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Agenda For Change: The American Prepper Movement

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A while back when I posted Define the Prepper Movement With A Call Action, I did not know what to expect.  One part of me thought, okay, I am going to put this out there and be run out of town for expressing such crazy ideas.  The other part of me dictated that I post the article because I believed in it.  Not posting would be paramount to selling out to what was popular as well as profitable in the prepper blogging community.

Selling out is not in my DNA so I went ahead and shared the think piece by Richard Earl Broome, and much to my delight, it found a thoughtful and passionate audience here at Backdoor Survival.  I was pleased.

The next question, of course, is where do we go from here.

In today’s think piece, Richard kicks things up a notch and suggests that we take some time to develop a mission statement for the American Prepper Movement.

An Agenda for Change: “Power to the Preppers”

Before anyone ever thinks about starting a movement, you need to look at previous movements that were successful and truly did drive change. Two that immediately come to mind are the Civil Rights and Anti Vietnam War movements. What made them successful?

At their origins both seemed to have disparate pockets of political activism, with members that seemed to be just fringe agitators. Over time these disparate pockets integrated and became more respected. As a result, the beliefs they represented became more forceful and powerful because each managed to achieve discipline within a common agenda of fighting against true injustice.

Once more cohesive, they also became increasingly focused and articulate with arguments that created a coherent and compelling agenda for change. Eventually, both had a seat at the national table and helped drive new laws, the Voting Rights Act of 1964, and a new national policy, the elimination of the military draft in 1973.

Why is it important for Preppers of all shapes, sizes and interests to try to find a common ground and organize a movement like this?

At present, Preppers are mostly dismissed as a group outside of the mainstream. Yet as a community, we are more knowledgeable and better prepared to meet the increasing level of threatening events facing us than almost everyone else. As a disparate group, with no common agenda that Preppers agree upon, we currently have little influence or power when it is most needed.

The American Prepper Movement must have a voice at the federal, state and local level with regard to policy, planning, budgeting and legislation. To achieve a seat at the table, Preppers need to become more focused, disciplined and articulate and represent a powerful voting bloc with a clear and coherent agenda for change that elected officials will respect.

What do you think needs to be a part of the American Prepper Nation agenda?

First, let us all accept the premise that there is a new global reality. Terrorism, cyber attacks, pandemic threats, etc., have reached all nations, and as we most recently witnessed with the Boston Marathon bombing last spring and now in France, this is no longer just happening somewhere else in the world. It is a clear and present danger to all of us. A war on all citizens is underway. We have squandered the time we had to prepare for it, so like our nation after Pearl Harbor some seventy-three years ago, we need to catch up and right now.

We are only at the beginning of a discussion about what I think is the critical Prepper Agenda for Change. Here are some ideas, most of which are from the readers of Backdoor Survival in response to my December 30th, 2014 think piece on Backdoor Survival, “Do Not Go Gentle Into the Night.” We seemed to think the Prepper Agenda for Change was in four categories:

–First, develop a mission statement that we all would agree articulates what the Prepper movement is really about.

The media tends to have a cynical view of prepping, which impacts the psychology of most uninformed audiences, and gives the impression we are all slightly odd and not to be taken seriously. Yet, you can go to Ready.gov and see very similar advice for the entire nation coming from FEMA. So we are, in fact, just doing what our government asks.

We also know that we can give better advice to our fellow citizens than the bureaucrats in Washington D.C. do, and on much a wider range of topics. We need our more informed, experienced Prepper voices heard.

A starting point would be our mission statement for the American Prepper Movement. How about we start a Proverb as our inspiration, and then the readers of Backdoor Survival can add their own thoughts?

Proverbs 27:12 “A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.”

–Second, what can we learn from others?

We created the Department of Homeland Security twelve years ago. The State of Israel was founded sixty-seven years ago. The State of Israel has been focused on the preparedness of their citizens since the nation was founded.

What policies should our federal, state and local governments adopt from Israel, particularly around citizen preparedness? We are not yet under a direct and constant threat as Israel experiences, but the threat to the USA is steadily growing. Now is the time to step back, re-examine ourselves, and start making bold changes.

