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As strange as it may sound, at times I almost look back nostalgically towards the years President Obama was in office. Back then it was easy to convince conservatives of the need to prepare for a disaster. We could always point at the government being out of control, citing that as a reason to prep. Now with Donald Trump in office, it seems like some have taken a sigh of relief and gone on vacation from their prepping.
Don’t get me wrong: I took just as big a sign of relief as anyone when Trump won the presidential election. The last thing I wanted to see was Hillary Clinton continuing with Obama’s initiatives, hurting businesses and destroying the middle class, while handing out more freebies and incurring more debt.
But that didn’t mean that I took a vacation from my prepping. As best I know, the only thing that is less dangerous today, than it was two years ago, is that we don’t really have to wonder if the rumors about Homeland Security preparing to start rounding up conservatives and others who were listed as “potential terrorists” under Obama’s Administration are true.
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Strangely enough, it is the liberals who are now concerned about this, under Trump’s administration. Although, I have to say, there has been nothing coming out of official Washington to give them any reason to believe this. But then again, there has been a lot of lies coming out of the media, driving conspiracy theories on the left, about how Trump is going to round up one group or another and either deport them or eliminate them.
What this has done is to drive more liberals into the ranks of prepping. Regardless of how misguided their motives might be, this is a good thing. It means that there are less people in the country who are dependent on Big Brother taking care of them, and more who are learning how to take care of themselves. Who knows? If they stick with that long enough, they might just become conservatives.
The Risks We Face
Prepping isn’t supposed to be centered around the danger posed to us by our own government, although we should be aware of that potential for danger. Rather, prepping is about all potential dangers we face, which the government can’t help us survive. The government itself, while having the potential to cause us danger, is really only a very small part of that. As such, whether or not we prep shouldn’t have a thing to do with who is seated in the Oval Office.
Let me ask you this: Is the world any safer today than it was before the 2017 presidential elections? It doesn’t look to me like it is. If anything, there are risks that have gotten greater than they were before. That’s not to say they didn’t exist before, just that they have grown larger.
I’m particularly talking about North Korea and Iran here. As we all know, North Korea has had a number of technological breakthroughs in both their nuclear and ballistic missile programs, bringing them closer than ever to becoming a true nuclear power. Iran has been working along those lines, as well, with a huge thanks to Obama for removing many of the restrictions which had made that more difficult before.
But North Korea and Iran aren’t the only nuclear threats we face. Several times now, Vladimir Putin has made noises about his nuclear arsenal. The most recent of those comments was about how he now has missiles that can’t be intercepted by our defenses. While I don’t know if he is just trying to prove that he’s the big kid on the block or whether there is an implied threat behind his words, I recognize that they can’t be ignored. When countries include nuclear weapons in their discourse, there is a clear threat implied in their speech.
Terrorism and mass shootings don’t seem to have gone away with Donald Trump in office, although it is clear that his administration’s approach towards ISIS has been much more effective than that of his predecessor. Nevertheless, the danger of radicalized Islam isn’t going to go away due to American politics, nor do I think the danger of mass shootings will.
There are things that were started during Obama’s presidency that didn’t go away when Donald Trump was sworn into office. Specifically, I’m referring to the racial division that he caused. The mainstream media is fueling the racial divide constantly, with their constant accusations of Trump being racist.
As for natural disasters, I’m quite sure that nature doesn’t pay any attention to politics, so there is no less likelihood of a disaster – such as a grid-crippling solar storm — occurring today than there was a year ago. So, there is no less reason for us to prepare to survive disaster than before.
Natural disasters are still the most likely survival threat that any of are likely to face. Statistically speaking, every one of us will end up caught in some sort of natural disaster sometime in our lives, perhaps even more than once. While this might not be as “sexy” or life-changing as some of the things we prepare for, it is also one of the most important.
Some would argue that the likelihood of a financial collapse is reduced with Trump in office, but I’m not so sure. Granted, Donald Trump is a businessman, and as such he has been good for the economy in general. But that doesn’t totally eliminate the risk of financial collapse, as that risk is based upon many things that are beyond control of even the president.
There are even those who have predicted that the powers behind our economy will use Trump’s presidency to force a financial collapse, just so that they can blame it on him. If that particular theory is true, then the next few years could be the most dangerous ones we’ll ever face.
My Conclusion
Based upon these potential risks, I’d have to say that the very idea of putting prepping on the backburner, just because we’ve had a change of presidents, is a bit short-sighted. Those who prep based on only one single disaster scenario are not seeing the fullness of the risks that face us today. True prepping is about being prepared for any disaster that might strike.
So, while some may think that they can breathe a sigh of relief because of a change in our political landscape, I don’t see it that way. I have been prepping for over 40 years now, and I’m not about to stop. My children or grandchildren may end up eating the food I have stored away, but I know it won’t go to waste.
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