The idea that our country is thought of in terms of conservative versus liberal areas caused me to think about how so many people today and in the recent past have either moved, will be moving, or even thinking about moving for better opportunities. I wanted to write more about how this has occurred historically and more about how my conservative region is part of this trend including how it is impacting farms. Technological change and government interventions are often two factors that cause the settlement and population redistribution throughout the country. Urbanization following the Second World War was just one wave of migration. The latest wave is from urban areas back to rural areas.
There are currently so many people who are trying to get to safer areas of the country. We are in the midst of one of the largest population transfers in American history. This movement is based on quality of life issues with many conservative people leaving “blue” states to go to “red” states. For those who think with a traditional conservative perspective, the terms red and blue are always difficult to write because it is historically inaccurate. When I think about “red” areas or “reds,” I automatically think about communism and socialism, so I bristle at the thought of writing it in terms of conservatism, but it has become in common usage due to network television election night reporting, with their change to red to designate Republicans after the 2000 presidential election.
The large-scale population movement within the United States based on the outgrowth of political ideology is unprecedented in American history. Very few people moved to the North or South in the antebellum days based on their ideology, but rather based on economic opportunities.
There was a large movement of people from the upper South to lower South in the early part of the 19th Century as land became more economically viable due to the introduction of the cotton gin — which was invented by Eli Whitney in 1793. Long staple cotton was easier to process by hand by being able to more easily remove the seeds, but long staple cotton could not be easily grown except in coastal areas. The process to be able to make short staple cotton usable was laborious and often it would take a day just to clean one pound of it. The net effect of the invention of the cotton gin was to make the lands of the lower South economically viable for short-staple cotton production. The lower South became the land of King Cotton as hundreds of thousands of people moved further south for economic opportunities.
The current wave of migration is different. In previous waves for thousands of years, people moved for survival, economic, and religious reasons. The first waves first followed animal herds. But movements based on political ideology are not as common as those based on religion or economics. The initial impetus for settlement of this country was based on economic opportunities as I discussed in one of my earlier SurvivalBlog articles about the settlement of Jamestown in 1607. There was a very strong religious component with the Mayflower settlement of the Pilgrims in 1620. Since that time, there has been a natural movement toward pushing westward.
There were governmental interventions that tried to slow or stop westward expansion because each push westward caused issues with populations who were already in those areas. The British tried to stop westward movement with the Royal Proclamation of 1763 which prohibited British subjects from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains — which then was regarded as a natural geographic barrier. Orders from London and maps could not constrain people interested in a better future, so this decree did not last long. Healthy populations have natural growth mechanisms. People have a desire for land and the opportunities that come with land.
During this time, the philosophical ideas of John Locke were in circulation with his ideas on the labor theory of property and also the Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith with his 1776 treatise “Wealth of Nations.” The Royal Proclamation of 1763 while not directly mentioned Declaration of Independence was one of the forces and justification among the colonial grievances for subjects to the Crown to free themselves of the political bands of their mother country.
Some of my relatives were explorers before and after the country was founded. These included fighters in the Revolutionary War. One of my relatives was a West Point-trained officer who in the 1820s came to Kansas — which then was the distant edge of western settlement. The army established frontier outpost forts in Kansas and other territories with the original purpose of protecting populations. These forts also facilitated commerce. Many of these forts were later abandoned as the frontier kept moving westward.
Throughout American history, there has been a trend from the first founding of the country for people to push westward to open up new opportunities for themselves. Our history is filled with stories of the westward movement of pioneers who settled the Midwest and the numerous sacrifices the pioneers made for a better life along wagon train routes all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
For all of you who have packed up from blue states or are currently thinking about it, there is a lot of historic precedent. Horace Greeley wrote an editorial back in 1867 about the state of Washington, DC and advised young men: “Washington is not a nice place to live in. The rents are high, the food is bad, the dust is disgusting, the mud is very deep, and the morals are deplorable. But on a farm in the West these dissatisfied young men could not only make money, and live decently, but also be of some use to the country.” Greeley is commonly quoted as writing: “Go West Young Man and grow up with the country,” but it is more of a paraphrase of his various editorials and letters.
When Greeley wrote his editorials, Homestead Act land was readily available with hundreds of acres potentially available to a young couple often for the cost of labor, time, and a filing fee. I have previously explored with you many of the ups and downs of wheat farming in Kansas from the 1800s forward. There is one constant in all of this a desire to be free and have a little peace of land to call your own. If you have seen the series “Band of Brothers,” you may recall the main protagonist Lieutenant (and later Major) Richard Winters. In his book “Beyond Band of Brothers,” Major Winters said after surviving D-Day, “Before I dozed off, I did not forget to get on my knees and thank God for helping me to live through this day and to ask His help on D+1. I would live this war one day at a time, and I promised myself that if I survived, I would find a small farm somewhere in the Pennsylvania countryside and spend the remainder of my life in quiet and peace.”
