(The Epoch Times)—“Youth crime is out of control” is the refrain heard on many lips around Australia and the Western world. Another common phrase is “The youth are our future.”
Put those two phrases together and we are left contemplating, indeed fearing for, the future well-being of our society. The statistics on youth crime regularly adorn newspapers and lead electronic media bulletins. Youth crime is a scourge.
So how did we get here? What can we do about it?
Like with any ingrained social problem, there is no quick fix. Something that took a generation or two may well take a similar time to repair. It takes a lot less time to crash a car than it does to repair it. So it is with society.
1. Start With the Family
The social data is relatively clear. A good home life with a mother and a father who are married in a loving long-term relationship is an important influencer on a child’s positive social behaviour.
Broken homes with a lack of an authority figure tend to produce the opposite. Explore the background of a youth offender there will nearly always be the scars of trauma.
As with all things social data, the statistics deal in generalities and there are exceptions, indeed many exceptions. Nevertheless, a stable home life with mum and dad is the best start in life a young person can be given. Pro-family policies help to keep families together and reduce cost of living pressures. And the real choice of having a parent stay at home, especially in the formative years, is urgently needed.
2. Bring Back Education on Traditional Values
To back up the home influence, we need a school system that teaches genuine respect for others and parents. Too often we hear how the education system, which should be complementing the parental role, is undermining it. Rather than emphasising the nuclear family it is denigrated for not being “diverse.”
While parents hope and strive to get their children job-ready, we have a schooling system teaching every “right” imaginable forgetting that “responsibility” comes before “rights” and not only in the dictionary—a book which one suspects the children have not been told about.
While students are encouraged to defy authorities by leaving classes to demonstrate all manner of things, including supporting the terrorist group Hamas rather than learning basic skills, we witness an abhorrent indoctrination of our young.
A reformed education system focusing on virtues, values, service, and equipping our young with real-life skills would be another essential policy change.
3. A Better Media
The media and entertainment houses have a social responsibility to present role models for young people to whom they can look up.
Social chaos and lack of morals, combined with denigrating parents and vital social institutions, serve to unsettle children and their direction in life.
The idea that a life is best served by asking, “What is expected of me” rather than “What is in it for me” is now totally absent. A responsible media analysing its duty for partnering to develop a healthy social consciousness is yet another step.
4. Don’t Fear the Preacher
We all need hope and purpose in life. Hope is largely provided through the religious/spiritual institutions. Individual faith today is ridiculed and besmirched by the education system and the media, even though it is often the religious-based organisations that provide support and offer an alternate pathway.
Closely linked to religious belief, which provides hope, is the need for purpose. Without it, the young will fall into a life of anti-social behaviour and criminal activity.
5. Power to Law Enforcement
To help counter this trend, law enforcement agencies must be fully empowered to protect the community rather than the perpetrator.
With the vast majority of young perpetrators being released on immediate bail and portrayed as victims (of society), their interaction with the legal system is hardly a deterrent.
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To make matters worse we have a justice system more interested in the immediate happiness of the perpetrator than in providing a punishment to drive home the seriousness, and consequences on others, of their unacceptable behaviour.
6. It’s About Personal Responsibility
Rehabilitation has to be the societal goal for those who have offended. However, the desire to rehabilitate is only activated by the recognition that the individual has a problem.
Reinforcing that the issues faced are not really the perpetrator’s fault, and they don’t really possess the agency and capacity to reform, hardly encourages self-reflection.
The future of our society and the well-being of our young requires a wholesale acceptance that the current methodologies are not working.
We need focused pro-family policies, a recognition that agency and responsibility are required of us all, irrespective of our background, together with the strong acceptance that there will be felt consequences for those disregarding their fellow’s rights to safety and protection of property.
The individual well-being of our young demands such changes as does the well-being of society as a whole and our collective future.
Let’s get started.
Five Things New “Preppers” Forget When Getting Ready for Bad Times Ahead
The preparedness community is growing faster than it has in decades. Even during peak times such as Y2K, the economic downturn of 2008, and Covid, the vast majority of Americans made sure they had plenty of toilet paper but didn’t really stockpile anything else.
Things have changed. There’s a growing anxiety in this presidential election year that has prompted more Americans to get prepared for crazy events in the future. Some of it is being driven by fearmongers, but there are valid concerns with the economy, food supply, pharmaceuticals, the energy grid, and mass rioting that have pushed average Americans into “prepper” mode.
There are degrees of preparedness. One does not have to be a full-blown “doomsday prepper” living off-grid in a secure Montana bunker in order to be ahead of the curve. In many ways, preparedness isn’t about being able to perfectly handle every conceivable situation. It’s about being less dependent on government for as long as possible. Those who have proper “preps” will not be waiting for FEMA to distribute emergency supplies to the desperate masses.
Below are five things people new to preparedness (and sometimes even those with experience) often forget as they get ready. All five are common sense notions that do not rely on doomsday in order to be useful. It may be nice to own a tank during the apocalypse but there’s not much you can do with it until things get really crazy. The recommendations below can have places in the lives of average Americans whether doomsday comes or not.
Note: The information provided by this publication or any related communications is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as financial advice. We do not provide personalized investment, financial, or legal advice.
Secured Wealth
Whether in the bank or held in a retirement account, most Americans feel that their life’s savings is relatively secure. At least they did until the last couple of years when de-banking, geopolitical turmoil, and the threat of Central Bank Digital Currencies reared their ugly heads.
