

Welcome To the Survival & Self Reliance Studies Institute's Home Page!
"The spirit of the times may alter, will alter. Our rulers will become corrupt, our people careless. A single zealot may commence persecutor, and better men be his victims. It can never be too often repeated that the time for fixing every essential right on a legal basis is while our rulers are honest and ourselves united.
From the conclusion of their war for independence, a nation begins going down hill. It will not then be necessary for the government to resort every moment to the people for support. The people will be forgotten, therefore, and their rights disregarded. The people will forget themselves but in the sole faculty of making money, and will never think of uniting to effect a due respect for their rights.
The shackles, therefore, which shall not be knocked off at the conclusion of that war will remain on them long, will be made heavier and heavier, till their rights shall revive . . . or expire in a convulsion."
--Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.XVII, 1782. (*) ME 2:225
Who can preserve the rights and liberties of the people, when they shall be abandoned by themselves? Who shall keep watch in the temple when the watchmen sleep at their posts? Who shall call upon the people to redeem their possessions, and revive the republic, when their own hands have deliberately and corruptly surrendered them to the oppressor, and have built the prisons or dug the graves of their own friends? America, free, happy, and enlightened as she is, must rest the preservation of her rights and liberties upon the virtue, independence, justice, and sagacity of her people. If either fails, the republic is gone. Its shadow may remain with all the pomp, and circumstance, and trickery of government, but its vital power will have departed.
In America the demagogue may arise as well as elsewhere. He is the natural, though spurious, growth of republics, and, like the courtier, he may, by his blandishments, delude the ears and blind the eyes of the people to their own destruction. If ever the day shall arrive in which the best talents and best virtues be driven from office by intrigue or corruption, by the ostracism of the press, or the still more unrelenting persecution of party, legislation will cease to be national. It will be wise by accident, and bad by system."
--Supreme Court Justice Story
February 3, 1812 – September 10, 1845
- in answer to the query as to the duration of our Republic
"Ask not what your Country can do for You. . . ask what You can do for your Country!"
-- John F. Kennedy - January 20th 1961
The people of this Nation, like it or not, are the sole standard bearers for the Rights of all mankind. There is not another nation on earth that recognizes the individual Rights of Man as inalienable and not dependent upon or submissive to the rule of government. If we allow our government to pervert this founding principle, to convince us that our Rights can only be administered through governmental largess, then we have betrayed the world and all mankind."
-- MEG Raven - January 20th 2009
04/2009
Real ID Act: Security & Prosperity Partnership of
North America: TARP: $3.55 TRILLION Dollar Budget: Dollar Plunging:
Economic Recession, Housing & Job Shortages, Lay-Offs, Energy "Crisis"
Looming: Food Prices Rising: Food Safety Modernization Act: UnConstitutional
Takeover of Private Businesses: Highest level US government representatives
portraying our Country in a negative fashion to foreign press & officials...
09/09/2009
1.7 TRILLION dollars in Circulation -
The FEDERAL RESERVE is monetizing our debt and
purposely sending
the United States towards inevitable HYPERINFLATION...
Majority Party fomenting racism and social division in response to growing
criticism of economic and political policies...
These are all manipulated events - some intentional, others through
incompetence - and you must be prepared for the consequences!
We are, quite possibly, in the initial stages of a new Civil War. At the
moment, it remains "civil" and is being fought only on the battleground of
ideas, with words and political maneuvering. HOWEVER, there is a
frighteningly real possibility of escalation. It is now more important than
ever that you prepare yourself, your family and your friends with the
information presented on this sight.
Ladies and gentlemen, in light of current events, it now appears that your self
reliant and survival preparations are about to separate you from the masses.
Congratulations on your foresight and wisdom.
For those of you getting a
late start, you've come to the right place. Here you will find all of
the information, skills and items you may need to wrest control of your
destiny from the whims of fate or the will of others. (If you are going to go
it alone, your first stop should probably be our "Planning
& Preparation" page, followed by the "Kits &
Lists" page.)
The human world is in turmoil, the effects of millennial mismanagement by
the power elite spreading and contaminating the natural order of life.
Today, we face most predominantly an economic upheaval. Tomorrow, perhaps,
an ecological one. There are natural disasters and extraterrestrial threats
- no, I don 't mean aliens (though I don't discount the possibility), but
asteroids and comets are a fact of life. Always there looms the spectre of social injustice and
political tyranny.
There may yet be time to avert a major economic disaster. There may be a
political solution to the turmoil our government has created amongst (and in
the name of) its people . It's never too late to turn back the tide
of evil. Nor is it ever too late to return to the people those rights and
responsibilities usurped by their leadership.
