This still applies today.

"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States."

Noah Webster, An Examination into the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution, 1787

On politics, voting and the White House race.

Many people ask who I'll be voting for, but when they ask me that they aren't actually looking for a name. What they're truly asking is "are you a republican or a democrat?". People have closed their minds off to everything outside of republican or democrat. To them, there is nothing else. In fact, what the republicans and democrats actually DO matters little. There is only one thing that matters, and that is the letter R or D behind a politician's name. That politician doesn't have to do or say anything in particular to warrant the love or hate of the people on either side, as long as the people can easily identify the letter. Voting for the right party matters more than principles and more than convictions.

I used to vote that way as well. I would simply vote for whoever the party nominee was. The "lesser of the two evils" they said.

But I'm done voting for evil now, and I don't care if one side calls themselves republicans and the other calls themselves democrats.

Politics can be very complicated of course. So I've simplified it down for myself and made it easy. My political belief system is based on maximum freedom for the maximum number of people. My poltical beliefs are based on the letter of the US Constitution, a document written to protect us from the horrors of an oppressive, powerful, centralized government system. We all have natural, God given and inalienable rights. We all have the right to defend ourselves, to travel freely in our own country, to keep and do as we wish with our privately owned property. We have the right to be free from oppressive taxation and waste of our money. We have the right to be free from invasion of our privacy. These rights and many other liberties are our's to keep and no one's to infringe upon, especially a government of people just like us who see themselves above us.

The only candidates currently left in the 2016 US Presidential race who have any hope of winning the White House are Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

My beliefs on Trump are pretty simple, which is how I try to keep all political thought processes. He's donated many thousands (or even millions) of dollars to any cause or person he feels would have benefitted him the most at that time. Occasionally this includes republican polticians and "republican" causes, but most often the receipients of his money and support have been progressives and statists, democrats, neo-liberals and the like. A few examples include Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Rahm Emanuel, Chuck Schumer, Bill Deblasio, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Trump has also supported unconstitutional efforts, such as the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban. He's supported misuse of eminent domain, increased taxes and increased spending. He's been  pro-choice (AKA anti-life). He has little understanding of what the US Constitution is or what it is there for. He changes his positions with the political winds, which is why I do not trust him. Having the letter R after your name does not earn my vote by default, especially if that R used to be a D or an I.

I am well aware of how Trump is currently branding himself and my problem with it is that it is completely different from his entire history, including his history as recent as 2014. I do not trust the man one inch and there is not one single argument I've heard from anyone as to why I should trust him. When asked why I should trust him or vote for him given his history, his supporters always resort to something to the effect that he isn't Hillary Clinton. Sorry, but you can't simply say "I'm not Hillary" and earn my vote by default. No, you need to base your political positions on an originalist interpretation of the US Constitution. Funny that no one has EVER accused Donald Trump of being a Constitutionalist, isn't it?

I don't even need to say much about Hillary Clinton and her failures. The news media has given Hillary a full pardon for her "Russian reset", which turned out to be a total disaster. Our relations with Moscow haven't been this bad since the Cold War, and even now Vladimir Putin talks regularly about the strategic deterrent capabilities they posses. Her role in the Benghazi incident goes without saying, those the press is prepared to let her pass on that mistake as well simply because they've grown bored with the story. Still left is the FBI criminal investigation into the classified information Clinton stored on a personal server inside the basement of her private residence. Obviously this behavior is totally illegal and left US secrets wide open to be gleaned by any half-capable foreign actors. The most likely would be Chinese computer network exploitation experts. Her actions as Secretary of State alone (I could pile on her inappropriate actions during her time as First Lady and her dismal record as a senator) should at least disqualify her completely from ever stepping into public office again, and more likely should land her behind bars.

Bernie Sanders is a more appropriate punchline than an appropriate consideration for any office in a society that calls itself free. The man is an avowed socialist and his entire political platform can be summed up as such: "I'll give you the most free stuff". He's proposed raising taxes to a 90% rate and proposed that all schooling and all healthcare should be free. But if it's "free", then why the 90% tax rate? Because it's not free. He either doesn't understand this or he is lying. On many occasions he has shown himself to be a complete economic dunce, despite running his entire campaign virtually on his economic policies alone. One example is when he stated that student loans interest rates should be as low as home loan interest rates. If he had any understand of economics at all, he'd realize that home loan interest is lower because if you default on your home loan, the bank will get your home as repayment. But what will the repayment be on an education if you fail to pay the student loan? Can they repossess your brain? Can they take back the knowledge? Of course not. This is a simple economic principle that has totally escaped Sanders. His many years spent in Congress (first became member of Congress in 1991) have been a huge waste as well. Since 1991 he has failed to author a single bill that was ever passed into law.

