A Civilization on the Brink

"The rot [in America] goes beyond the academic. The whole epicene circus smells of weakness of character. Watching our prancing half-men and furry co-eds, I wonder what would happen to them if it rained hard. America today lives in an unconsciously precarious equilibrium. Some two or three percent of the population grow food for an urbanized country that has never shot a rabbit, baited a hook, or existed other than in the world of McDonald's, dope, and latchkey afternoons. They seem never to have been in a schoolyard fight, never had to take care of themselves, defend themselves, or to understand that one day they might have to do it.

"What if one day Mommy, or Mommy Washington, isn't around to take care of them? Any disruption, riots, for example, that stopped the flow of food trucks into the cities would cause devastation. We have become soft, mentally vacuous, helpless, a civilization on the brink."  Fred Reed

I ran across the quote above when reading an article the other day.  I'm not sure who Fred Reed is or what he stands for and hesitate to quote someone that I'm not familiar with, but I can say I agree with his sentiments expressed in the quote.  More and more it becomes evident that we are a very dependent society.  Dependent upon the few to feed us. Dependent upon law enforcement to protect us.  Dependent upon the Government to educate us and soon to provide us healthcare.

I have a Finance Degree and in my studies we were taught ad infinitum the principle of Diversification. Diversification is best described in the old adage, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket."  

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, when most people were either involved in Agriculture or knew someone who was, it was very well known what the saying meant.  If you had all your eggs in one basket and you tripped and fell, ALL of your eggs would be destroyed. Alternatively, to manage risk better, you might send two people out to gather eggs in two baskets.  If catastrophe happened, all your eggs wouldn't get broken.

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We all understand that concept.  But somehow, in the name of progress, we've become a very specialized society.  It is rare to find a "Jack of all trades" anymore.  We've decided that some jobs are beneath us.  We've embraced a more centrally planned economy and become more soft and dependant on others.  We've largely abandoned the agrarian family economy that sought to be self sufficient.  

Here's what Wikipedia says about the Family Economy (Pay particular attention to the text I bolded for emphasis):

The family economic unit has always been dependent on specialized labor done by family members. The family was a multi-generational producer with capital and land provided by older generations and labor provided by younger generations. Goods were produced not only for home consumption but to sell and trade in the market as well. Family production was not only limited to agricultural products but they also produced manufacturing goods and provided services. In order to sustain a viable family economy during the pre-industrial era labor was needed. The labor needed to operate the farm and provide old-age support came from family members, fertility was high. High fertility and guaranteed employment on the family farm made education, beyond the basic literacy needed to read the bible, expensive and unnecessary. During the post industrial stage the family as an economic unit changed.The family transformed from being a unit of production to being a unit of consumption. This new era of industrialization brought changes where farming can be done with less persons, therefore children were no longer to be viewed as economic assets but rather as liabilities. Industralization further contributed to the demise of the family economy where the capitalist market encouraged production in large scale factories, farms and mines. Wage labor became common and family members no longer worked together but rather used the wages they had earned to buy goods which they consumed as a family unit. The industrial revolution, starting in the nineteenth and going into the twentieth century, is seen as the force that changed the economic family and is basically responsible for the "modern family."

The first bolded quote about multigenerational producers showed how the Family depended not on an outside entity, but on each other.  There was cohesion with each member integral for success, or even survival!  The second bolded section shows where things started heading off the rails.  Rather than produce, we became consumers.  Consuming things is expensive.  More mouths to feed.  It saddens me when it says that children became viewed as liabilities.  People left the farm, no longer worked together and talked less to one another.  Although we're all connected to social media, we seem more isolated and dependent than ever before.

I don't want to portray the Industrial Revolution as being all bad and I don't want to posit the idea that the Agrarian Age was a cake walk.  Neither is factual.  Life is better in many ways and easier in lots of ways now, but those advances haven't come without costs, significant ones, if you ask me.  Can we not aim to accept progress that benefits us, while being ever watchful for the unintended consequences of such progress?  That statement makes me think about a group I truly respect - the Amish.  I've always admired the Amish.  Many people think that they shun all new technology.  That is simply not true.  Read below from the THIS LINK:

The difference between Amish people and most other Americans is the deliberation that takes place before deciding whether to embrace a new technology. Many Americans assume newer technology is always better, and perhaps even inherently good.

"The Amish don't buy that," says Donald Kraybill, professor at Elizabethtown College and co-author of The Amish. "They're more cautious — more suspicious — wondering is this going to be helpful or is it going to be detrimental? Is it going to bolster our life together, as a community, or is it going to somehow tear it down?"

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I like the Amish criteria of whether or not they are going to accept new technology. Notice how their mindset differs from the mindset of most Americans after the Industrial Revolution as described in the Wikipedia snippet from earlier in this post in which families left the togetherness, left the rural farm setting, moved to the cities, became consumers instead of producers and became dependent on others besides family members for survival.  Over the course of a generation or two, they lost the work ethic, ingenuity, skills, and character that helped to build this great nation.  Many lost a sense of family and many lost their faith.  Many began to look to the Government as their Provider.

This is where we are - a tenuous existence, dependent upon the Government, our employer, the power grid or the world economy for our survival.  On my commute yesterday, I passed one of many 18 wheelers on Interstate 10 bringing food, equipment, fuel, and other goods and services to stores and businesses that dot the landscape.  One had a sticker on the back that said, "Truckers.  We Bring It!" And they do.  With Supply Chain Management and Just In Time Inventory, stores no longer have large storerooms with stacks of inventory.  It is said that stores have a 3 day inventory of food.  But don't count on 3 days of inventory if disaster like a hurricane hits.  The inventory will be gone in a matter of hours.

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I often think of many of the thoughts I've posted today, but not with a spirit of fear. I'm not fearful at all.  In fact, quite the opposite.  It motivates me to do little things to help me and my family become a little bit less dependant and a little more self reliant.  It inspires me to remain close to family members and seek community with like-minded people.  It pushes me to learn how to do different things and always be a student, especially in the area of homesteading.  We're not even remotely close to where we want to be, but we're further along than we were yesterday, thank the Good Lord.

For the sake of brevity, I'll stop here for today, but I'd like to continue this conversation another day. I don't like to look at the problems associated with progress since the Industrial Revolution and the Age of Information without at least discussing some solutions or remedies or means of diversifying. We'll save that for another day. Until next time, God Bless You and Yours!