"We will BURY you!"
Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev famously used an expression generally
translated into English as "We will bury you!" ("Мы вас похороним!",
transliterated as 'My vas pokhoronim!') while addressing Western ambassadors
at a reception at the Polish embassy in Moscow on November 18, 1956. The
full translation of the quote reads: "Whether you like it or not, history is
on our side. We will dig you in" (Нравится вам или нет, но история на нашей
стороне. Мы вас закопаем).
On August 24, 1963, Khrushchev himself remarked in his speech in Yugoslavia,
"I once said, 'We will bury you,' and I got into trouble with it.
Of course we will not bury you with a shovel.
Your own working class will bury you," a
reference to the Marxist saying, "The proletariat is the undertaker of
capitalism"; a popular articulation of the materialist conception of history
as the inevitable progression of class struggle towards communism.
The quotation was used as the title of Jan Šejna's book on communist Cold
War strategies.
[SOURCE:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_will_bury_you ]
Regarding the 2008-09 Events:
This site was never intended to be a political one. What we must pay homage
to however is the reason we are able to freely exchange our ideas on
survival and self-reliant lifestyles: the Constitutional recognition and
protection of our inalienable human Rights as "endowed by our Creator" which
are not to be diminished or disregarded by either our neighbors or our
republican form of government.
Our Rights are ours - and
all peoples' - because we exist,
not because our government
exists. They are not privileges granted to
us or guaranteed us by our government. WE THE PEOPLE
are the only guarantors of the continued protection afforded us by
these Rights.
Throughout history there is not a single government
that has not inevitably degenerated into one form or another of oppression.
Just as nature abhors a vacuum, the nature of politics (and politicians)
abhors Freedom and Liberty.
The people of this Nation, like it or not, are the sole standard bearers for
the Rights of all mankind. There is not another nation on earth that
recognizes the individual rights of man as inalienable and not dependent
upon or submissive to the rule of government. If we allow our government to
pervert this founding principle, to convince us that our Rights can only be
administered through governmental largess, then we have betrayed the world
and all mankind.
Every government on Earth is waiting in breathless anticipation for the
American people to abdicate our self responsibility to demand and defend our
Right to individual Freedom, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Every government on Earth,
including our own. Only the Citizens of the
United States of America stand against the governments of the world imposing
complete domination upon its' people. Should we give up, should we
allow our government to persuade us otherwise,
then all is lost.
The two party political system has always had its flaws, but today it is a
complete perversion of the responsibilities entrusted in them. It is
unchecked and unbridled in direct contravention of Constitutional mandates -
and we have allowed it to become so. It has lost all sense of duty, honor,
and country. It is become a squabbling free-for-all in the pursuit of power,
prestige and money without regard for freedom or justice. It is devoid of
wisdom and honest compassion. It is designed to keep the population divided
against itself in order to manipulate us and maintain their grasp upon
government and the resources of our Nation.
Both party candidates are asking you to sell them your vote. Both parties
are offering to "give" you what they think you want, what they think you
need to survive. All you have to do is give them the power to grant your
every wish. All you have to do is worship them above all others.
John F. Kennedy once said, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what
you can do for your country." Now, I believe, it is time for the Citizens of
the United States of America to, "Ask not what your country can do for you.
Open your eyes and witness what your government has done
TO YOU...and TO YOUR COUNTRY!" Will you allow them to bribe your
Rights away from you? Will you sell your Freedom - and the last, best hope
of all mankind - for thirty pieces of silver?
For over two centuries this Nation has been a melting pot of individuals
willing to (for the most part) set aside their personal differences and
accept those who did not look, talk, act, think, or worship as they do
for the greater good of all - which translated to reaping the benefit of
the greater good for themselves. Our personal freedom and liberty
depends upon our ability to continue this live-and-let-live demeanor.
Our personal safety and prosperity rely upon our ability to accept the
differences of others, provided those others accept our differences as
well. That as long as they pose no physical threat or attempt to impose
their views, forcibly, on us, then we will reciprocate in kind. That in
all exchanges of any kind we will refrain from deliberate harm to others
and they will refrain from deliberately harming us. And that, when these
simple civil boundaries are abused, justice
is imposed rather than the invocation of law.
... As a nation, I
believe we still value these ideals, but the passion is spent and the
determination to uphold them is all but lost. The lunatic fringe has
captured control of our government and court systems, our economy and
banking industry, our schools, industries and media. They do not respect
freedom, liberty, justice or individuality unless it conforms to their
world-view, which they increasingly impose upon others, under threat of
duress, through their law. Our Constitution is a shield only so long as
we hold it up and wield it in front of us while battling for justice.