Ted Cruz has been a thorn in the side of the so called "establishment" since he defeated David Dewhurst for the US Senate in Texas. His voting record reflects an originalist interpretation of the US Constitution and this has earned him many enemies on both sides of the aisle. While certainly not the perfect candidate (are there any?), his record of voting and the issues he supports represent the closest opportunity Americans have had since Ronald Reagan to vote for a candidate with strong Constitutional Conservative leanings. There is no other candidate left in this race (since Rand Paul has dropped out) that is widely described as a Constitutionalist by anyone who understands the meaning of the word.

I can no longer hold my nose while voting  and I will no longer simply settle for whoever is less evil than the rest. I do not have any use or value for made up

political parties. I will forever base my votes on which candidate holds a strict, originalist interpretation of the US Constitution and who's actions display this. If no candidate exists on the ballot, then I will be forced to write the name in myself. Surely many will chirp and screech about my failure to vote for their candidate is a de facto vote for the opponent, but I disagree. My vote does not belong to any one candidate by default. Failing to give it to that default candidate does not represent a theft of a vote from the default candidate. It is my vote until someone, a Constitutionalist, earns it. Having a certain letter after your name is not enough. Not being Hillary Clinton is not enough. Vowing to give away free stuff is not enough. I require a thorough understanding of the US Constitution, the importance of it and the will to abide by the constraints it contains.

There is one and only one candidate left in this race who fits that description and that is where my vote will go.

A truly simple guide to being an accurate pistol shooter.

I've had some people ask me to teach them how to shoot, but most who ask do not actually follow through on the plans to go shooting. Many people are intimidated simply by how complicated some pistol shooters make it sound. I'm going to try to explain this as simply as possible. Shooting a pistol accurately IS truly a simple thing. If it's being made to sound complicated, then it's probably not being explained properly.

There are four things to focus on when shooting a pistol. You need to focus on stance, grip, sight picture and trigger squeeze, in that order.

Stance: Get into a comfortable and well balanced stance. The most important thing to remember about stance is "nose over toes", which means basically "do not lean backwards". Many people go into their shooting stance looking like they're getting ready to do the limbo. Lean forward slightly at the waist and hips. Shooting a pistol is an aggressive action no matter what your target is. So be aggressive and lean into it a little. Nose over toes. Get comfortable and don't lean backward.

Grip: Wrap your shooting hand around the grip normally and place your trigger finger straight alongside the slide, being careful not to put it inside the trigger well until it's time to fire. Your thumb should be pointing forward, not up or down. Your non shooting hand needs to be wrapped around the other hand, letting each finger fall into the "spaces" or "grooves" between the fingers on your shooting hand. Your thumbs should lie together pointing forward toward the target's general direction. Hold onto the grip as tight as you can. It's that simple. The tighter the better. Tighter equals less movement during firing. Hold your arms straight out toward the target and let your elbows point a little outward rather than downward. This elbow position is recommended but not vital.

Sight Picture: Sight picture is very important to getting a good shot. The rear and front sights must be aligned on the exact spot of the target you want to hit. The pinpoint location of where you are aiming is referred to as the "point of aim" (POA). The spot where the fired bullet actually hits is referred to as the "point of impact" (POI). You need to have a good sight picture lined up, because if the POA and the POI are not in the same spot, the difference can indicate exactly what type of problem you are having with the other steps. Again, the front sight needs to be well aligned with the rear sight and then placed on the center of the target. Try to focus your eyes on the front sight above all else. This will normally cause your view of the target to become slightly fuzzy, as the eyes can only focus on one of the two objects that are at differing distances. It is alright for the target to look slightly fuzzy. This will not make it harder to aim the (clearly seen) front sight at the center of the target. Focusing on the front sight and keeping it clear in your view will help you keep it steady.