For example, Israel makes civilian preparedness and resiliency part of their education curriculum. Students learn the importance of being prepared and have both historical lessons about terrorism along with “hands on” learning experiences to develop skills with first aid, CPR, chemical and biological weapons, the use of gas masks, and so on. High school students are expected to actively support the local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), during an emergency.

Israel’s Home Front Command also uses consistent, straightforward messaging to the citizens of Israel about threats or possible events. Israel, with these policies, has achieved a genuine culture of preparedness.

So should the United States.

–Third, with all these kinds of actions we can begin to shift the psychology of Americans.

A recent article I wrote for Backdoor Survival was “Building a Culture of Preparedness.” I used the following quote in my article as a metaphor, to illustrate how our view of heath and fitness has changed over the last 50 years.

“If you have ever watched the TV show, “Mad Men,” on many levels it is both fascinating and a little horrifying. We did act that way. We drank too much, smoked, and ate whatever we pleased. Exercise was that occasional game of tennis or golf. This has all changed for the better. We pay more attention to diet, nutrition, exercise and avoid doing the things we know hurt us. Over time, as a society, we developed a culture of health and fitness. It took us years, but we made the cultural shift. What caused this was that we all raised our level of understanding about causes and effects and the ultimate impacts of poor choices about heath and fitness.

To achieve a similar kind of a societal-wide transition for better preparedness, by fostering the community discussions that I am proposing in this article, over time, could start to create and begin to build an overall culture of preparedness.”

We need to raise our level of national understanding about the importance of preparedness. If we are ever going to be truly prepared, this kind of a psychological shift by Americans is a fundamental requirement. Israel did it. So can we.

–Fourth, during future events Preppers more likely to shoulder most the burden of the threats to our safety because we, as a nation, allow others to remain less prepared.

Your federal, state and local tax dollars that go to emergency preparedness will be spent on those who are not prepared. Preppers will perhaps need, little to no help, which makes Preppers the ants paying for the grasshoppers.

If we, as a nation, will subsidize someone for putting solar panels on their roof to achieve energy efficiencies, why not advocate subsidizing Preppers for better overall preparedness? Shouldn’t Preppers get some sort of tax break for being a better-prepared citizen? Shouldn’t this be reflected in lower insurance bills for you?

A great side benefit if this actually happened would be the creation of a national standard for both individual and business preparedness. If this is ever created, the Prepper Nation definitely must have a voice in any kind of a preparedness standard.

Where do we go from here?

If we can agree on the basic tenets of a mission statement and agenda for change, we then have the fundamental pieces to begin to organize into a movement. With these we can start to address the simple; yet critical question: Where do we go from here?

Robert Kennedy one said:

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts, will be written the history of this generation.”

Each of us needs to do our small part and write the history of the beginnings of the American Prepper Movement.

Richard Earl Broome –  All Rights Reserved
February 4, 2015

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Richard Earl Broome is a contributing author and friend to Backdoor Survival. He has lived an extraordinary life rising from an Army private to an Army colonel who served on the White House staff for two Presidents of the United States as a member of their National Security Council staff.
He is considered a national expert on the subjects of crisis management, disaster recovery and survival. He is a frequent contributor of articles about the many threats facing our society, appearing frequently on radio shows to discuss issues such as pandemics, ISIS, and the cyber threat.
For more about Richard, visit my  About Richard page.  Also, note that his two books, Leaving The Trees and Good Crazy (Leaving The Trees Journey) (Volume 2), can be found on Amazon.

The Final Word

As with all things preparedness, at first blush the task of preparing a mission statement may seem overwhelming.  After all, there is not only the effort of putting pencil to paper, but also the coordination of missives coming from various age groups, economic strata, and geographical locations. Each will have their own special needs and their own special interests.

The challenge going forward is to set aside our personal agendas and move toward a common goal for all preppers.  I know from reading your comments that there are plenty of you set to lead and an equal number set to follow with gumption and gusto.  Everyone is important.

Now it is your turn.  Let us continue brainstorm together; comments are open.

Enjoy your next adventure through common sense and thoughtful preparation!


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