I will soon be interviewed by John Jacob Schmidt on Radio Free Redoubt. The theme of this podcast hour will be “Taking The Gap”. My goal is to exhort listeners to re-prioritize their finances and set a goal–with a date attached–to make the move to the American Redoubt. (This region includes Eastern Oregon, Eastern Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.) I urge preparedness-minded Christians and Jews of all races and from all walks of life to make the move, soon.
I sincerely believe that the American Redoubt the will be the safest and most free place to live in North Americas in the 21st Century. Granted, there are lots of other regions that are relatively safe. (Even a few in the eastern U.S.–like the Cumberland Plateau, in Tennessee, as Joel Skousen has suggested.) But the American Redoubt has some outstanding attributes (such as low population density and isolation from major population centers), and very few drawbacks. May God Bless all SurvivalBlog readers, and grant them protection, regardless of where thy live!
I should explain that “Taking The Gap” is a British football term, adopted as slang by citizens leaving Rhodesia in the 1970s and 1980s. Most of them that wisely left preserved much of their wealth, whereas those who stayed after Comrade Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party consolidated power in Zimbabwe had their life savings wiped out by currency export controls and the subsequent hyperinflation. Many of those that continued to own farms were forcibly evicted, and a few were raped, tortured, or killed.
Other illustrations of the Take the Gap concept can be seen in the recent war in Darfur (where a few merchants wisely left, early on), the Balkan Wars of the 1980s, the plight of the Vietnamese Boat People of the 1970s and 1980s, those who escaped from behind the Iron Curtain
Please consider:
1.) We still live in a free country, where families can migrate between the 50 States, at will.
2.) There are still good opportunities to relocate businesses and to find work in the Redoubt region. But finding steady work will prove difficult if you wait until the nation is in a full-blown Depression.
3.) The chance to sell houses on the east and west coasts still exists, but that might evaporate in the next few years, as real estate prices continue to decline and the average “time on market” expands. If you wait too long, then you may lose the equity in your presently-owned house.
4.) Land and home prices in much of the Redoubt region are still reasonable, and some retreat-worthy properties are available. If you want to build, there are now plenty of contractors and subcontractors available, and they are sure to put in very competitive bids. (A sign of lean times.)
5.) Prepper-friendly churches, synagogues, and home churches are plentiful in the Redoubt region.
6.) The window of opportunity to move all of one’s possessions/livestock/vehicles/liquid assets will be slammed shut in the event of a societal breakdown or the institution of martial law. I can’t stress this more highly: Be an early, voluntary relocatee, rather than an 11th-hour refugee.
7.) As I’ve already stressed in previous writings, being an absentee landowner is a poor excuse for living at your retreat year round. If you are forced by circumstances to live away from your retreat, then stock it well, preferably using a hidden basement room or a root cellar with a concealed entrance. (Burying the entryway under a pile of firewood works well.) Keep in mind that in the event of a sudden collapse, you might have just ONE TRIP outta Dodge. You may not have the chance to go back for second load.
8.) For any proficient English-speakers that live overseas in an over-populated or otherwise “at risk” nation, it is not too late to immigrate to the U.S. (And if you do, then please consider settling in the Redoubt.)
9.) You can network with others that plan to move and those that have already moved, through the Radio Free Redoubt Forum, the Free State Wyoming Project, the Mental Militia’s Gulching/Self-Sufficiency Forum, and at Alt-market.com.
Conclusion
Whether you call it Taking the Gap, Going Galt, Getting Out of Dodge, Gulching, or Strategic Relocation, is just a matter of semantics. Of real importance is your recognition that moving soon to the American Redoubt or to another safe region is a wise course of action.