It behooves Americans to diversify their holdings. If there’s a triggering event or series of events that cripple the financial systems or devalue the U.S. Dollar, wealth can evaporate quickly. To hedge against potential turmoil, many Americans are looking in two directions: Crypto and physical precious metals.
There are huge advantages to cryptocurrencies, but there are also inherent risks because “virtual” money can become challenging to spend. Add in the push by central banks and governments to regulate or even replace cryptocurrencies with their own versions they control and the risks amplify. There’s nothing wrong with cryptocurrencies today but things can change rapidly.
As for physical precious metals, many Americans pay cash to keep plenty on hand in their safe. Rolling over or transferring retirement accounts into self-directed IRAs is also a popular option, but there are caveats. It can often take weeks or even months to get the gold and silver shipped if the owner chooses to close their account. This is why Genesis Gold Group stands out. Their relationship with the depositories allows for rapid closure and shipping, often in less than 10 days from the time the account holder makes their move. This can come in handy if things appear to be heading south.
Lots of Potable Water
One of the biggest shocks that hit new preppers is understanding how much potable water they need in order to survive. Experts claim one gallon of water per person per day is necessary. Even the most conservative estimates put it at over half-a-gallon. That means that for a family of four, they’ll need around 120 gallons of water to survive for a month if the taps turn off and the stores empty out.
Being near a fresh water source, whether it’s a river, lake, or well, is a best practice among experienced preppers. It’s necessary to have a water filter as well, even if the taps are still working. Many refuse to drink tap water even when there is no emergency. Berkey was our previous favorite but they’re under attack from regulators so the Alexapure systems are solid replacements.
For those in the city or away from fresh water sources, storage is the best option. This can be challenging because proper water storage containers take up a lot of room and are difficult to move if the need arises. For “bug in” situations, having a larger container that stores hundreds or even thousands of gallons is better than stacking 1-5 gallon containers. Unfortunately, they won’t be easily transportable and they can cost a lot to install.
Water is critical. If chaos erupts and water infrastructure is compromised, having a large backup supply can be lifesaving.
Pharmaceuticals and Medical Supplies
There are multiple threats specific to the medical supply chain. With Chinese and Indian imports accounting for over 90% of pharmaceutical ingredients in the United States, deteriorating relations could make it impossible to get the medicines and antibiotics many of us need.
Stocking up many prescription medications can be hard. Doctors generally do not like to prescribe large batches of drugs even if they are shelf-stable for extended periods of time. It is a best practice to ask your doctor if they can prescribe a larger amount. Today, some are sympathetic to concerns about pharmacies running out or becoming inaccessible. Tell them your concerns. It’s worth a shot. The worst they can do is say no.
If your doctor is unwilling to help you stock up on medicines, then Jase Medical is a good alternative. Through telehealth, they can prescribe daily meds or antibiotics that are shipped to your door. As proponents of medical freedom, they empathize with those who want to have enough medical supplies on hand in case things go wrong.
Energy Sources
The vast majority of Americans are locked into the grid. This has proven to be a massive liability when the grid goes down. Unfortunately, there are no inexpensive remedies.
Those living off-grid had to either spend a lot of money or effort (or both) to get their alternative energy sources like solar set up. For those who do not want to go so far, it’s still a best practice to have backup power sources. Diesel generators and portable solar panels are the two most popular, and while they’re not inexpensive they are not out of reach of most Americans who are concerned about being without power for extended periods of time.
Natural gas is another necessity for many, but that’s far more challenging to replace. Having alternatives for heating and cooking that can be powered if gas and electric grids go down is important. Have a backup for items that require power such as manual can openers. If you’re stuck eating canned foods for a while and all you have is an electric opener, you’ll have problems.
Don’t Forget the Protein
When most think about “prepping,” they think about their food supply. More Americans are turning to gardening and homesteading as ways to produce their own food. Others are working with local farmers and ranchers to purchase directly from the sources. This is a good idea whether doomsday comes or not, but it’s particularly important if the food supply chain is broken.
Most grocery stores have about one to two weeks worth of food, as do most American households. Grocers rely heavily on truckers to receive their ongoing shipments. In a crisis, the current process can fail. It behooves Americans for multiple reasons to localize their food purchases as much as possible.
Long-term storage is another popular option. Canned foods, MREs, and freeze dried meals are selling out quickly even as prices rise. But one component that is conspicuously absent in shelf-stable food is high-quality protein. Most survival food companies offer low quality “protein buckets” or cans of meat, but they are often barely edible.
Prepper All-Naturals offers premium cuts of steak that have been cooked sous vide and freeze dried to give them a 25-year shelf life. They offer Ribeye, NY Strip, and Tenderloin among others.
Having buckets of beans and rice is a good start, but keeping a solid supply of high-quality protein isn’t just healthier. It can help a family maintain normalcy through crises.
Prepare Without Fear
With all the challenges we face as Americans today, it can be emotionally draining. Citizens are scared and there’s nothing irrational about their concerns. Being prepared and making lifestyle changes to secure necessities can go a long way toward overcoming the fears that plague us. We should hope and pray for the best but prepare for the worst. And if the worst does come, then knowing we did what we could to be ready for it will help us face those challenges with confidence.
