The Doctrine

Purpose: To present my personal philosophy and how it relates to preparedness, liberty, and freedom. There are two things that probably make me a different kind of prepper: 1) I swear a lot in speech and writing, and only try to tone it down around the young ones. 2) I'm not Christian and don't approach prepping or life from that perspective. Anything I write, religious or otherwise, is my opinion, as I'm sure is the case with your own writings. If you decide you don't like me or what I have to say just because I'm not a member of your faith, then I wish you nothing except peace, joy and laughter and bid you a good day that you should leave and waste no more of your time here. However, if you're open-minded enough to understand than it shouldn't matter what our faiths if something bad happens. We're all human, peace is the way.

This first section explains my 5 Core Principles. Each of which contains its own subset of concepts, which is a little too involved for this document so I'll explain them elsewhere.

Right: The word gets thrown around a lot, sometimes justifiably so, and sometimes not so much, when people say they have a "right" to do or have something or that their rights are being stripped away. Those are "rights", I'm referring to Just Law; what is "right". In the US today, it seems most laws are designed to restrict something; the consumption of raw milk, drugs or even food-producing plants growing on your own property, or carrying guns, etc. However, what I'm referring to doesn't mean restrictions, only that we should understand that in order to live in an advanced society, there must be some laws, and those laws must be just. We should also understand that they have a purpose and following them is Right. However, I believe that our society has become to used to expecting laws to limited the actions of specific groups within our entire society, and that is not just. Laws should help fairly structure contracts between parties, and provide penalties for breach therof. They should construct a penal system to prevent injury to one party by another, but shouldn't, in my opinion, go so far as to include injury to self (i.e. even if you view pot smoking as bad and a form of self injury, it should be legal. For the record, I've never "done drugs" and I'm not likely to ever start.)

Wisdom: This goes hand-in-hand with Right. It is Right that all members of our society should be allowed to learn and experience any and all knowledge and concepts to further and improve their own lives. Unpolluted wisdom is something very lacking in our country today; certain systems, like politics, seem to be engineered to keep things trending this way. A Right society would never dream of limiting the experiences, pursuits of happiness or liberty of any of it's members for any but the most dire reasons; religous differences, by the by, aren't dire reasons by any rational definition.

Self-Reliance: Probably the most hyped-up topic both in and outside of the prepper/survivalist communities. It's the one that seems to attract the most "experts" from the proverbial woodwork, and the most conflicting information, by no coincidence I might add. I'm not saying there isn't great information out there, but please don't try to convince me that serving six years in the Army in a non-combat role/locale has somehow prepared for anything more than folding you underwear nicely and shouting "sir" at an unecessary volume. You know who knows more about surviving in a post-apocalytptic or post-economic meltdown environment? The homeless. You want some serious lessons on how to scavenge up something to wear or turn into a weapon while standing in a seemingly empty vacant lot? Buy a homeless person a cup of coffee and a sandwich and ask. They'll appreciate the drink, food and conversation.

Frith: The easiest definition for this peace and security. This doesn't just come from having your 'beans, bullets, and bandages", although that is certainly part of it. It's also derived from living an industrious life which is Right and incorporates all these core prinicples. It doesn't mean living a sanctimonious, self-righteous, and arrogant life filled with judging others because they don't prescribe to the tennents of life which you do, but by living your own life, and respecting the fact that we all have be granted such a path as to live our lives, with as little meddling from others as is necessary to live in an advanced society.

Troth: This one boils down to truth and fidelity, but encompasses more than what we typlically assign to those two words alone. While it can be used in the sense of 'telling the truth' and having 'marital fidelity', those are narrow, popular uses. It also means to be true to ones self and ones family by standing up for what is Right, and fidelity to kin and kith first.

The following section covers various rights [1], the rest covers other topics.

Free Speech, Expression: I personally believe that we should have as much of it as can possibly be allowed. I think that whomever is doing the speaking is totally responsible for what they're saying, and must handle all the consequences of it; this includes yelling 'fire' in a crowded theater. About the only speech I really want limited is that containing information detrimental to our national security, but that filter should be used as conservatively as possible. I also think the government has forgotten why they exist, and to whom they answer; the result of career politicians, in my view. Free speech "zones" and "super majority" congressional antics are unpatriotic and anti-American, and ANYONE using those tactics should be voted out or recalled at the earliest possible time.

Freedom of Religion: You believe what you want, and I'll believe what I want. As long as no one preaches hate, bigotry or inequality, I've no problem with it. Keep it out of places where there is mixed company, from a religious stand point, which means the government, the education system, the legal system, etc. Aside: Churches should also be subject to taxation, or should stop receiving government money, which will allow for a smaller government.

Bearing Arms: Robert Heilein said it best, "An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life." Only very stupid criminals would ever think of mugging, raping, breaking in or other such crimes if the common rule in society was to be armed. Yes, the chance of accidents would probably increase, you can't fix stupid after all, and I also expect that the number of deaths related to gun-born crimes would increase. It should be noted that the 2nd Amendment was originally geared toward a society that didn't have a standing army or national guard. So perhaps we should look at the whole picture before blindingly reading into this what benefits our own sensibilities only.