What Happens When Law Enforcement Fails?

There’s been countless films predicting the end of civilization as we know it, and the one consistent factor is the rise of crime and the growth of the ‘every man for himself’ mentality.

We’re lucky to live in a part of the world that’s among the most wealthy, and property rights are enshrined in law (see the fifth amendment property rights) and protected by law enforcement. If the predictions are correct that sooner or later the authorities will lose control, whether by self destructing or as the result of a huge event, we could suddenly find that the foundations upon which our lives and beliefs are built are gone, and the world as we know it is too.

Think about it – without the protection of law enforcement, law itself is worthless. Your home is no longer your own, your car could be taken at any moment, and the only person who will (or can) do anything about it is you. Could you stop a violent mob from ransacking your home and stealing your belongings? Is it even stealing if there’s no real law left to determine right from wrong? Ethically perhaps, but what good are ethics in the face of danger?

There’s a rising force in America today, with people spending more and more time considering what they can do to protect themselves in the face of such lawlessness, and its something that could be useful in our daily lives right now. For example, we rely heavily upon our gas and electricity supplies, along with fresh water being piped into our homes. Those are services we consider to be essentials, but may soon fail in the event of societal collapse. What would you do? If you’re like most Americans, the answer is probably to panic. On the other hand, if you’d invested in solar panels and either electric heaters or bottled gas, you’d be comfortable for at least the short term. Water purification techniques are also surprisingly easy to learn, so a local stream or the ability to harvest rain water would literally be a life saving resource.

Rooftop Solar Panels
Solar panels are so affordable that they make sense to reduce bills, but protect your family if power is lost

As we said, more and more people are becoming familiar with these preparations and putting them into place – that’s why they’re known as Preppers. It doesn’t take a genius to work out either that solar energy sources can reduce your outgoings too – for every kilowatt of electricity your panels supply, that’s one kilowatt you don’t have to pay the power company to supply. In the same way, using collected rainwater on your garden veggies is both cheaper and more environmentally friendly than using the fresh, clean drinking water you buy from the water company.

Makes a lot of sense really when you think about things, doesn’t it? With a little thought and investment of time and money, you could be more resilient in the future and also reduce those monthly bills too. In a few hundred words, we’ve already summed up how easy it is to keep your family fed, watered and warm in the event of a complete collapse of civilization, and it’s really not as difficult as you might think to achieve.

You might be wondering where to start to move on from today’s vulnerabilities to tomorrows relative safety and protection from over reliance upon society. How do you even know where to start if you don’t know what to do?

Fortunately one of the greatest inventions of our time – the internet – is on your side. Websites give you an insight into everything from the green energy and water purification techniques we referred to earlier, to how to protect yourself and your family. These bite sized chunks of information and ideas can stack up to a really comprehensive plan very quickly, and are designed to give you a rounded set of survival skills in the shortest possible time. What’s more the time and financial investment required is surprisingly small too.

There’s even extensive information on what to store away in terms of food, helping you to keep your family from starvation and even maintain a relatively healthy diet, all while sticking to foods with very long shelf life.

While all this stems from a few simple (and far from unlikely) events leading to societal breakdown, the domino effect is easy to predict. A population that is getting ever more desperate will take increasingly less consideration for their neighbors, and friends can fast become enemies. In the same way that you teach your children escape routes by planning for events like a fire in the home, parents should at the very least consider what they would do in these situations too. It might seem far fetched and unlikely, but a little time spent considering outcomes and planning for them now could be the difference between your family being the one that thrives and being the ones that struggle should that day arrive.