Over the years, I have talked to many people about living on farms and people often express a desire for the lifestyle. One of the main obstacles keeping people back from moving or accomplishing their goals is often money. That was one of my first thoughts when I thought to offer money for people successfully helping me in my quest to find a spouse that it could in some small way help someone to achieve their goals. Earlier, I wrote about the men of Jamestown who had first demonstrated the initiative to be able to develop working capital transforming the use of their labor and how they got married as a result of them being able to save up the money for their bride.
Economics is still impacting people who want to move. Many times I go to our mailbox and I receive either offers for various parcels my family owns or advertisements for land that is either for sale or sold. Land is a tangible productive asset. Productive farm land has not historically declined in price over the long term in dollar terms. Land which could have been homesteaded years ago or bought for a few dollars an acre often sells today for thousands to tens of thousands of dollars an acre. I am often shocked at the prices people are paying and have paid for land. There is only a limited supply of productive farm land and the supply is often depleted through conversion into other purposes such as apartments, home subdivisions, and commercial stores.
The immutable law of supply and demand dictates increasing the price of farm land over the long term. It is amazing of how quickly land has been selling over the last five years as more people want to buy rural properties. I often see land up for sale and it quickly moves to sold sometimes even faster than they can print the cards advertising it. It is now extremely difficult for someone just starting out to either buy a house or a farm. This is changing family formation and lifestyles in a way never seen before in American history.
There is a natural and healthy desire to be free, for families to have their kids to be able to grow up free instead of constrained by governmental bureaucracy. Being able to walk outside, to enjoy nature, and breathe clean air is a primal force. It is a natural desire and one of the principal threads woven throughout American history. Colonists first desired to be able to expand westward and now so many people are leaving leftist-controlled areas to move to states where traditional American values are prevalent. Horace Greeley gave good advice back then, but today I tell people: “Get Married and Move to the Countryside.”
Continuing My Quest for a Wife
I am still looking for a wife. This is the greatest difficulty I have ever had in my life. I sincerely ask again for your prayers and help.
If you have been keeping up with my multiple article series about retreats, farming, economic conditions, and general preparedness thoughts, you may have arrived at the same conclusion that the systems of the world are rapidly falling apart. It is getting worse out there both economically and socially. I am writing a new article series about the “Decline and Fall of Western Civilization,” and my problem in finding one single young woman to be my wife is characteristic of the current declining environment for traditional conservative men who seek traditionally minded spouses.
I have been seriously thinking and praying about how to be able to get married. After a lot of prayer I decided to further expand my search. In addition to trying to find a young single woman who has never been married, I am considering both young widows with very young children and even a young woman without children who divorced for a Biblical reason.
The following summarizes my search for a spouse in the United States:
I am offering up to $50,000 to be given as a gift after marriage to the person who introduces me to my spouse, if my wife and I become the parents of two healthy children. This gift is in up to three parts: $18,000 will be given after marriage to you if you provided the introduction and two payments of $16,000 given after the birth of each healthy child up to two. Thus, if I get married because of your introduction and we have two healthy children, then you would receive the full $50,000. That is the largest potential gift that I have ever seen anywhere for helping anyone to find their spouse.
I continue to ask for your prayers for me to find a quality Christian young woman who is seeking to be married. Next, I ask you to sincerely consider any single young woman that you know who matches the criteria I list and talk to her or her parents. As Christians, we walk by faith, so I am again sending this “message in a bottle” to the readers of SurvivalBlog with the hope that one reader can introduce me to my future spouse.
I know in my heart that there are many young women out there who truly want to be wives and mothers. My future wife is out there somewhere, so I am trying to find the people who know her among their family or friends.
Since this is now a fairly unusual way to find a spouse in modern society, I will tell you more about myself and the basic qualities that I am looking for in a potential spouse and answer a few questions that you might have.
Here is the basic criteria that I seek to find in a young woman:
Christian
Mid-20s to early 30s in age
Conservative
Wants to be married and have children
Physically and mentally healthy
Average height and normal weight range
Non-smoker
Good personality
Domestic skills such as cooking, or has an interest in learning
Single, never married, and does not have children, OR
Young widow with very young children, OR
Young woman who is Biblically divorced without children
If you know of a young woman, have spoken with her or her family, and they will also be writing in, be sure to also write in, so we know who recommended the young woman first as I suppose that there could be multiple readers who write to us about the same young woman who know her and her family. So, whoever writes me about her first, will be the one who receives my gift.
If you think you might be the young woman I have been praying to find, or you know her in your family or among your friends, could you please tell her so she or her family could e-mail Mr. Rawles writing an introduction? Please write in detail about yourself and your family including your religious beliefs and other interests including hobbies. His address is jamesATrawles.to [1] (Change “AT” to an @ sign). If you have written a detailed introduction and have not heard back from either myself or Mr. Rawles after a week, then please write again.
[2]If you are an international reader or know a young woman overseas, then please read my thoughts on a possible international quest in the frequently asked questions in my previous article [3]. I also have a lot of information contained within those frequently asked questions which could be useful for people inside of the United States to read about my quest. Conservative areas within the United States such as where I live in Kansas are still a great place to live and raise a family.