WAKE UP, AMERICA

By C. Wayne Lammers

And behold a pale horse, And he that sat upon him, his name was Death, And Hell followed him. And power was given him over four parts of the earth, To kill with sword, with famine, and with death, And with the beasts of the earth. The Apocalypse of St. John the Apostle 6:8

Recession is when you loose your job. Depression . . . is when I loose mine. There is no requirement for world war, total economic collapse, revolution, or global catastrophe to bring an individual or family under the cataclysmic gaze of “A Pale Horse.” It can happen to anyone - at any time.

Don’t think of this writing as insurance against coming hard times, but rather, as Assurance.

Fulton Oursler observed, “We crucify ourselves between two thieves: regret for yesterday and fear of tomorrow.”

It is not my intention to tell you what to think and I have no problem with those who think differently from me. I will make an honest effort to present my ideas as I see them and as I live them, however, I sincerely hope this work will cause you to think for yourself, and if that happens, then my effort will not have been in vain.

Ideas are the seeds of the future. Sow them wisely today for a richer tomorrow.

“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, In this crisis, Shrink from the service of his country . . . . .” Thomas Paine

Present times are, indeed, trying to our souls, and it would be easy to do a modern-day imitation of ‘Chicken Little’ and proclaim, “The Sky Is Falling!”

But, I am a dreamer.

I still want to believe in Princesses in castles and Knights in shining armor and a world where people treat their fellow man with equality and justice, while striving to mind their own damned business.

Fortunately I am also a realists!

I see the hurt and pain, starvation, blood, fear and injustice in our world. One doesn’t have to contact “The Psychic Hot Line” to see what’s happening today. Or the direction we are heading.

There you stand so Spick & Span Where were you when the shit hit the fan?

Before we get any farther let me clear this up once and for all. I am not now, nor have I ever been a member of a so-called survivalist group, nor do I have any intention of joining one.

Eagles fly alone!

But make no mistake, I am a survivalists and I fully intend to survive whatever this world presents me with.

I am, among other things, an opportunists!

A survivalist is also an optimist. He believes things can be better and he believes in his own ability to make a place for himself, no matter what hand fate deals him.

He believes in his country and it’s people, but casts a jaundiced eye on the lengthening shadow of the repetitive history of tighter controls and ever increasing naiveté’ of our government toward the needs and desires of it’s people.

He sincerely wants things to turn around and be good again, but he elects to be prepared. Just in case . . . .

Rambo plunged his sixteen-inch, razor-sharp, double-edged fighting knife into a rotten log and hurriedly plucked a handful of squirming yellow maggots as he smiled to himself. He finished taking his morning dump while eating the protein-rich meal and wiped his ass with a handful of poison ivy that grew nearby where he squatted. He felt good. He had everything he needed. Rambo was a survivor!

Well, . . . . maybe . . . .,

But being a survivor doesn’t have to mean eating copious quantities of squirming putrescence and drinking branch water from a pork & bean can.

There’s nothing wrong with it if it ever becomes necessary, but the world won’t hold it against anyone who can do better, and that’s what this writing is all about.

Doing better.

Most survivalists take a pessimistic view of the future. Thousands of pages have been written about how to disappear, change identities and live a secret life free from ‘Big Brother’ (or anyone else) and many books cover instructions on landing a job in a strange city, where most of us don’t want to be in the first place and sure as HELL don’t look forward to the kind of menial job we could probably get, or to living in constant fear of being discovered and starting over again, provided we are good enough (or lucky enough) to escape away.

They seem to have the attitude, perpetuated by the totally leftist (socialist) Democrat ‘Larry Liberal’ media, that survivalists are all murderers running from the law, or, (at the very least) dodging child support payments.

That description fits maybe one tenth of one percent.

That’s not what I mean when I speak of being a survivor.

I think of a man (or woman) taking responsibility for himself and his family in a free country, and living a life where his material needs are obtainable if he is willing to work for them, and where he can lay his head down at night without fear of someone rudely disturbing his slumber with the obnoxious cry of, “PAPERS, PLEASE!”

Sounds a lot like the original Constitution, doesn’t it?

Many came back from Nam and found they didn’t fit into a society of children after living among men. They searched for a life they could understand away from ever-increasing rules they found increasingly more intolerable.

All most of us want is a life of our own choosing and to be left alone to pursue our dreams. (Life - Liberty - and the Pursuit of Happiness!)

