Never Think it Can’t Happen Here

Within hours after Putin announced Russia was activating 300,000 reservists, Russia ordered airlines to stop selling tickets to Russian men between 18 and 65 years old.

Ukraine created a similar law to keep young men in the country right after the war started, so there is no excuse for Russian men being surprised by this tactic. They no doubt thought, “It can’t happen here.”

This is a perfect example of why you should act early, before the SHTF. Think how Jews who saw the writing on the wall and fled Germany and Austria in the early 1930s fared compared to those who waited until it was too late. Those that got rounded up probably had thought “It can’t happen here.”

It CAN Happen Here

If you think something can’t happen here, there’s a good chance you are fooling yourself. If you think, “blackouts can’t happen here,” you are naïve. If you think “food shortages can’t happen here,” you are ignorant of history. If you think “banks won’t take our money for a bail-in,” then you need to read your bank account service agreement. If you think “a draft can’t happen here,” find someone drafted to fight in Vietnam and talk to them about their experience.

Given the right (or wrong) circumstances, almost anything can happen here. You may not want to believe that, but you need to shatter your illusions and live in the real world. Your job as a prepper is to see “it” coming, and take action to shield yourself from whatever “it” is. (And “it” may vary based on your age, sex, location, wealth, etc.) We’re talking governments seizing powers during emergencies and implementing policies like confiscation (of guns, money, or foodstuffs), curfews, conscription, and outlawing the ownership of gold. It can all happen and there is historical precedent for much of it.

Are you preparing for the unexpected? For example, we published articles throughout 2021 about how to prepare for inflation. How many of you actually did so? Could you have done more, or done it better? What stopped you? W hat can you learn for next time?

In the past month or two, I have seen many YouTube videos warning you that your money isn’t safe in banks. Have you done anything about that? Have you considered moving your funds to a credit union or spreading it out between different banks? What are you waiting for? By the time warnings of bank failures appear in the mainstream media, it will be too late.

You need to monitor the news (including alternative news sources) and look at what might happen next week or next year. If you are making big decisions, such as where to live, you might need to look a few years down the road. Plan for the future, but don’t be scared to act immediately if you notice the you-know-what is getting dangerously close to the fan.

For Example…

You are behind the eight-ball if you haven’t considered what the repercussions of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan are for you, your family, your job, your finances, and your way of life. Have a contingency plan. Know what you plan to do when the missiles start to fly and the aircraft carriers start to sing, whether it happens this fall or in 2027.

Likewise, have a plan of what to do when you hear Russia used tactical nukes to destroy Kyiv. Are you going to think, “It can’t happen here,” and go to work like normal, or are you going to load your preps into your SUV and bug out to your second cousin’s house in the mountains? I don’t care which choice you make, I just want you to make a well-reasoned choice rather than act out of panic.

You should also plan what you will do when the BATF shows up at your door and demands to see or confiscate your guns. Be familiar with your rights and have the name of a good lawyer programmed into your phone.

Things to Considering Doing

Here’s a list of things you might want to consider doing before “it happens here.”

• Make moves to protect your firearms. This could include burying them, buying some through private sales so there is no record of your ownership, and/or documenting that you gave them to your children before it becomes illegal to do so.
• If you have excess cash in the bank, begin to gradually convert some of it into gold, silver or other physical assets that you carry with you or you can bury and hide if you want it to be safe.
• Determine where you will go if you need to bug out, how to get there, and consider pre-positioning some items there. Then determine under what circumstances you will bug out. Remember, better a week early than a day late.
• Create caches or stashes along your route so that you can re-supply yourself if should you be forced to walk to your bugout location.
• If you live in your retreat, consider creating one or more large caches on near the retreat so that you can have some fall-back supplies if someone drives you from your home.
• Create a thumb drive with copies (either PDFs or digital photos) of all the important documents in your life, including insurance papers, bank and other financial accounts, birth and marriage certificates, deeds, titles, your passport, driver’s license, credit cards, etc. Then copy this info onto a couple of other thumb drives. Store one in your safe deposit box. Put one in your bug-out bag, and send one to someone you trust who lives several hundred miles away.

I think you get the idea. Now just add your own.

There are many ways to prepare for when “it happens here.” We must physically prepare with stores of food and water to ensure our survival, but don’t ignore the importance of planning so you what to do under certain circumstances. You should have plans made not just for war or natural disasters, but to weather sweeping new powers grabbed by the government during an “emergency.”