Bolted our bluffside place on the Palos Verdes peninsula for the wife's ancestral family farm in rural Europe in 2002 and never looked back.
That said, being a Pacific NW native who grew up in the Cascades, northern Europe was an easy transition. Food quality and security have been atop the schedule since we settled in to our sturdy old p…
Bolted our bluffside place on the Palos Verdes peninsula for the wife's ancestral family farm in rural Europe in 2002 and never looked back.
That said, being a Pacific NW native who grew up in the Cascades, northern Europe was an easy transition. Food quality and security have been atop the schedule since we settled in to our sturdy old pile of Devonian shale.
Observing the slow, steady unfurling of our current situation is like witnessing a head-on collision unfold in slow-motion over decades. Turns out, being an historically curious "auto-didact" and "iconoclast" isn't an easy row to hoe.
Sadly, the wife's highly educated siblings still have FAR too much faith in various systems of authority and the "pathological achievers" who front them.
As for us, we chose the much less lucrative life of maintaining the "family redoubt" in the hills, an economic strategy which the former Finanzamt director (sister) and corporate consultant (brother) are only now beginning to comprehend.
More hectares of forest and firewood than we can burn in many lifetimes...? Check.
A local network of other "untainted" folks with various practical skills...? Check.
Direct access to raw milk, organic meats and a huge garden...? Check.
A financial foundation built atop a physical stock of precious metals...? Check.
Zero debt and/or financial obligation to outside entities...? Check.
Our current predicament has been visible on the horizon for MANY years, but almost no one I've encountered over the years has had an interest in -- or truly even been capable of -- discussing such subject matter.
Ironically enough, in my experience, the individuals best prepared to ruminate on such challenging ideas are former Eastern Bloc and Soviet types already VERY familiar with key aspects of the current socio-economic playbook.
(Now one caveat, usually I try to avoid fearmongering, but...) since you invested so much thought and resources in reinventing your life in Europe I have an honest question - what do you recon, how much time before whichever country you landed in send its brownshirts (brownshitters?:) to "rescue" you of your possesions?
The answer truly begins forty years ago, when I began learning how to interpret the "now" through an historical lens shaped by a healthy cynicism for orthodoxy. Challenging the often ridiculous textbook interpretations of history started in high school, much to the chagrin of all but a couple teachers who became early mentors as a direct result.
The other side of the coin was learning to unpack media and understand semantics and linguistics, beginning the LONG learning curve surrounding the use of language and symbolism, jump-started by one of those unexpected mentors in an elective media studies class.
His effective use of what I've come to call "conservative camouflage" -- and its corollary -- to situationally mask an iconoclastic mind and unorthodox views of society, economy and the nature of political systems is perhaps the most useful social skill I've ever learned.
My late father-in-law also imparted a valuable kernel of wisdom on his most iconoclastic daughter in her formative years : by their very nature, politicians and governments are NOT and will never be your ally, no matter how loudly they portray themselves as "for the people".
This from a fellow who survived the war and POW camps before eventually serving as the village mayor and three decades wading through county politics, ostensibly to keep an eye on the constant undermining of local interests via the sclerotic post-war bureaucracies of Europa.
Our process here twenty years or so ago wasn't so much planned as "organically executed" around a few philosophical principles we largely kept to ourselves, orbiting closely around the core Joycean strategy of "silence exile and cunning".
Along the way, swimming against the tide, we cared for her aging parents (WW2 survivors) and two handicapped paternal siblings while more-or-less managing the generational transition of the "new house", built c. 1751 on a modest patch of hill-country land first deeded in 1085.
Such historical realities provided an unexpected sensation of security, given the persistence and resourcefulness her ancestors demonstrated. This patch of land; farm and garden and orchard and forests and fresh water, have supported the family through many centuries of conflict.
As for "brownshirts", the strategy begins with locale, continues through a tactical withdrawal from social and political processes apart from the local, alongside gathering materials for self-defense. Access to such items is MUCH more difficult if you're not criminally connected.
When the world flipped upside-down in early 2020, I pointed out to the wife that major inflection points she once couldn't believe were possible were on the near horizon. The biggest being the events likely to unfold should we find HazMat lackeys and stormtroopers at the front door.
The thing is, after twenty-plus years here, it's quite clear that the authorities' 'per capita' ability to exert coercive force is VERY limited. It's not hard to envision even a slight uptick in resistance completely overloading the limited civil and military capabilities. Once the urban environs get hot, few resources will remain for widely distributed rural reinforcement.
