Today we present another entry for Round 23 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest.
First Prize: A.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried foods, courtesy of Ready Made Resources.
Second Prize: A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $350.
Third Prize: A copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing.
Round 23 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.
An Introductory Note: The writer of this article has politics that differ from my own (and probably the majority of SurvivalBlog readers). He is an eastern liberal populist, while I am a western conservative libertarian. You might wonder why I’m providing him a soapbox. I’m doing so in part to show where we have some common ground, but just as importantly because Mr. Valenza’s viewpoint might become prevalent in the next few years, and protests may be coming to a neighborhood near you. Hence, if you are a mortgage holder, you might view this with alarm, while those of you that are under threat of foreclosure and eviction might see Valenza’s stance as positive in some ways. If nothing else, this article illustrates a political aspect of the “we/they paradigm” that might lead to some public protests and fisticuffs in the near future. It all comes down to where you put yourself on the continuums of scale of government, access to (and resort to) force, individual liberty, and the right to own property. Where things gets fuzzy–at least for some–are the concepts of private ownership, the integrity of binding legal contracts, and the often misapplied concept of “social justice.” I predict that the next decade will be tumultuous. Choose your locale well, fully consider your affiliations, prepare prudently, pick your fights carefully and deliberately, and don’t get caught on the receiving end of either a billy club or a pitchfork. That is, unless you know in your heart that you truly are in the right, and engaged in a struggle worth dying for.