I've known for some time...

Posted by Rainmaker 11 years, 2 months ago to The Gulch: Introductions
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I've known what evil was in store for our nation since I was a small boy. By the time I reached high school I understood why things were happening. But shortly after I turned 21, I was approached by a man who claimed to know my grandfather. He said his name was George. He never gave me a last name. But he did give me specifics on what was to come... At first I had trouble believing him, but after things started actually happening based exactly on his blueprint, I took a closer look at the notes he left me. I was terrified at what I saw... The last decade especially frightens me. His predictions were very precise. In 2007, under terrible economic pressure of moochers and leeches, I surrendered my business. It was my first shrugging. Over the last year I have begin shrugging family members who are among the worst of the moochers. I was once successful, now I'm broke. But I still have my mind and my soul and that is all I need. I am already planning my third and final shrug. I cannot be a party to the coming massacre. When I shrug, I will not be found unless it is my intent to be found by another shrugger. George was my whisper in the darkness. He was my Galt. Maybe I can be someone else's Galt one day. In the mean time, are there any recommendations for a good place to shrug?


All Comments

  • Posted by montini 11 years, 2 months ago
    My hubby and I are constantly trying to think of where we could go. We live in WV, in the Eastern Panhandle between Communist Maryland and Virginia. We thought about Tennessee and even Texas. Texas concerns us only due to the fact that if everyone goes their, they'll be able to pick us off easier. So many things to consider and feeling the pressure more and more.
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  • Posted by 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Oh my gosh. I had never considered that idea. Amazing. I'm going to start the outline this week. Thank you. That will be my contribution.
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  • Posted by khalling 11 years, 2 months ago
    based on your story, (and you sure are a good story teller) and the fact you are a graphic designer-I see a graphic novel on George coming into your life. and then make your shrugging a fantasy on the page-sometimes the idea is more important than the reality in telling a story. in here, there are many camps, but two that interest me are those in one camp who cannot even believe someone would take a fictional device literally and those in another who have actually done it or are preparing to do it. what the first group doesn't get is that even if Rand had not developed Objectivism and written the novel Atlas Shrugged, people would do it anyway. and they aren't doing it as a way of playacting-like in Rocky Horror Picture Show(this is what the first group thinks) and the second group, well, they need practical plans. for the first group-that is like watching sausage being made. but the second group-they do not have the luxury of believing the world will all be ok, there's still time, we'll turn it around. they KNOW they have lost significant freedoms because they have lived with them in the past. they already anticipate tasting the grit and tang of blood in their mouths when people fall flat on their faces on concrete reality.
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  • Posted by khalling 11 years, 2 months ago
    I think it comes down to figuring out how to live in plain sight for awhile, but it has limits. working to pay 40% in taxes and not even knowing if you're breaking a law is also burdensome-I am not for the wilderness deal, I am for giving up certain "modern" conveniences-(often what we consider modern is just cultural conditioning to have things certain ways which may or may not be "better")
    for more time to spend with my family and less governmental intrusion. there is corruption everywhere. and I would rather live where things are relatively cheap and I can grow food year round while waiting out a financial collapse
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  • Posted by eilinel 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It is pretty. And the people, despite the religious fundamentalism, are friendly and good-hearted. I really love it here.
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  • Posted by UncommonSense 11 years, 2 months ago
    Where to shrug? It seems to be the toughest question to answer isn't it? My better half and I have had many, deep conversations about this over the past several years,and it always comes back to the same reality: there is no country to run to. What's the alternative? The moon? I'm thinking the guy who wants to go to Mars and back is his way of saying he wants to shrug.

    I don't know how to answer your question. I guess if you don't mind completely cutting off from our Western culture and technology, you could either move (on foot) deep into either the Alaskan wilderness or Canada, or go opposite and go live deep in the Amazon, or perhaps down to Patagonia. Ultimately, that's what I think the Left want us to do: live a VERY hard life, doing without modern conveniences like plumbing, electricity and the Internet. (While they get it all) But, the problem they have with this is that, you wouldn't be paying them taxes, since you wouldn't be working for anyone,other than for your own, daily survival. And that is completely unacceptable to them!

    The point here is I have no idea. Just avoid the big cities.
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  • Posted by Non_mooching_artist 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    That's definitely a plus. But does it make it easier for the big brother govt to separate you from the herd? I think you are a pretty smart woman, though, and the gov would be hard pressed to find you if you chose to go to ground, so to speak. Keep those guns cleaned and ready, though..
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  • Posted by 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    The South threatened to rise again. No one believed they could do it.
    No one realized they moved away.
    No one realized they had become the "north."
    No one noticed them because they continued to blame the South.
    No one expected the ones who fought to keep slavery, and against the civil rights to put in a black guy who actuality bought into the lie.
    No one will expect it when the "final solution" comes.
    No one will realize that they were their own undoing.
    Damn the "old South", bless the new, for they ARE learning that lesson.
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  • Posted by Non_mooching_artist 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I lived in that exact place briefly, just as the building boom was taking off, so 1986. It was the most impossible place to get around in because the dumb ass developers/planners didn't do their jobs, so slapdash town houses and condos were built right up to the existing rural roads. It was a nightmare!
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  • Posted by Non_mooching_artist 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I can picture it. My former roommate was in the Daughters of the Confederacy, and her dad hated that she lived with a "Damn Yankee"! They did do business that way where she was from...
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  • Posted by eilinel 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Local corruption: There was a corruption scandal in the next county awhile back- buying votes with coon dogs and pork rinds. Seriously!
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  • Posted by eilinel 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Virginia's a big state; I'm in the extreme southwestern corner. This is Appalachia, which is pretty distinct from the rest of the state.
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  • Posted by UncommonSense 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    haha. You think so? You haven't seen Illinois yet have you? Trust me, corruption is everywhere, down to the local level. MO is much better though. :)
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  • Posted by 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I wouldn't stay too long in Virginia. Or anywhere else on the eastern seaboard if I were you.... It's the heart of corruption. At least places like California are outright socialist, so there is no hiding it. But Virginia pretends to be loyal to reason...

    That is far more dangerous.
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  • Posted by $ rockymountainpirate 11 years, 2 months ago
    I moved from Nevada, a right to work state with no state income tax, because it's run by all the liberal progressives in Clark County and has turned into East California. I moved to Montana. I have some family here, but I'm not afraid to shrug from them (I've done it most of my life).

    In Montana we can grow it, raise it or shoot it for food. Strong 2nd Amendment ideas here too. There are also tons of natural resources including water, timber, oil and gas. So far the ecofreaks have managed to stop most of the oil and gas development and the Feds mismanage all our forests. There are a lot of moochers here too, but they're mooching off the Feds mostly and are non-survivors when things hit the fan.

    I think one of our biggest assets, besides the natural resources is that there are less than 1 million people in the entire state.
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