Legal, social, and political

Our political leadership would like us to think our problems are economic, technological, environmental, or something of that nature. Those are the challenges, but the problems are political, legal and social.

Name a hard problem and odds are some of the best solutions are prohibited. Energy issues? Power expensive and environmentally unsound? Politicians will make fine speeches but they won't let you string a clothesline in your backyard or put solar panels on your roof.

Food issues? Expensive. Poor quality. Pesticides. Grow your own, but heaven help you if you want to rip the grass out of your front yard and plant veggies. That's against zoning and prohibited. Wouldn't want an unsightly food garden bringing property values down now would we?

Forget about solving problems between people without involving a host of lawyers and judges. Everybody needs a cut.

Medical problems? It's illegal to really take charge of your own medical care. If you are really lucky you'll be able to get a friendly doctor to work with you, but that's rare. The insurance companies won't pay for much of what's been known to work either.

What do these prohibited solutions have in common? They bring power back to the little people. Solving problems at the local level are a lot quicker and better than a top down approach.

There are a handful of things that's supposed to work better from the top down, but it's a lot fewer than most people believe. Those in charge rather have a poorly functioning solution that they are in charge of than a good solution that bypasses them.

All the self reliant things I've been able to do has been not because of the laws and leadership but in spite of them. Good thing I live in the far outskirts of civilization where there are fewer laws, codes, and enforcement is spotty. I put up solar electric panels without a single permit. Wired my house myself. Converted vehicles to run on waste veggie oil and turned my basement into a fuel station. None of that would fly in a “civilized” area.

I've got great faith in individuals to find solutions, not so much faith in those “leaders” who want to tell us what to do.

-Sixbears