How to Prepare for National Instability?

One is adapt to a world where information (and lack thereof) is weaponized. Get out your skepticism and find trusted sources of information. There is an enormous amount of partisan-oriented misrepresentations and under-reported stuff, on BOTH sides of the political spectrum.

As Chomsky pointed out in Manufacturing Consent, modern-day propaganda isn't about lying or faking data, that's pre-War stuff. Post WWII we discovered that a much better way to manipulate public opinion is to focus on some data and not focusing on other data. Omitting that which doesn't match narrative, and headlining the stuff that matches narrative.

Believe it or not, it helps to stabilize you. As Taibbi points out, the news media has turned itself into market segments, where a news story is decided upon, "Will my market want to hear this" and NOT "People should know this." Therefore it's intended as outrage and anger by design. Once you know this, you can take a step back.

That's the psychological preparation.

Several people below wrote "community" and "social group." For those of us in cities and not small towns / farming communities, that translates to "make some friends" which isn't really that useful advice, I'm afraid.

0. Have a good sized, trusted, reachable community/social group. Regardless of whether it's a short term or long term disaster, this is always useful and would become essential in the long term case.

1. Be prepared to leave if it's a true collapse.

2. Otherwise, prepare like you would for any other short-term disaster.

a. Water purification/filtration system

b. Some water to last a few weeks, beyond that use (a)

c. 3-6 months of food stuffs (canned and dried goods)

d. Some method of cooking said food stuffs for up to a month (beyond that you're dealing with a more complete collapse and there's little to do short of having your own small scale farm)

e. Some method of charging/running electronics without a grid (gas generator, solar panels, large batteries)

f. Some method of temporary heating (cooling is irrelevant, open the windows, but in the winter further north you need heat)

g. Stay healthy and fit, not crazy gym rat fit, but if you can't walk 5 miles at a leisurely pace in 2 hours, you're not close to healthy or fit.

h. Keep vehicles fueled (no less than half a tank) and a gas can topped off (use this periodically, fuel spoils)

i. Alternate mode of transportation (bicycle)

j. Basic tools for maintaining all or most of the equipment needed above

k. Have medications stored and ready to last at least a few weeks, longer for more critical conditions (my high cholesterol can be left untreated for extended periods, someone's thyroid or heart condition cannot)

3. If you want to prepare for a total collapse and don't want to leave the country acquire several acres of wooded land with a good sized garden plot and plant stuff. Have a fireplace/wood burning stove for winter heating, possibly for cooking. Look into other techniques of sustainable living. Probably also weapons. Know your neighbors and develop associations that can help post-collapse, because going solo is not going to be much fun.

I spoke to someone from Ethiopia recently who was living in the US after fleeing their country due to concerns about their government. Their approach was to get a study visa. Covid notwithstanding, this would let you enter another country for a prolonged period of time, and you could use your time there to pick your life back up. Canada, for example, has a much more lax immigration policy compared to the US.

I went the study visa -> work visa -> permanent residency -> citizenship path myself - though, thankfully, I had the luxury of not having the pressure of being forced to leave behind a country with an unstable government (I went from Brazil to Canada). I've since also obtained a US green card (I had that process started before this whole "election steal" kerfuffle started).

The obvious downside of this approach is that it might become difficult to visit family (e.g. because international travel can be expensive, but in the Ethiopia case, literally due to fear of political backlash), though if the alternative comes down to literally having to stock up on guns and ammo, that might not be a bad trade-off...

1. Network of good friends. 2. Guns 3. Canned food stockpile 4. Passports 5. Small amount of cash on hands 6. Rest in large international bank

Know your neighbors, know which you can trust and which you can't. Be someone they can trust, make sure they know that.

If you or a family member depend on medicines which require refrigeration or devices which need recharging, it may be wise to invest in backup power systems. This can mean anything from a big deep-cycle battery that can run a fridge for 12 hours, to small solar panels that can recharge phones and laptops, to multi-kilowatt whole-home generators.

Helpful site I’ve used to price out solar systems:

https://www.mobile-solarpower.com/

These systems are also useful in natural disaster scenarios.

Call me naive, but I'm not really worried about the near-term. There will likely be more unrest, mostly at government buildings, but a rabble of extremists can't overthrow the most powerful government in the world on their own. The real danger was when they had lawmakers and the president on their side, but the president is about to be out and many of the lawmakers seem to be souring on this movement (including - crucially - Mitch McConnell, an influential figure in the party).

Now, what I am concerned about is the mid-to-long-term. Deepening economic inequality remains a serious problem for people on both the left and the right - I would argue it's the root cause of the unrest we're witnessing - and it shows no signs of slowing down. And I haven't seen the incoming administration provide any real plan to solve it. Also, the extremist circles won't suddenly disappear just because they stop being placated. They may end up voting en force in the midterms and/or the next presidential election. Trump has talked about starting a "news" network in the meantime which could keep the base stoked. He could then run again in 2024- or, possibly worse, a younger and smarter version of him who could actually capitalize on the seeds that he's planted.

But I think we now have at least a couple years of relative stability ahead. Maybe that time should be used to prepare. I know I'll be renewing my passport.

This [0] article on prepping got some decent discussion [1] recently. For something a little more "out there" perhaps check out JWR and his books [2].

[0]: https://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/prep/ [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25060418 [2]: https://survivalblog.com/

A plane ticket.

If things do kick off US is probably the last country I'd want to be. Way too many people armed to the teeth eager to try out their netflix walking dead acquired survival skills.

Disaster planning for less crazy folk https://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/prep/

Join mutual aid groups. Learn necessary community skills.

- Obtain second residency/citizenship in a tax friendly jurisdiction. Place to go away on a short notice when s*t hits the fan. If voting with your hands doesn't help - vote with your feet.

- Untie your savings and assets from US financial system. Crypto has many variations on how to do that.

Read Richard K. Taylor's Training Manual for Nonviolent Defense Against the Coup d'Etat. The difference between stability and instability can be decided by a few prepared individuals who act when time is of the essence.

It depends.

Short term. Unless you are in the epicenter. Stay in your house. Build a good community network.

Longer term. Passport, cash, friends overseas. Leave on time. Don't wait until it is too late. Think about Venezuela, Siria, Nazi Germany.

Besides the obvious (money, guns, passport, medicine, etc), Gold Rolex watches. Don’t ask me how I know.

hope you bought some guns and ammo last year with your stimulus money

My in-laws survived life in a communist country that would have resulted in imprisonment if anyone found out his true identity. He prepared when the communists were taking over by getting fake identity papers. Learned a new skill to earn a living in the cash economy. Moved several times. Eventually got rescued by an American immigration program accepting those who worked for American contractors. If America becomes a failed state I really don’t know where to turn.

bitcoin. better late than never...

Buy a can of chrome silver paint, you'll find it useful on the road to Valhalla

[0] https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/roadwarrior/images/0/07/Ch...