On average, forty five hundred new laws are passed in the U.S. every year, and every one of them takes another piece of that intangible but precious thing we call freedom.

I have reached a point in my life where I am against any new law. I don’t plan to break the law, I’m just tired of living under ridiculous and stupid laws enforced by increasingly more ridiculous and stupid Cops with the attitude that it’s ‘them against us’ and who are on the streets to play some kind of game. There will come a time when they realize the game is over and people just won’t take it any more.

Let the Games begin!

Some of us became survivors because our way of life was over and we just didn’t fit in any more.

I believe some of the Heroes of The Alamo, (Boon, Bowie, etc.) went in, not as patriots, (there wasn’t a patriotic bone in their bodies) but as a form of ritualistic suicide, one last hurrah, because the world as they knew it was over. They were mountain men and trappers and drunken yahoos and adventurers who became nervous if another white man was within a thousand miles of them.

But when the beaver hat went out of vogue in England and the settlers came by the thousands, stretching barbed wire and ensconcing their housefraus on platted acres and rearing (among other things) hogs, turnip greens and children, (not necessarily in that order) these men became dinosaurs. The land they knew and loved was gone, their lives over.

Some of us find ourselves in much the same position today. We have become dinosaurs.

But we don’t feel sorry for ourselves and we certainly don’t want to commit suicide.

We are Survivors!

Survivors are the kind of people who don’t want someone making their decisions for them or telling them what to do. They are leaders and take responsibility for their own destiny.

Actually, to me, the term survivor is just another way of saying homesteader, . . . . . with an attitude!

The time has come when we must stop relying on ‘Government Programs’ (Social Security included) and take responsibility for our own future as well as the consequences for our own actions, or lack of actions. Depending on someone else for your future, or relying on some government program, that may or may not be there when you need it, is the most foolish thing I’ve ever heard of.

Real men may or may not eat quiche, but they simply won’t abide fools. As soon as I finish my ‘Fortress in the Mountains’ I am going to install a large sign proclaiming, “NO FOOLS ABIDEN!”

Few people in this world truly know who they are and what they are; where they are going or how they are going to get there.

I know men who can take a combat knife in their teeth, crawl 500 yards into the jungle at night and take out ten men, one at a time, without ever raising an alarm. But can they make a living and maintain the life-style they prefer in today’s world?

For most of them the answer is a resounding, NO!

And it isn’t getting any easier. Times are indeed changing, and not necessarily for the better.

It’s easy to say, “I’m a Survivor:” the real situation is as different as boot camp from combat. Within the next few years most of us will be survivalists, not because we necessarily choose to be, but rather, because we have to be.

History dictates it, no matter what the ‘LARRY LIBERIALS’ of our society tout.

Turn on the 6 o’clock news in any city on any given day in any given city and see how many new murders are reported. (mostly black perpetrated) The inner cities are becoming war zones and it takes a brave man to drive, much less walk, through most downtown areas in broad daylight.

Not even Rambo would go at night!

Gangs have turned our business centers into virtual jungles that are as deadly as anything Nam had to offer, and the situation is becoming worse every day.

We couldn’t have won in Nam unless we killed every man, woman, and child. They had a different philosophy of life and we never understood them. The same holds true for our urban jungles today.

Now ‘Big Brother’ thinks he can legislate morality and welfare reform with the stroke of a pen and everyone will just accept it. Perhaps he has forgotten a little thing called consequences. Remember when New York City was burned and looted in the 70’s by a bunch of welfare blacks whose only reason for doing so was that “It was hot and the power went out.”

What about the Rodney King beating? Does anyone believe for one heartbeat the looters gave one good God Damn about poor old Rodney’s black ass? (While I’m on the subject, do you think I believe the police brutality there was an isolated incident? Do you think I believe California Cops are worse than any other police force in this once great nation? Do you think I believe this could have never happened in a small town? On the contrary . . . . . I found them just about AVERAGE!)

Rodney King was just another excuse to get something for nothing, and that seems to be the attitude that pervades in the lower economic (welfare and drug culture) echelon of our cities.

But, can you really blame them?

When you place a man on welfare and provide him more money and benefits than he can make by working, because of his lack of education and training, or simply because he is just to damn sorry, with no hope of ever getting out of the trap, then you have stolen his hopes, you have stolen his dreams, indeed, you have stolen his Soul!

That man has nothing to loose. If what little he has is taken from him, well . . . . . . .

In my humble opinion, more legal and moral right exists for revolution today than it did in 1776!