Sadly, the majority of those who respect the Constitution have taken to
hunkering down behind it, rather than engaging the forces against it.
A
shield only lasts so long against continued attacks before it
disintegrates. If we cannot and do not fight these forces, thereby
gaining some respite in which to strengthen our shield, then all is
lost.
I believe that the first step in this battle is to become self reliant
and cultivate the ability to survive while in the grip of adversity. The
second step is to find others capable of doing the same and band
together. The third step is to reinvigorate the thirst for Justice over
law, right over might, freedom over coercion, and free will over the
dictates of others - even "a majority" of others. To establish a county,
then a state, and finally - once again - a nation under these principles
is my ultimate hope. It won't be easy. It may not even be possible. But
everyone needs a goal, and you have to start somewhere. I choose to
start with myself. We'll see where it goes from there.
A New Idea on
Survival Communities Most survival groups/communities fail in the
first two years either because of the expense of maintaining the property or
the inability to maintain a non-survival presence. This idea may solve these
problems...
Our Mission:
Throughout all of our many changes,
our mission has always remained the same: "to provide the most
comprehensive database of survival, self-reliance, and emergency
preparedness information on the internet." SSRsi is committed to this
endeavor. We hope to accomplish this goal by judiciously linking only
to relevant data on any given site which pertains to a particular
topic of interest. This allows our visitors to immediately gather the
information they want without having to slog through multiple pages. Save time, save effort and avoid
frustration ~ bookmark SSRsi today, and don't forget to tell a friend! Use
the "Contact Us" button on any page to suggest topics or sites, and please
feel free to comment on our work. As always, SSRsi endeavors to remain
Advertisement Free!!! Your support, either through donations or purchases
found on these pages, helps us to keep it that way.
MEG's Note:
You may be seeing a few "advertisements" now. They aren't
paid advertisements (unless you buy something from them and we get a
percentage), nor are they selected willy-nilly, simply to make a buck. Each
of the businesses listed is there because we believe they have a product or
service you may find of benefit in your Self Reliant or Survival
preparations. We will endeavor to keep these ads from getting annoying.
What is Survivalism?:
Survivalism is a philosophy - a way
of life – and it is as varied in its methodology as the worlds’ religious or
political theories. The primary goal of survivalism, by any method chosen,
is to increase the odds for the continued existence of its followers, when
faced with a threatening situation. Contrary to popular opinion, it is not
an "activist" tautology. Most survivalists are reserved and quiet
individuals who have lost faith in society’s ability to protect its own, and
who have taken steps to lessen their dependence upon society for aid in an
emergency situation. Survivalists realize that modern society is a long and
twisted chain of interdependency. Each link of this societal chain is
dependent upon every other link to maintain its integrity. At various points
within this chain are links that provide the rest of the chain with food,
shelter, power, water, communications, transportation, and medical and
physical protection. Should one or more links fail, those placed before and
after the broken link(s) may find themselves without these necessary
resources. Should enough of these links be suddenly broken, the entire chain
may collapse. Survivalists attempt to reinforce the chain of society by
strengthening their own links. They do this by actively learning and
practicing the necessary skills to provide or obtain the basic necessities
of life for themselves, their families and their friends. They learn to
build and maintain their own homes, provide their own clothes, find, store
and purify their own water, establish and maintain their own communications
and transportation. They learn to grow, hunt or gather their own food and
how to process and store it. They learn to produce, maintain and distribute
their own power. They learn to maintain their health through diet and
exercise, and how to avoid or handle basic injuries and illnesses. And yes,
they learn to defend themselves from aggressors when there is no one else
there to protect them. Survivalism does not necessarily concentrate on
global catastrophe or the collapse of civilization. The profile of a "true"
survivalist is someone who is concerned with planning for and avoiding the
pitfalls and dangers of daily life and short-term emergencies and disasters
of a local and temporary nature. In fact, since the frequency and likelihood
of personal and local emergencies are more common, these situations are of
primary concern. Long term and widespread disasters are of concern to the
survivalist, but they are extremely difficult to plan for. The individual
(or single family) often does not possess the resources – either
financially, materially, or intellectually – to efficiently plan for a long
term, widespread disaster.
