off duty LEO holster causes panic

[VMI77]

At this point the system can't be fixed by the ballot box; the ballot box is what broke it in the first place. The Founders knew Democracies don't last and that's why they created a Republic. One man one vote is a prescription for failure....two wolves and a lamb, as they say, voting on what's for dinner. The takers find their payouts at the ballot box and we're already at the point where the takers out number the makers. It's only a matter of time now until the "Democracy" erodes what remains of the Republic, and the pace has greatly accelerated under The One. Economic collapse is now inevitable, it also is just a matter of time. It may take five years or twenty years, I have no idea, but our system is unsustainable in its current form and there is no will to fix it. And that lack of will may actually make a kind of sick sense, because what's needed to fix it may well produce results that are as bad or worse than letting it run its course.

If that's true, and it may well be, what's got you sticking around? I'm not revolutionary - and I'm smart enough that if I was a revolutionary, I wouldn't be talking about it on the open internet knowing our federal government's habits for consuming data. I've seen various people prescribe to the coming revoltion/war/dooms-day, but we've had those people for as long as we've had documentation...

I can see us going broke as a country, but we'll be the last in a long line of economic collapse... Or maybe the first that triggers the rest of the world.

Maybe I should go build that bunker? For now, we'll just call it a tornado shelter so I'm not appropriately labelled.

I'm not seeking the results, nor am I a revolutionary. I don't have any choice but to stick around, but this isn't 1940 --there's no place to flee to anyway-- and even if there was I am probably more inclined to go down with the ship. This is my country, I signed up to fight for it once, and if I have to, I'll fight for it again --I'd just rather not have to. As far as a coming revolution, that's anybody's guess.....certainly it isn't anything that is just about to happen. Conditions will have to get a lot worse for it even to be a possibility and even then I think it's unlikely. Most likely I think is the chaos of economic collapse. I'm not talking about an apocalypse --not even something on the level of Bosnia, but something more like the general chaos of South Africa.

On a personal level there's really not all that much I can do since even though I'm pretty sure about what has to happen, I have no idea when it will happen. It may not happen in my lifetime. In the meantime about all I can do is structure my life to be able to enjoy doing what I like doing and make my best guesses about how to hold on to or increase whatever limited wealth I've accumulated.

[cb1000rider]

IF you were the military, thank you for your service.

There are lots of places to go.... Lots of expatriates and communities of expatriates that are almost exclusively military retirees overseas. Many of those places you'll extend your standard of living substantially.
I'm suggesting that you leave, I know that I'd probably get the heck out if I thought there was some impending disaster on the scale of South Africa.

[The Annoyed Man]

...I think the media is more to blame than liberals.....

That's kind of like saying "I think small purple men at Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory are more to blame than Oompa Loompas."

[cb1000rider]

I think I'd need to watch the movie to understand the reference.

[VMI77]

IF you were the military, thank you for your service.

There are lots of places to go.... Lots of expatriates and communities of expatriates that are almost exclusively military retirees overseas. Many of those places you'll extend your standard of living substantially.

I'm suggesting that you leave, I know that I'd probably get the heck out if I thought there was some impending disaster on the scale of South Africa.

That's the way it looks now....it won't necessarily look that way after a US economic collapse. I've been all over the world and like plenty of other countries...I'm not xenophobic. When it happens it will effect the entire world. I'm not retired and I can't afford to leave the country now. Also, in a collapse, those retirement checks are going to stop. And most all of those countries deny you the means to defend yourself, and in a post-collapse scenario Americans may not be very well liked and could well become scapegoats or just objects of great envy if they remain relatively OK while the natives are struggling to survive. I'm also not willing to leave my kids behind and I can't afford to take them.

Also, no offense, I know you mean well, but I really don't care much for the thank you for your service stuff --it makes me uncomfortable. I wanted to go into the military. It was my desire from about 12 years old. I wasn't drafted, I volunteered. It was a choice I made of my own free will; I didn't do it for accolades and I don't need to be thanked. Maybe it's more appropriate to thank those who didn't have a choice.

[cb1000rider]

That's the way it looks now....it won't necessarily look that way after a US economic collapse. I've been all over the world and like plenty of other countries...I'm not xenophobic. When it happens it will effect the entire world. I'm not retired and I can't afford to leave the country now. Also, in a collapse, those retirement checks are going to stop. And most all of those countries deny you the means to defend yourself, and in a post-collapse scenario Americans may not be very well liked and could well become scapegoats or just objects of great envy if they remain relatively OK while the natives are struggling to survive. I'm also not willing to leave my kids behind and I can't afford to take them.

All good points.. If it happens to the entire world, might as well be a native. Especially in Texas.

Also, no offense, I know you mean well, but I really don't care much for the thank you for your service stuff --it makes me uncomfortable. I wanted to go into the military. It was my desire from about 12 years old. I wasn't drafted, I volunteered. It was a choice I made of my own free will; I didn't do it for accolades and I don't need to be thanked. Maybe it's more appropriate to thank those who didn't have a choice.

Noted for next time. I've got several good friends - it's a 24/7/365 job and respect the nature of what they do, even if they signed up for professional reasons.
And you're right.. I should thank those who didn't have a choice because that wasn't an issue that I've ever had to face.

[Jaguar]

Also, no offense, I know you mean well, but I really don't care much for the thank you for your service stuff --it makes me uncomfortable. I wanted to go into the military. It was my desire from about 12 years old. I wasn't drafted, I volunteered. It was a choice I made of my own free will; I didn't do it for accolades and I don't need to be thanked. Maybe it's more appropriate to thank those who didn't have a choice.

Oh thank heaven someone feels the same as I do. Yes, I enlisted, but it was for me, not for any great approval of the general public. I joined in 1983 when the military was in the doldrums, no wars going on, people still recoiling from Vietnam, not appreciated but not necessary unappreciated. I too am uncomfortable when someone thanks me for what I view as basically a selfish act - gaining training, experience, and discipline - and being paid for it.