Back to the Land?

Every now and again, our national economy appears to be on the verge of collapse, which allows a special kind of fantasy to sprout in the minds of urbanites and suburbanites. It goes like this -- let's find an under-priced piece of land somewhere, just big enough to support ourselves with the food we can grow there -- buy it, and remove ourselves from the ugliness sure to engulf the overpopulated places as resources become ever more scarce.

I've read some great first-person accounts of couples who actually did this as the Great Depression struck, and some rather more idealistic (as opposed to pragmatic) narratives of what hippies tried to do in the '70s.

Bottom line is that a small community of people can definitely still survive off of the land, if they find the right soil in the right climate for the right price. And -- if they are committed to really working together to create enough food to support themselves after living the life of relative luxury in places where you don't really need to know how to grow food, fix machinery, or hoard seed stock for tomorrow.

Thus, I doubt it. We are a people way too far removed from our grandparents' world to survive on our own. Better to print more money, bailout more crooks, elect more demagogues, and console ourselves that none of this is our fault after all. It isn't, right?

If you buy that, I've got a political ticket to sell you. It's called McCain-Palin, and it will certainly take you exactly where you deserve to go!

PAID FOR BY "NOBODY FOR NOBODY," BUT SOMEBODY WHO ACTUALLY LOVES HIS COUNTRY, AS QUAINT AS THAT MAY SOUND.

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