Historically speaking, brownshirts began as civilian militias "empowered" by the charismatic psychopaths atop the ruling hierarchy. A situation FAR less likely to occur this time around for a laundry list of more-or-less obvious reasons far beyond the scope of this already long reply...
Bolted our bluffside place on the Palos Verdes peninsula for the wife's ancestral family farm in rural Europe in 2002 and never looked back.
That said, being a Pacific NW native who grew up in the Cascades, northern Europe was an easy transition. Food quality and security have been atop the schedule since we settled in to our sturdy old pile of Devonian shale.
Observing the slow, steady unfurling of our current situation is like witnessing a head-on collision unfold in slow-motion over decades. Turns out, being an historically curious "auto-didact" and "iconoclast" isn't an easy row to hoe.
Sadly, the wife's highly educated siblings still have FAR too much faith in various systems of authority and the "pathological achievers" who front them.
As for us, we chose the much less lucrative life of maintaining the "family redoubt" in the hills, an economic strategy which the former Finanzamt director (sister) and corporate consultant (brother) are only now beginning to comprehend.
More hectares of forest and firewood than we can burn in many lifetimes...? Check.
A local network of other "untainted" folks with various practical skills...? Check.
Direct access to raw milk, organic meats and a huge garden...? Check.
A financial foundation built atop a physical stock of precious metals...? Check.
Zero debt and/or financial obligation to outside entities...? Check.
Our current predicament has been visible on the horizon for MANY years, but almost no one I've encountered over the years has had an interest in -- or truly even been capable of -- discussing such subject matter.
Ironically enough, in my experience, the individuals best prepared to ruminate on such challenging ideas are former Eastern Bloc and Soviet types already VERY familiar with key aspects of the current socio-economic playbook.
Kudos, well planned and executed!
(Now one caveat, usually I try to avoid fearmongering, but...) since you invested so much thought and resources in reinventing your life in Europe I have an honest question - what do you recon, how much time before whichever country you landed in send its brownshirts (brownshitters?:) to "rescue" you of your possesions?
The answer truly begins forty years ago, when I began learning how to interpret the "now" through an historical lens shaped by a healthy cynicism for orthodoxy. Challenging the often ridiculous textbook interpretations of history started in high school, much to the chagrin of all but a couple teachers who became early mentors as a direct result.
The other side of the coin was learning to unpack media and understand semantics and linguistics, beginning the LONG learning curve surrounding the use of language and symbolism, jump-started by one of those unexpected mentors in an elective media studies class.
His effective use of what I've come to call "conservative camouflage" -- and its corollary -- to situationally mask an iconoclastic mind and unorthodox views of society, economy and the nature of political systems is perhaps the most useful social skill I've ever learned.
My late father-in-law also imparted a valuable kernel of wisdom on his most iconoclastic daughter in her formative years : by their very nature, politicians and governments are NOT and will never be your ally, no matter how loudly they portray themselves as "for the people".
This from a fellow who survived the war and POW camps before eventually serving as the village mayor and three decades wading through county politics, ostensibly to keep an eye on the constant undermining of local interests via the sclerotic post-war bureaucracies of Europa.
Our process here twenty years or so ago wasn't so much planned as "organically executed" around a few philosophical principles we largely kept to ourselves, orbiting closely around the core Joycean strategy of "silence exile and cunning".
Along the way, swimming against the tide, we cared for her aging parents (WW2 survivors) and two handicapped paternal siblings while more-or-less managing the generational transition of the "new house", built c. 1751 on a modest patch of hill-country land first deeded in 1085.
Such historical realities provided an unexpected sensation of security, given the persistence and resourcefulness her ancestors demonstrated. This patch of land; farm and garden and orchard and forests and fresh water, have supported the family through many centuries of conflict.
As for "brownshirts", the strategy begins with locale, continues through a tactical withdrawal from social and political processes apart from the local, alongside gathering materials for self-defense. Access to such items is MUCH more difficult if you're not criminally connected.
When the world flipped upside-down in early 2020, I pointed out to the wife that major inflection points she once couldn't believe were possible were on the near horizon. The biggest being the events likely to unfold should we find HazMat lackeys and stormtroopers at the front door.
The thing is, after twenty-plus years here, it's quite clear that the authorities' 'per capita' ability to exert coercive force is VERY limited. It's not hard to envision even a slight uptick in resistance completely overloading the limited civil and military capabilities. Once the urban environs get hot, few resources will remain for widely distributed rural reinforcement.
Historically speaking, brownshirts began as civilian militias "empowered" by the charismatic psychopaths atop the ruling hierarchy. A situation FAR less likely to occur this time around for a laundry list of more-or-less obvious reasons far beyond the scope of this already long reply...