being surrounded with friends and supporters.
Only one things works. Geographical concentration to build mass, strength and local economy.
Sincere question: how many friends and supporters are surrounding you in your city in Croatia?
I sense here desire for homesteading and withdrawal from cities.
I'd say your hunch is correct among a large contingent of Biblical Families members. Personally, I'm not in the camp of total withdrawal (or
retreat, as you put it). I get politically involved at the ground level wherever I go, and that has mostly been in cities or small towns. I personally know Tarrant County's District Attorney and was the one who brought his attention to the legitimacy of the allegations of the 2020 election being stolen, specifically in Tarrant County (he was running in 2021 when someone put me together with him); that was one piece of ultimately getting rid of our Election Administrator, who had formerly run corrupt elections for Smartmatic/Dominion Systems in Philippines and Venezuela.
I live just west of Fort Worth, but I'm also looking for bug-out land 4-5 hours away in Edwards County (more than twice the size of Tarrant County; with only 1422 residents, Edwards County has 2/3 of a person per square mile; Tarrant County has 2340 psm). After acquiring land, I will undoubtedly become politically involved, probably in the county government but perhaps in the town of Rocksprings, which has 878 of the county's residents -- and I'll do this to some extent even though we'll only be occasional visitors.
What I'm driving at is that I probably share your distrust of the efficacy of isolated homesteading. I make an effort to grow food; I prepare for the worst; Zec finally taught me how to use my firearms; and I always have plans for what to do depending on what kind of societal disaster may come our way. But our ultimate survival as a culture or a nation or a world will never be significantly impacted by homesteading. On the other hand, neither will it be sustained by people piling up like rats in cities.
homesteading ensures you are alone when trouble arrives
Yes, you're correct,
@MemeFan, but a homesteader significantly diminishes the likelihood that he and whoever is hiding out with him will ever be
reached by trouble.
So, this is one of those
selfishness vs selflessness dichotomies -- one of many. Homesteading is ultimately selfish on the main, because it only protects one's immediate loved ones, while providing nothing of import to the solutions that will ultimately be required for society if trouble comes.
On the other hand, while being a man of integrity and morals with motivation to contribute to his environment accelerates the opportunity to be part of the solution -- an at least relatively
selfless choice -- it also comes with near certainty of being swallowed up by trouble if the SHTF event does occur, because homesteaders aren't the only
selfish ones; their number is dwarfed by the hordes of lazy, unmotivated takers just looking out for number one in big cities, maybe 1% of whom will act from moral compass if society collapses, even if only temporarily. I learned that in Atlanta during the 1979 trucker's strike.
As disciples of Yeshua and Paul, we are called to come out of the cultures we're surrounded by, but that's predominantly an admonition to refrain from living life focused on achieving their approval; it's not an admonition to pretend that we don't actually
live in this world or that we aren't also commanded to treat everyone with whom we associate the way we would want to be treated.
The smart play is to NOT even be even close when the Cannibal Rape Gangs swarm OUT of those dead Cesspool Cities after they collapse. Hint: Stay clear of major arterials and roadways.
Point well taken,
@Mark C. It's certainly wise to steer clear of major arteries until the marauding hordes dissipate sufficiently, but that doesn't even mean that a strategy of continually avoiding the cities is the only option -- or even the best, for that matter.
What I surmise through decades of observation is that those who are unafraid tot be known for who they are and prepared to continue to contribute in their surrounding communities but also prepared to hunker down or go on the lam are the ones who fare best
and make the most contributions.