Trigger Squeeze: The trigger squeeze sequence is where you need to practice the most. Getting the other three steps right simply requires a bit of memory. The trigger squeeze is a technique that requires practice and patience. If you have a good sight picture, then you can easily diagnose a bad shot with the trigger technique you're using. Someone who "anticipates the shot" will often have a low POI compared to their POA. Someone who "pulls" on the trigger instead of properly rolling the trigger smoothly back will often have a POI that is to the right of the POA. These are very common mistakes and take a little practice to overcome. Even experienced shooters will often notice a low-right POI, and they know that they need to smooth out their trigger squeeze and stop anticipating their shot. As a shooter, you should allow the recoil of the pistol to "surprise" you. Obviously you will not be mentally surprised by it because you are purposely firing the pistol, but the recoil should be allowed to physically surprise you. Bracing against or pushing against the expected recoil is a natural reaction you need to practice yourself out of. It isn't difficult, but does require some practice.

Those are the four aspects of pistol shooting. It can really be as simple as that.

The start of your food storage.

Recently I began the first steps of long term food storage. A lot of "peppers" just starting out are daunted by the idea of managing massive amounts of various food and cycling them routinely to always use the oldest food first, canning, growing, packaging, etc. This is understandable, but it must be overcome. The day you realize that your family has all the guns and ammo, silver and gold, camouflage clothes, razor wire, medical supplies you could ever need, but has only stored a week's worth of food and even less water will be bad day. The key to getting yourself started on food storage is to start simple with some "universal" foods that are easy to obtain, package and prepare.

Rice, beans, salt, sugar and black pepper are a great place to start. You'll need to buy some 5 gallon food grade buckets with lids that seal properly. A triangular symbol on the bottom of the bucket that says "HDPE 2" with let you know that you've got the right ones. Now go online and find some gallon sized Mylar bags. The food will go inside these and you'll seal them up with a flat iron or something similar. Just a second of heat from that will seal the bag shut. I recommend also buying some oxygen absorbers and moisture absorbers (similar to what you find inside food packages, you just throw them in the trash when you see them). Moisture absorbers will go in the bags of rice and beans while the oxygen absorbers will go in with the salt and sugar. Don't mix them up or else your salt and sugar will get hard as a rock and to use it you'll have to scrape off what you need.

I first recommend using 5 gallon buckets with sealing lids for your storage. The black pepper is easiest. Buy whole peppercorns and leave them in their original, airtight grocery store containers. Make sure you have a manual pepper grinder or else you'll end up doing it all by hand. My pepper is simply placed in one of the buckets with the salt, specifically the salt bucket that wasn't totally full and had room for a couple of containers of pepper and a pepper mill. Whole peppercorns will last longer than ground black pepper. In fact, most foods will last longer in a less processed state.

Salt is only a little more complicated than pepper. Go to any store that sells iodized salt and get as much as you want to store away. I've got fifty pounds or so stored away right now. Pour the salt into the Mylar and put in a couple of moisture absorber packets. Take your flat iron and seal the top. Don't seal more than an inch from the top so you have space to reseal it with the iron again if you have to get it open.

The sugar is packaged up the exact same way as the sugar. Mark the bags with the content, date and whatever other info you want to know and put the bags into a bucket. Lid it up and there you have it. The Mylar will keep the environment out of your food and the bucket will provide easier moving and protect the bags from punctures.

Beans and rice are stored basically the same way. The only difference here is that you will put oxygen absorbers in them instead of moisture absorbers. Seal them into the Mylar and drop the bags into you buckets. I recommend writing on the bags rather than the buckets, because you can put anything in the buckets later.

Some tips:

-Keep any unused absorbers in a sealed container. Don't keep them exposed to the environment for more than a moment or two. They always need to be in the sealed Mylar or in some other sealed storage.

-Keep the final product in a cool place. Try not to store outside and avoid extremes in temperature.

-A good starting amount for almost anyone is about 50 pounds. My wife and I were able to bag up and store 50 pounds of rice, salt and sugar in just an hour or so. That plus two plastic cans of peppercorns fits into six 5 gallon buckets.

-None of the items in this post are expensive. It doesn't take long for ANYONE of ANY budget to save the money to store food like what's in this post.

-It's obviously not ideal to end up stuck with nothing but rice, beans, salt, sugar and pepper to eat for a long period of time, but it is all easy to cook and very few people will have any aversion to rice or beans. This is why it's a good place to start. You can live on rice and beans for a long time if you have nothing else.

-White rice is highly recommended to store over any other type of rice. Brown rice will not stay good for more than about two years no matter how it's stored. Stored brown rice will need to be rotated out. Stored in the above fashion, white rice will keep for at least 15 years, possibly up to 20 years. Pinto beans will have about half of that lifespan. The sugar and salt may last even longer than the rice.

