Tell me, if someone mentions “The United States of America”, what do you picture in your mind? The American flag? The White House? Mount Rushmore? Or perhaps you see a map of the Unites States, like this.
What you’re looking at is the sovereign territory that is both claimed and incorporated by the United States Federal Government. But in reality, that is not the United States. Would you like to know what it really looks like?
That’s more like it. What you’re looking at is a map of every military installation in the lower 48 (that we know of) according to Google Maps. There are a few more in Alaska and Hawaii, and hundreds more across the globe. Now imagine a map of every police station, capital building, post office, courthouse, and every other federal and state agency. That, is the real United States.
To some of you that may sound obvious, but hear me out. Every government on Earth has a territory that they claim as their own. They have certain boundaries that legally exist as their jurisdiction. But then there are places that are disputed like Eastern Ukraine or the Senkaku Islands, and there are places that no employee of any state has ever set foot in like the depths of the Amazon Rainforest. They may legally belong to a government, but practically speaking is another story.
In truth, the government is not a series of lines on a map. It is the sum total of people who work for that government, and the areas where those people can successfully wield influence. I personally experienced this reality several weeks ago when I went hiking in a national forest. I was 15 miles away from the nearest cell reception, nobody knew I was there (long story) and there were small trees sprouting in the middle of the gravel road that led into the park. It was clear that not only had nobody been to my particular location in several months, but there had been no members of the park service there either in a very long time.
If you look at a map it would say that this place belongs to the United States Government, but the situation on the ground said otherwise. If someone attacked me in the park, my safety lies solely in my own hands, and what I do after the fact (if I survive) is totally up to me.
I suppose I could call the police, but if I didn’t nobody would know, and if I lost that particular fight, it’s unlikely anyone would be punished. There is no legal recourse for either party at that particular time and place. That piece of land, for all practical purposes, belongs to no one.
The reason I’m bringing any of this up is to illustrate a point about our government’s ability to survive a major disaster. I’m not very confident that they could. I’m sure they have an extensive series of bunkers that will shield the political and financial elite of our nation during any disaster, but when they emerge months or years later, will they have the infrastructure and personnel to enforce the boundaries they claim as their own?
I’m sure it would depend on the disaster, but in this case I’m talking about something catastrophic. Think EMP attack or nuclear war. Heck, even a major financial correction might get the dominoes tumbling into a wider disaster.
Most preppers would assume that they will quickly lose control of large swaths of the rural countryside. I would have to agree. If you look at most wars that have occurred over the past 100 years, one fact stands out. The cities have always been bastions of government authority, while the countryside is quickly overrun by rebels or foreign invaders. This can definitely be said of our own military.
When you compare our wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan, you’ll see the same situation. Our forces clung to cities and far-flung outposts, while occasionally sending patrols into a countryside that they would never successfully control. Cities are just easier to manage, plain and simple. But it’s hard imagine them maintaining control over a vast countryside that is filled with people who don’t like the government, who have lived without their help for many years, and are now dealing with an influx of desperate people who have fled the cities.
However, they do have those urban areas, and once they make contact with what’s left of the local authorities in small towns across America, they might be able to start exerting their previous control over those regions. The only problem is, they may not be able to keep the lid on our cities. You have to ask yourself, if they can’t control an area that is traditionally easy pickings for a government, will they be able to raise a flag anywhere else?
As of now, our cities are already bursting at the seams. In cities like Chicago, the number of police in their gang enforcement division is actually outnumbered by gang members with a 500-1 ratio. In other major cities, you might hear stories about certain neighborhoods that police just flat-out refuse to enter without extensive backup (again, is it really the United States if their employees can’t show their faces in that neighborhood?).
Their ability to solve murders has been declining for years, and the public’s trust with the police is in the toilet. Simply put, our government’s authority has been slipping at the local level for a long time, and this doesn’t even account for the mobs of panic-stricken citizens that might emerge after a disaster. It also doesn’t account for situations like Hurricane Katrina, where numerous police officers abandoned their posts in the wake of the storm.
If you ask me, it looks like our government would crumble at every level if faced with a widespread disaster, and they may not be able to recover from it after the fact. The police will be outmatched, and the military will either be stranded in overseas outposts, or tied up with the police in our urban areas.
Really, it boils down to this. If there is an event that is so catastrophic, that it shatters our police and military into isolated units with little communication to the outside world, will they be able to survive? And for those cops and soldiers who do survive, will they be willing to pledge allegiance to our current politicians and bankers, when they emerge from their fortified bunkers?
At the end of the day, our government is nothing more than the people who work for it and their ability to enforce the law in any given area. It’s hard to say if they would prevail in their current form during any widespread disaster.
So what do you think? If it hits the fan, will the federal government weather the storm, or will they be completely overwhelmed by the chaos?
When shtf it will be the bodyguards of the rich and the elite and governmental officials who will wind up running things.
Do you really think the people with the guns “bodyguards” are going to take orders from some old fat SOB, no the trophy wives will be on their knees and backs trying to please the men with the guns.
Remember ancient Rome it was the praetorian guards who kept Caesar in power, and then they turned against Caesar it was game over.
Ask the ghost of Nero or Caligula.
