Being self-sufficient is not a partisan ideology

You prize yourself as being self-sufficient, you pay your bills, buy your food, but those darn taxes are getting in the way from allowing you from being independent and those regulations and permits you have just get in your way.

You use yourself as an example and say that you take nothing from the government and stand 100% on your own and in fact you, like a champion, rise above everyone else; as Atlas, shrugged off the influence of government power.

You say we should all be like you the less you have to depend on other’s, your neighbors, friends, and family, you do them a favor and they will do you the favor and leave you alone and fend for themselves.

  The less money will be stolen from your hard work to those moochers in Milwaukee. To be free from helping others via government taxes, shall set them all free. Free from the re-distribution of wealth at least to those lower than you. To be like you, free from your fellow American.

From the roads you drive on to the digital cable you pay for, to the apple and pork you buy at the supermarket is all made possible by Federal and State and local governments and the taxpayers before you and most at a higher rate than you now.

Blaming taxes and government as the reason you can not be more self-sufficient is an excuse.

The Tax payers before you provided the infrastructure; that you let crumble, to subsidize the food you eat and the trinkets from China that you buy. It does not make you less dependent if you can buy one more extra new York strip steak that came from a private enterprise commercial feed lot in Colorado, in which food eaten by said cows is subsidized by the government, to the energy you get through the socket, to the gas you put in the car to the foundations of the economy. Our market is not free and it never was, it is regulated and winner’s and losers are picked by the influence of the most powerful lobbies of private enterprise and their monetary influence over politicians; A common theme throughout history; the rich and powerful in control of government, the rest of us just riff-raff to serve their interests.

Being able to buy more, to consume more, to spend more does not make a person more independent or self-sufficient but in fact it makes you more dependent. The taxes you pay to the government subsidize the lifestyle you enjoy now, not just the so called moocher’s you blame. Your hard earned money that you pay for a product from a giant corporation, feeds the government systems you dislike.

The answer to being independent of government and the corporate/wealthy monopoly is to provide for yourself and your family outside the system, and not being able to amass more in it.

Hunting & fishing is a good example. I am no outdoorsman but I am a good car camper, but I respect the hunter for doing the work, in the end they provide good healthy protein source for their families outside the system of forced grain fed beef in feed lots. Cattle have to be fed antibiotics because grain makes them get ulcers that get infected and are likely to die before they are big enough to butcher.

Gardening and growing your own food, or buying your veggies from the farmer’s market were the food is locally sourced and usually grown in a 100 mile radius; Buying humanely raised meats and poultry from local producers free of most chemicals, if you do not have the ability or the want to raise your own. Buying hand crafted and artisanal products from soaps to candles put you outside the system.

Canning, freezing, drying, and root cellaring your own vegetables. Not wasting food, do you know that American’s waste on average 40% of the food on their plates a year?  

Conserving the energy you use and water. Harvest rain water to water your veggies and flowers. Use CFL bulbs, motion detectors, insulate and caulk your windows. You can even by heat regulators for your shower head that shuts the water off at a certain temperature so you do not waste hot water before you shower. Reduce a faucet flow rate from 2.2 gpm to 1.5 gpm and save water. Put in a double flush toilet or get an anti-siphon. If you can afford solar or wind, sell your excess to the energy monopoly.

Brew your own beer and wine. Buy a bread maker; make no rise bread from scratch. Make your own cheese. Re-purpose things you already have. Have some old wood or a fence; make a raised garden bed with them or a cold frame. Make shelving units for storage.

Trade your homebrew for some venison (any takers)?

Most of these things take you outside the corporate consumer culture, energy monopolies, and government control and in the end make YOU more self-sufficient. Buying foods and consumables from local growers and artists, or doing it yourself, creates a counter system to the established government/corporate status quo.