will have to be creative, flexible and steadfast to shut them out of data they have no right to access.
4. People
Liberty must be promoted and the message disseminated to as many as possible. Communities for liberty are critical to defending against hostile actors who would rob freedom from us.
Culture
Culture is key to spreading the ideas of liberty. From games to tv to movies, culture promotes and advances ideas in society. If liberty is to prevail, we must create culture showcasing the value of liberty and the dangers of authoritarian rulers.
Communities
Alone we are weak. We have to build communities of freedom-loving people. Virtual communities like this are a step in the right direction, but we have to get beyond this. We need to vote with our feet. We move together across the US and build communities in rural areas that are resistant to tyranny.
Help
We need people young and old in our communities. We need farmers and programmers: Backyard engineers and builders. We need a diverse set of people who are united in liberty. The problem is, not everyone who would be an asset has the capability of moving and living rurally. Many are locked into cities by limited job options, poor credit and a lack of financial resources. Those of us who have been blessed with abundance should find and help our potential allies. We need to bring as many people into our communities as possible. We need strong people who love freedom, and we should work together to help them move into our communities by providing whatever assistance we can afford. Together we are stronger.
5. Education
Our educational system is a weapon wielded by the powerful to indoctrinate our children into a belief system we don’t hold.
Alternative Schooling
Alternative education methods are very important to keep our future generations from falling into extremists ideologies. It also limits the amount of leverage the state has over parents. Homeschooling is the most obvious answer to this problem but it requires one parent to commit to being a full-time teacher. Communities can work together to pool teaching resources and reduce individual burdens and improve educational experiences for children. In the long run, online courses and curriculums can further reduce the cost and time involved in homeschooling. This is a solvable problem, but it will take work.
6. Health Care
Health care costs are skyrocketing and access is controlled by a few insurers and government gatekeepers.
“Free” Healthcare
We need to free healthcare from the gatekeepers that drive costs to astronomical levels. This means we need to develop community networks of care. Doctors can and should work directly with patients to develop care plans that are agreeable for all parties. Remove government and large corporations from the equation and costs will plummet.
Prevention
Additionally, homestead life can be a great preventative measure against many diseases. The active lifestyle and healthy eating that comes with living closer to the land, produces better health outcomes. We have to start taking care of ourselves and reduce our individual dependency on health services.
7. Manufacturing
We need to build things. With financial collapse on the horizon, shortages of manufactured goods will soon follow. Additionally, authoritarians can seize control of production facilities as another avenue of control.
Backyard Manufacturing
Manufacturing has never been more accessible. Makers are building homemade CNC machines for a fraction of the cost of commercial models. 3D printers have opened up a whole new world of prototyping and production, for a few thousand bucks. While not everything can be manufactured in a garage, repurposing, salvaging and producing many critical goods is achievable with minimal equipment. But this requires competent, passionate people who like to build and can solve tough problems with limited resources.
8. Construction
To be resistant to authoritarianism, we have to build communities that are as independent as possible. A big piece of that is building efficient and low-cost homesteads.
Efficient Building Technologies
Being tied to the power grid is a major risk, as is relying on a city water supply or sewage. The more independent you can be, the better. But the problem is often cost. There are methods to significantly reducing the cost of providing home-based infrastructure like DIY well drilling, earth bag homes and arch-style buildings. Additionally, smaller more efficient structures that reduce resource consumption can offer a huge cost-saving. Modern home design should seek to maximize useful space, to reduce cost and make homesteads more accessible.
9. Transportation
Moving goods and people is an important task in any society. While vehicles can be slvaged, repurposed and repaired, fueling them could become a problem.
Fueling the Future
Drilling for crude and refining on a small scale is not feasible for small communities. We need to explore alternatives like biofuels, gas wells, wood gas power and electric systems. These technologies can not only fuel transportation infrastructure, but emergency power systems for homesteads.
10. Agriculture
About 20% of our food is imported. Financial collapse will harm trade and disrupt this portion of the food supply. Couple this with over-reaction to food scarcity and food shortages will likely be an ongoing concern.
Food Production at Home
Hardening our food supplies is relatively easy. Get people out into rural areas and encourage them to garden and raise livestock. Buy local goods to foster local agriculture production and try to fill unmet needs in the market. People have been engaging in small-scale food production for millennia and this is a very easy problem to solve. We just need more people doing it.
New Technologies
Homemade geothermal systems coupled with efficient and cost effective greenhouse designs open a whole new frontier of growing possibilities. More efficient livestock management make better use of natural resources and land. The future isn’t energy hungry grow houses with artificial lights. The future is to better use the available resources, wherever you are.