-Don't dip into the buckets except in emergencies. Simply needing a cup of sugar to bake with is not an emergency. Being low on rice for dinner is not an emergency. Food storage is not there as a convenient way to avoid a grocery store trip. There are some foods that need to be used and rotated, but foods that keep for 10+ years are not that.

-Preparing rice or beans in an austere environment requires no more skills than being able to start a fire and boil water on an open flame.

-While I do not recommend giving away your food stores, the items in this post are obviously great trading items in a post SHTF scenario. Consider that our bodies need iodine to survive, and that we get almost all of our dietary iodine from iodized salt products.

Starting out with this food in storage means that you and your family WILL NOT STARVE during a disaster scenario. It is not ideal or recommended to sit on these food preps and be satisfied with them, but having 50 pounds of rice, beans, salt, sugar and a few cans of peppercorns puts you WAY ahead of anyone that has just the average pantry. Most people have little more than a few days of sustainment in their pantries.

The global consequences of American geopolitical and military weakness.

The US truly became an empire, even if it was unaware of it or unwilling to be one, at the moment of victory in WWII and not a single day before. The world was truly aflame during that war. We haven't seen an inferno even close to that since then, despite the potential for the Cold War to become the most devastating war in history. The Cold War stayed cold for a reason. That reason was NOT Russian power. It was American power. The world will not burn again until the lack of the American military and geopolitical power abroad provides a vacuum.

Our president and his administration is in the process of intentionally weakening the US influence around the world and the results of doing so are apparently going to be immediate. One thing is certain, Obama is the first president who intentionally and knowingly attempted to make the US weaker around the world. He is the first who actively sought to bring America DOWN to the level of the rest of the world. Russia and China have aggressively seized on this opportunity to expand their sphere of influence (SOI) during this time.

Once Russia and China make gains (economically, militarily, politically) in their SOI, it will be nearly impossible for those gains to be scaled back significantly without a collapse (think of the Soviet Union collapse). There will be many who look at the entire picture of this and say "Who cares? We have our own problems to deal with!" These are the people who do not have an understanding of how the world today is interconnected. These are the people who have no understanding of the end goals of Russia and China.

While we see the aggressive actions of our largest nation-bound enemies, we also see the rise of "terrorist armies" like ISIS. This hybridized (sometimes guerrilla, sometimes conventional) threat is fairly new in our lifetime when you look at some of the characteristics of ISIS. I say "fairly" new because it's basically AQ on steroids. Steroids and crack. Not much has been done to weaken this army as it stands in the Levant. There is no real coalition. There is no real stomach for commitment. There is little sense of urgency. Our leaders are afraid to do what is necessary. More weakness on the global stage when there is a great opportunity for strength.

We also see our smaller nation-bound enemies getting bolder and bolder. Iran has spread it's tentacles throughout the entire world. Iran is actively providing training, weapons, equipment and funding to operatives on every inhabited continent and they're doing it on a massive scale. North Korea (nK) is another example of a "small enemy" doing big things, but I'm not going to elaborate because I signed a Nondisclosure Agreement upon leaving the Army. Take my word or don't, but just because they are not a conventional threat to us (or really anyone beyond a roughly 45 day blitz against South Korea) does not mean they are not a threat at all. In my professional opinion, a large majority of nK's ability to pose a threat to us and our allies was gained in just the last 4-5 years.

Speaking of our allies, they are seeing our efforts to weaken ourselves and are losing confidence in us at light speed. Britain, Germany and France have begun jockeying for European leadership now that it actually matters. These allies are now preparing for a world in which they must go it alone if need be. I'd say these nations should have been ready for the day when the US wasn't able or willing to ride in to save them, but do not allow yourself to be fooled into thinking we don't benefit from having a group of allies at our back. They are not geopolitically weak and we benefit greatly from our allies knowing that we are strong. They see our weakness and it has already begun to have political and economic consequences.


I can continue on and on, discussing the implications of American weakness for our smaller allies, the deterioration of our friendship with Israel, the sham that is the Iranian negotiations, the Saudis and other Arab states launching military strikes against Islamic extremists without notifying us (they aren't obligated to do so, but the fact that they used to and now no longer do so is quite telling), South American countries officially shipping their poor, unhealthy and criminals to Mexico and Mexico actively facilitating their infiltration over the border, Russian and Chinese banks buying massive amounts of precious metals while they actively work to bring down the American economy, etc. These things are not guaranteed to be prevented by American geopolitical and military strength projected abroad, but when that strength is missing, those things are guaranteed to occur and we are guaranteed to pay a price for it at home.