What Does It Take To Survive?:
A lot of people have their own ideas
about survival and what it takes to survive. Whole (expensive) books have
been written on the topic. This is how I feel on the subject, with the most
important qualities listed first:
1. ) THE WILL TO SURVIVE:
Among survival experts and survival communities it is generally accepted
that the preeminent requisite for survival - beyond all the doo-dads and
gewgaws and training and know-how - is simply this: the WILL to
survive. Without the will to survive, there is no hope, no desire,
and no chance whatsoever that, barring rescue from an outside source, anyone
can survive a perilous situation. It doesn't really matter what the
situation is or where it is taking place: a fire at home, a shoot-out at
work, a pile-up on the freeway, a combat mission in Iraq, or being lost and
stranded in the wilderness... without the WILL to survive, all is
lost. There are countless astonishing tales of people surviving well
beyond the expected norm - people who have had no significant survival
training, skills or tools - simply by refusing to lay down and die
when circumstances, the pain in their bodies, and the ravages of their minds
told them that there was nothing left for them to do but die. Babies,
children, women and men - few people really know how to
survive, but the common denominator among those who do is the indefatigable
desire to make it through one more day. Happily, having found
this website and actually making it this far down the page, you too have
demonstrated a certain degree of perseverance in your quest for knowledge of
survival topics. Whether this is because you actually have an interest in
surviving trying times and difficult situations, or because you are simply
doing research for a paper on "those nutty survivalists" is beyond my
ability to discern. If you are here to learn to survive, go ahead and pat
yourself on the back - for you are in fact exercising, through your own
will, that gift that nature has provided each of us: the instinct for
survival. If you are only here to research an article because you are
"curious" about what makes us tick, you might be surprised to know that most
of us are just as curious about you - and at what point it was that you
decided to turn your back on the natural inclination of self-preservation
and relegate your personal well-being to that amorphous entity (society)
that you seem so smugly content with. I have my own theory about "civilized
society" and how its insidious effect is to numb natural instinct to the
point of despair... witnessed by the rise of suicide and suicidal tendencies
in direct proportion to the size of cities... but that's a discussion for
another time.
2.) THE ABILITY TO SURVIVE:
The term "ability" might (and usually does) encompass many things, but in
this context it focuses on mental and physical freedom of thought and
action. If you can't think straight (because of dementia, intoxication,
etc.), can't think for yourself (cults, taboos, peer pressure, etc.), or are
physically restrained (shackled, imprisoned, restricted by "authority") from
acting in your own best interest, then your chances of surviving a direct
physical or environmental threat are severely limited. This does not
necessarily include physical handicaps. If the will to survive is stronger
than feelings of self-pity or helplessness, a physical handicap may only
serve to enhance other aspects of a person's capabilities - including the
determination to succeed where others might simply give up. If you are
healthy, clear-headed, free to act in your own best interest, and have a
developed will to survive, your chances are very good that you can weather
most hazards... provided that you've been paying attention...
3.) SURVIVAL AWARENESS:
Survival awareness is a developed faculty which, like a muscle, grows
stronger and better with practice. If abused, however, it can also become
"sprained," resulting in harm. Sprained awareness may result in an
over-abundance of caution, hesitancy where action is required,
indecisiveness instead of a clear sense of purpose, or - in the extreme
- paranoia, instead of a sense of assuredness and the self-confidence of
knowing what's going on around you (and which way to jump if things go
wrong). School buses stop at all rail crossings for a reason.
Sometimes things don't work the way they should, and everybody knows
that trains love to eat vehicles. We live in a wonderfully intricate world
filled with all kinds of potential hazards. In the "civilized" areas we have
traffic and crime and drive-by shootings. Various solid objects occasionally
tumble from unseen heights for no apparent reason. Buried gas, sewer, and
water lines in obvious as well as the most unexpected places. High voltage
lines and toppling construction cranes. Innocent looking stairways and
cracks in the sidewalk. Chemical plants, and aircraft that fly into
buildings. Muggers, molesters and panhandlers. In the wilderness we have
storms and crevasses and wildfires. Hungry - or just exasperated - wild
animals. Ticks and chiggers and gopher holes. Crumbling trails and
avalanches. Bad water - or no water at all. Poison Ivy, oak, sumac - and
those boys from "Deliverance." Survival awareness is about recognizing
where you are and where you are going and understanding the potential
hazards that might confront you on your journey. It's about thinking through
the task at hand and understanding the consequences of a failure to focus on
what you are doing. It's about being proactive, avoiding unnecessary risks,
acknowledging unavoidable risks, and doing whatever you can to ensure a
positive outcome. With the acknowledgement of unavoidable risk also comes a
plan for handling them, should they present, and minimizing their effect
after an event. This sounds like a lot of work, huh? It's not, really.