Hopeful thinking, not that the question will be answered until it is a Reality. My bet is that 50%+ as high as 85% of the Statist Police/Military stay with the Hierarchy of any Government, whether Constitutional or not. Paychecks and perceived security will keep them inline.
Armed Citizens with a morality and respect of Inherent Rights seems to be the best course to take. Veterans of like mind will be essential to Liberty, hence their current demonetization and psych drugging by the Elitist Gov. Bureaucrats
I feel like I am looking in a mirror that puts words much better than myself….
Thank you for this post sir.
Well, I hope you are still there, sir. it’s now 2 years later and the line in the sand is now drawn at our feet. May God Bless you and yours.
Yes sir… and our backs to the wall…. God Bless you and yours as well.
Thank you for this interesting and well thought out article – Your thinking and personal experience parallels mine, and thank you for publishing this map of locations of anything governmental/military, etc. Here is my contribution to this discussion: Does anyone know of a map or list of where the underground bunkers are likely located for the government elites? I know of the ones inside the hills surrounding Charlottesville, Virginia, where I once served as the region’s primary downsizing / outplacement professional specializing in “re-framing” for alternative employment, the spies who had been employed by the big spy agencies in Charlottesville until the Berlin Wall went down and USSR dissolved. Many high-level professionals told me the longstanding plan was to move D.C. officials and functions to the underground living quarters that had been build years ago, just outside Charlottesville. This credible information led to my interest in this category of government facilities because they are invisible and under the radar of public consciousness and therefore should be investigated. The very fact that we might think we are relocating during an apocalyptic event to relatively unpatrolled outlying areas less likely to be under immediate government/military/police surveillance could be our undoing. Lack of the facts as to where the underground bunkers are located seems to be an important fact we don’t know. I am sure wherever they are, there will be huge security (i.e., personal threat for “us”). What I am asking anyone reading this is: does anyone know where other government bunkers (besides those I know of in Charlottesville, 1.5 hours south of D.C.) are located? In these areas, there will be excess security patrols, control of resources, and our capacity to “break laws” that we did not know existed because we are too close to government-controlled areas we did not know about. In looking at the map published in this article, I recorded a pretty long list of relatively clear and free geographic areas which are (so far) not shown to be used by government facilities we know about. We need to superimpose on top of this, the location of underground facilities which could be extensive, so as to avoid those areas if we are among the many people who plan to wing it in the wild. This leads to another point about where these underground facilities might be. One of the documents or recent stories about this upcoming roll-out of Jade Helm mentioned the desire to “practice” in unoccupied areas of the States and where government land already exists. I have heard from Real Estate friends in Eastern Oregon (one of the biggest non-government occupied areas in the country according to the map), that because the Eastern Half of Oregon is dominated by Indian, mining, and forestry controlled land interspersed with private, is being sized up for one of these “invasion” activities, even though the general public is not being informed of this. Therefore, if this comes about as predicted, we should be aware of the government’s plan to take over the blank areas on the map which now look to be safe zones where those of us who will be living wild plan to hang out. So, I hope someone can take this map plan idea to the next level and help us all figure out exactly where the bunkers are located.
The U.S. government does not need to survive. The United States of America is a composition of 50 sovereign states. The Federal Government is a near foreign and alien entity. We can do just fine without them, if they were to vanish. The States can work with each other just as the nations of Europe know how to do. We don’t need the Feds as an administrative intermediary. Let’s wish them well and send them on their way.
Will the US Government survive?
Did you really ask that question?
The US Government is GONE! It was usurped by criminals and their wealthy bankster owners. They ARE THE CAUSE of the SHTF. Haven’t you been paying attention?
The US Government is programmed to fail ON PURPOSE do you think that FIAT currency you are believing in really has any value? How about when it fails and they GUT your bank accounts and safety deposit boxes?
Hold on to what you can and be ready for anything. The criminals rule in DC.
I will not lift a finger to defend the USSA. There was no weeping when Rome collapsed either, it had become so venal and despised inside and out. A two country solution may have worked out better but the 2nd revolution failed, hopefully the 3rd does better. Yankee Rebels are more than welcome too.
“If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the
highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its
experienced patriots to prevent its ruin”. Samuel Adams
“”If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the
highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its
experienced patriots to prevent its ruin”. Samuel Adams”
And the usurpers call the authors of our Constitution terrorists…..
Gen; what I would give to have lived back then…..
Our Republics future is truly on it’s last leg brother….. I pray only for the patriots that will stand together to circumvent the inevitable demise our country, and or way of life….
As the Government, especially the Feral Gov. abandons the Constitution, it also abandons it’s basis for allegiance and existence. Just a fact of life.
So true, and it’s disgusting on all levels….
Just saw this on Drudge Report, absolutely mind blowing that the US Navy isn’t “allowed” to evacuate American civilians from Yemen because it might embarrass him!
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/04/16/263488/americans-face-harrowing-escapes.html
I think the the moral hardworking people will welcome the freedom, especially, we of the south who are fed up with the “Calling evil good, and good evil”. I think if you are not a lib, government employee, or leech you will understand what I mean.
When I read your post it reminded me of this.
Isaiah 5:20 “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put
darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”