Beginning your food stores.

In the near future I will begin stockpiling stored food to feed my family in the event of a disruption of the commercial supply lines. It goes without saying that one should be able to hunt, fish and gather food from nature in order to sustain your survival group long term. However, that is a different type of subject. For now I'll go over stored food and how I plan to build my "larder".

Stored food is a good means of knowing exactly how long you and your's will be able to eat before having to resupply or begin "living off the land". Many companies sell stored food buckets with a specific number of servings and will tell you how long certain size groups of people will be able to eat with that amount stored.

A good initial plan for someone who is beginning in their preparedness is to store prepackaged long-term storage food. Two well known companies who produce this type of food are "Mountain House" and "Wise." I only have experience with Mountain House, and their quality is at the top of the industry. Many companies produce these stored food in buckets that have packaged portions and meals. You can buy these buckets and calculate the amount of meals you have per person in your household per day. It's a good idea to store enough of these to last you family or survival group for between one and three months.

Of course, you'd like to have food for long than that, so store as much as you can. Eventually your group will need to be able to find, grow, hunt and fish for food. But in the event of a short-term emergency, this prepackaged food can be a life saver. In a long-term emergency, prepackaged good can allow you to have a backup supply in case you aren't able to produce food for a short time.

List of Lists - Websites

To complete my posts on the List of Lists, I'll leave you with a few websites you can use to meet like-minded people and discuss survival-related topics. These sites will teach you a lot and open your eyes to the need for a survival mindset.

www.SurvivalBlog.com

www.SurvivalistBoards.com

www.BushcraftUSA.com

www.FreeAmericanNational.blogspot.com

List of Lists - Water Filtration, Purification & Storage

The ability to filter and purify water for drinking and other uses is often overlooked because, frankly, it's a boring topic. However, it's possibly the most important. Storing enough water to last any significant period of time is also daunting in it's requirements. I recommend storing an ABSOLUTE MINIMUM of one gallon per person per day. Let say you have three people in your family. You hope to last 30 days? That's 90 gallons for just one month. That's if you all plan to drink the minimum, bathe rarely and cook two or less meals per day. That's your minimum amount needed, but I recommend storing above that amount. As much as possible.

Portable filtration system

Purification tablets

Iodine tablets

Water bottles & canteens

Metal containers for boiling

Water jugs and storage barrels

Eventually that storage WILL run out. So it's imperative to be able to obtain water after the faucets stop and the storage runs out. Creating your own or buying a water catchment system (especially in areas of the country will predictable, reliable and regular rains) will generally solve the problem. Here are just two choices when you search on the internet for "water catchment systems":

http://www.arcsa.org/

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Water/Water.htm

I also highly recommend purchasing filtration systems from a company called Berkey. There are many places online to purchase the Berkey portable water filtration systems. Look through their options to find the right size for your family.

List of Lists - Vehicles

In a long term survival situation, vehicles are likely going to have a short life. Unless you have the ability to set up your own mechanic shop and stock several extra parts for every situation, your vehicle will probably become an immovable barricade at some point. In a short term situation, you can keep your vehicle operational. For the long term situation, the key is to find a balance between saving your vehicle use to prolong it's life and using it for times when you really need it. Having these items will extend it's usefulness as a rolling vehicle and delay that point at which it becomes a roadblock.

Antifreeze

Jacks and tire irons

Tire gauges

Tow chains, hooks and straps

Winch

Road flares, cones and warning triangles

Replacement headlights

Battery charger

Spare batteries

Jumper cables

Spare tires for each vehicle

Motor oil

Oil filters

Brake fluid

Transmission fluid

Power steering fluid

Seat belt cutter

List of Lists - Tools

Having tools at your BOL is obviously important. You're going to need to be able to handle all repair jobs that you may have normally called someone else to do. You'll need to acquire the knowledge you need to safely and effectively use these tools. Don't be afraid to buy extras. You'll notice I made everything on this list plural for that reason. Tools are made to take hard work, but they won't always be able to handle that forever.

Multitools

Various survival knives

Shovels

Hand shovels

Rakes

Hammers

Screwdrivers

Wrenches and sockets

Sharpening instruments for knives and edged tools

Axe & hatchets

Bolt cutters

Hand saws (hacksaws & blades)

Chains

Ropes

Work gloves

Machetes

Various nails & screws

In a survival situation, make sure to be extra careful using anything with an edge. Small cuts can result in infection and death when you have zero chance of getting medical care.