The more you exercise your survival awareness, the more "automatic" and
effortless the correct proactive solutions become.
4.) SURVIVAL KNOWLEDGE:
Survival knowledge could be an endless odyssey. With something in the
neighborhood of 800 pages and tens of thousands of links on this site,
I'm still finding new information or things I've forgotten about - as well
as many I never knew. I'd have to say that it is, if not completely in the
realm of then right next door to, impossible to find it all, learn it all,
know it all or even compile it all. I've given it a pretty good try - but
I've got way too much time on my hands. Aside from us obsessive compulsive
types, no one should feel compelled to know everything there is to know
about survival in every conceivable circumstance. None of us operates in
every conceivable aspect of life, and so you should learn to "let some of it
go" when it comes to survival techniques. If you don't expect to be sailing
or flying or mountain climbing or hiking to the North Pole, chances are your
need for survival techniques specific to those actions and environs, while
interesting, are of little value to you in the real world. Survival
knowledge is as much about knowing what you need to learn as it is in
knowing about the topics you eventually choose. Knowing 1001 things about
tsunami survival in the middle of the Gobi desert may be a source of
fantastic amusement to the natives, but unless they are really, really
desperate for entertainment it is not going to help your chances of
survival. Knowing which mosses and lichens are good to eat in the arctic is
unlikely to keep your belly full in west Texas.
5.) SURVIVAL SKILLS:
Knowing how to start a fire, build a shelter, set a broken bone, or
fly an airplane is not the same thing as actually doing each of these
tasks. Knowledge is not skill. "Skill" is the well practiced
implementation of knowledge in the correct manner and to the exact
degree necessary to produce the desired result - under any conditions you
are like to face, with or without the preferred and recommended assortment
of tools. The only way to develop and perfect your survival skills is to
actually do them - over and over again - until they become second nature to
you.
For instance: To learn how to start fires, you begin with the easiest method
under the best of circumstances - on a clear, dry, warm day with little or
no wind, in a secure location. You learn how to set up a proper fireplace,
how to collect available fuels in your area, which fuels burn best, hottest,
longest, and produce coals or smoke. You learn about tinder, what types are
available to you, which types are best and what will work in a pinch. You
learn how to prepare a fire and then you learn how to start it. You burn
fires of various fuels and sizes, in various places, and learn how the fire
and smoke patterns change with the conditions or placement or configuration.
You learn how reflectors affect heat and light output and burn conditions.
You learn all this by doing it. In doing it - even under the best of
conditions - you learn about smoke in the eyes and lungs, flare-ups and
sparks and burns (and burn care). Cuts and splinters and blisters, and how
to treat each of them. Once you become proficient and confident in your
ability to start a fire under the best conditions with the best tools, you
begin to throw in variables: wet or cold or windy days, damp or poor quality
tinder and fuel. When you can successfully create a proper fire under
adverse conditions, with inferior material, while using the best
tools, you begin to vary the tools and methods. Eventually you will be able
to start a fire under nearly any condition, with or without modern tools and
techniques. It is then that you have acquired the survival skill of
"fire making."
SURVIVAL SAVVY:
Survival Savvy is a combination of INTUITION (knowledge + awareness),
CREATIVITY (will + skill), and ADAPTABILITY (intuition + creativity +
ability) and is the ultimate culmination of the above five qualities
developed to a degree of confidence. With intuition, creativity and
adaptability there is little that life can throw at you that cannot be
turned on its tail and taken advantage of. Developing and perfecting these
qualities is essential to nearly any circumstance in life and, having been
once attained, cannot be lost, broken, or taken from you.
New! "Made In America"
Section!
We need to start keeping our hard earned dollars here in the United States
and we need to support our fellow Americans by spending them on
American Made Products.
Go to the "Made In
America" pages.
Purchase Links:
Food & Seeds
Gear
Medical
Tools
Weapons & Ammo
Computer/Internet
US Military Gear:
Air Force Army
Marines
Navy
Also: Coast Guard Law
Enforcement
(Purchasable Item links based on bug-out/preparation lists)
Please Read The Website Disclaimer!
Copyright 1986-2009, The Survival & Self-Reliance Studies Institute
(SSRsi), All Rights Reserved
Site conceptualized, designed, created & maintained by MEG Raven
Snail Mail: SSRsi, PO Box 2572 Dillon, CO. 80435-2572
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This is the model I have and use.
.. for more than just food.
An Invaluable tool!

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