Gov. Fails Crisis Preparedness 101

While the US government has a strong incentive to have its people prepared for war and crisis, it has effectively decreased their preparedness for anytime the world does not go “business as usual.” The state has many peace time initiatives that have actually greatly inhibited the ability of people to sustain themselves when traditional supply chains break down, or when they have to evacuate due to some natural disaster. Of course, the next national crisis may be one that we have never seen before, and none of these things could be affected, but in almost every type of historical crisis these critiques of the government’s action would hold true. Subsidization of farmers and regulation that led to the industrialization of food will make local food supplementation almost impossible and provide a great risk if traditional supply chains are damaged. Government subsidization of healthcare has created a populace that are too unhealthy to relocate on foot or survive many situations that would be survivable for a person in normal health. In any long term crisis such as a war, the government increase in licensing requirements and nudging towards specialization of careers will make it difficult for the nation’s labor supply to transition.

During World War I and II home gardens allowed people to bolster their tiny rationing of food with whatever they could grow. In the same way, local farms provide a sort of food insurance for their town. Even if national agricultural production is diverted to some other use, the town would be able to have some food. While these are not the most effective means of producing food in terms of profit per acre, they have not been able to compete with huge specialized farmers in the Great Plains with access to extremely favorable government subsidies. The near nonexistence of local farms is not a result of the market, but rather a result of the fact that a great percentage of industrial farmers profit’s come from subsidies. If any sort of long-term crisis occurred, a local farm would create far more than just the food it created, as they could help fill unused space with more agriculture. Whether a war or a famine or even a civil war, local farms fill a role that allows individuals to provide for themselves rather than relying on the nanny state. If the western world learned anything from World War II, it’s that the government will trample individual rights relentlessly if it has a war that it cares deeply about. Additionally, the subsidization of certain crops has led to far more complex food production processes, which are not repeatable at the local scale. Vast overproduction of corn and soy have slanted many foods into being producible only in a factory with many derivatives of junk crops. While huge single-crop farms are the most efficient way to produce food given the conditions created by the government, it is certainly not the most efficient method when optimizing for edible food per acre.…