What has all this got to do with being a survivor and why should you worry about any of it changing your life? Actually, I am worried about those aspects of it, but that’s not the real reason I am a survivalist. My most far-sighted vision came to me one day when I asked a ‘Mormon’ why he had a two year food supply stored away in his home. Did he think the end of the world was coming?

His reply was one I never forgot. He said: “I’m a house painter with three kids. What would happen to them if I fell off a ladder and broke my leg and was laid up for six months or longer? At the very least I know they are going to be able to eat.”

That made a lot of sense to me. No matter what happens I will be able to eat.

In taking responsibility for myself and my family I increasingly turn to my theory of capabilities. I believe a survivor should be capable of doing anything he needs for himself.

Take stock of your resources and use what you got! But, always remember, the mark of a truly smart man is a man who is smart enough to know what he isn’t smart enough to know.

If you can’t do something for yourself get a book on it. Knowledge is the most powerful tool you will ever have around the homestead. It’s important to be able to do almost everything yourself, but being a survivor is also a state-of-mind. Plan for the good times, and the bad times will take care of themselves.

Part of surviving is reaching a state of reliance only on yourself. Increasingly I take more pride and receive more enjoyment from taking something old and cheap and making a new one out of it and knowing it will provide a service to me for years to come.

A lot of what has happened to us as a society comes from the loss of that pride in ourselves and in our accomplishments. We have to return to the days of depending on no man (or agency) for our safety, warmth, well-being, or succor. Providing these things for ourselves will naturally restore the pride in workmanship and sheer joy of just being alive. These considerations far outweigh some outlandish notion of being able to ‘Blow the Bastards away” when they come.

However . . . . . let me SHOUT one final warning. If you live within fifty miles of a major city you might as well give your Soul to Jesus and your blood to the Red Cross because your ASS will surely belong to someone else before long. The best way to keep from becoming intimately involved with a bunch of hornets is to stay away from the nest.

I sincerely hope this writing will help to dispel the myth of survivors running around in designer camo, shouting obscenities and howling at the moon. Survivors, Real Survivors, are just ordinary people trying to make it in a hard, cruel world. We are not revolutionaries, or crazies, or even demonstrators. Most of us believe the time for all that is long past and there is nothing anyone can do to stop the inevitable.

For years I tried to find some person, or group, or party to blame for the failure of America, and I don’t now think it can re relegated to any one thing. Maybe it’s just the natural evolutionary process of an industrialized society. But you can believe one thing, ‘THERE IS NO MESSIAH:’ no man, no political party, no group or church that can deep this puppy from going ‘belly up,’ so why waste time worrying about it. Take care of yourself!

If you have $80,000.00 equity in your house you need to shut your computer down and get that sucker on the market. You don’t need anyone or anything.

But, if you are like about 95% of the poor working stiffs (‘Johnny Lunch-boxes’) in this country who would have to go to jail if they missed one lousy paycheck, this line of thinking is for you. You can do it! You must do it!

All you have to do is believe in yourself and in your resolve to take responsibility for yourself and never loose sight of your goal. Just keep plugging away. After all, you are the ones who truly matter.

The elite of this nation, who are primarily the law-makers, in league with ‘Captain Industry,’ hold little esteem for what they consider ‘the common man.’ you have no money, no power, and no one who really counts cares what you think or even how you vote.

What difference does it make?

I have more to do with my precious time than to stand in line to vote for the lesser of two evils by trying to decide which of the ‘Lying Son’s of Bitches’ is lying the least.

Who cares?

And don’t give me that line of crap about not bitching if you don’t vote. I bought my right to vote or not to vote on the battle field and make another installment with the deductions from every pay check.

But I suggest that you, the little man, is the guy who fought and died in World War One, and again in World War Two, and Korea, and Viet Nam, and in the desert of Kuwait and in that ridiculous so-called police action in Bosnia between what I like to refer to as “The Serbs, The Kurds and The Turds!”

You are the ones who really matter in this country, and unfortunately you have no Champion: no one to stand up for you, no one to defend your rights, (what few that remain) and no one to morn your passing.

You must do these things for yourself, and I assume that you must do them with little or no resources.

You are the ones I dedicate this work to, you, who like myself, have to survive or perish in a society and world no longer of our choosing. Plan and learn well today. It is your only hope for tomorrow.

“There is no guarantee that, as a race, we will continue - act accordingly” Nick Ancona

The most horrible thing I can imagine . . . . . . .

is when a dream dies.