World War Z - Analogy

***Spoiler Alert***      ***Spoiler Alert***        ***Spoiler Alert***

Kat and I went to see 'World War Z' this weekend.  It is not normally a movie that I would choose to see as I am not big into the zombie genre.  I tend to get wrapped up in the logical fallacies such as:

• The very definition of dead is immobility, therefore ...
• Dead people can't walk
• Dead people can't see or hear
• Dead people especially cannot defy the laws of physics.  (The zombies in this film must have run 40 miles an hour)

But it is fun to sit back and watch infinite bullets in the actors' guns in video game like violence.

But, I did think of at least one analogy from the movie. Now to talk about the analogy, I will have to reveal the zombie solution.  But don't worry, it wasn't like it was full of plot twists or something.

In the movie, the main character, a former UN investigator, notices that the zombies do not attack sick people.  So the solution was to inject himself with a fatal but curable disease.  This "camouflage" effectively allowed him to hide in plain site from the hoard of zombies.

For my comparison, the zombies represent ever encroaching government interference.    In the movie, the zombies were 'targeting' the healthy and ignoring those who were not.  This is much like all governments that target the earners, using the teeth of the IRS and ignore those who do not have income.  The difference is that the government actually drains the life from the earners to redistribute (very inefficiently) to those that choose not to earn.

 Notice that I did not say the government targets the wealthy, because it does not.  The wealthy and well connected are the ones that can hide their income and use the force of law to direct the threat away from themselves.

***What is the difference between zombies and government wealth redistribution?  One is a brain dead mob and ever increasing threat that seeks to devour the life force of the living and the other are fictional un-dead characters in a movie. ***

 In the United States, we pride ourselves with over-achieving and increasing our income as well as have the lavish lifestyles that go along with it.  Unfortunately, this puts you on the radar of the IRS.  It is so engrained in our psyche that before we realize it, we graduate from high school, go to college and amass 50 to 100 thousand dollars in student loan debt.  So we need the big income to pay back that debt and maintain that lifestyle.

Over time, the tax burden keeps increasing and you realize that you are working so hard that your life and years have slipped away and there is nothing you can do about it, so you work harder to have that annual vacation.  Then you wake up one day to see that your kids have graduated high school so that they can amass huge amounts of debt and you see the cycle going on and on and on.

So, what do you do?  What happens if you refuse to pay those "voluntary" taxes?  The government seizes your property, that's what happens.  There is no escape as long as you stay in that cycle.

So what is the cure?  The cure is to stop.  Stop being dependent on that large salary.  Get rid of your debt.  Quit your high paying job.  Go live life.  If you do not have an large income, the target is removed from you.  That is what we are doing.  Those that follow this blog know that we sold most of our material possessions (including our house) and bought an RV.  I am in the process of leaving my 40 hour a week IT job to live less lavishly, but more richly as we experience the country one day at a time.

So, the movie has a lesson.  Put on the camouflage.  Stop working so hard for that corner office.  It really isn't that satisfying anyway.  Take the power away from the zombies.  Hide in plain site.

See you on the trail - Kit

Celebrating Independence Day (Galt's Gulch Style)

It is July 4th, the day that we celebrate American "Independence".  For many of us that has become an oxymoron.  With every passing day, American citizens become ever more DEPENDENT on government.  True unemployment is at an all-time high with the real number that matter is that people still participating in the workforce is 58.6%.  Almost 11 million people are now on disability.  23 Million households or 1 in 5 households are on food stamps.  If the number of people on food stamps were a state, they would be the 3rd largest in population, just behind Texas.

Ironically, the 4th of July is a day that Americans celebrate their freedom from tyranny.  It is losing its luster as the freedoms we enjoy continue to erode at an alarming rate.  It was just a couple of weeks ago that the NSA was revealed to be monitoring American citizens' communication of all types.  Free speech has been all but curtailed by political correctness.  Taxation has become incrementally more progressive and the government keeps printing more money to enslave future generations.  So, it would seem that there really isn't much to celebrate anymore.

As I sit, writing this post, I hear fireworks being set off around us.  The explosions are a reminder of the military battles and lives lost to oust the rule of one king 3,000 miles away to be replaced by 3,000 rulers one mile away  (paraphrased from The Patriot).

I know this posting sounds like a downer and some typical conservative whining about what once was and how dismal things are becoming.  But let me change direction a bit.  Now, everything that I stated up until this point is true, but I don't despair.  At least, not any longer.

When I look outside on this July 4, it is pouring rain, here in the South Eastern United States and has been for several days.  The holiday is a wash, quite literally.  There aren't many cook outs happening on this day.  But yet, I am full of optimism.  Kat and I, took a rainy day and made the best of it.  We cooked out under the awning of our RV.  Between storms, we ventured to the shore of the lake and enjoyed the beauty.  Our happiness does not depend on the weather or circumstances around us.  In a similar fashion, when I compare myself to July 4 a year ago, I am personally more free.  I have loosened my chains ... a little.

Since my last posting, we have really made some significant progress.  We are no longer living in the front yard of my stick house.  That house has been sold and I am free from the burden of the related taxes.  We now have one foot in the Gulch.  The plan is still in place to work the remainder of the year, full time at my current job and then reduce to part time, further reducing my tax burden.

What has really changed by getting rid of our normal house?

• Mortgage - gone
• Electric bill - gone
• Water/Sewer bill - gone
• Trash bill - gone

Yes, we are paying a greatly reduced rent to stay in the RV park, but everything is included.  We have netted about $1000 per month reduction in cost from this change.  So, yes, Kat and I do have a lot to celebrate.  It took tons of effort and cutting back to get where we are.  Kat parted with many sentimental items and we got rid of a considerable amount of material goods in the process.  There just wasn't room to carry those things.  But the effort and sacrifice were well worth it.

So, Independence Day means something entirely different to me.  I am not, any longer, worried or upset, by those that have chosen to be dependent.  For the first time in my life, I am actually enjoying every day.  Freedom is a decision.  It is a mindset.

I am looking forward to tomorrow to see how much more free I can be.

I invite you to join the new revolution.  A revolution without blood.  It is time to redefine wealth and enjoy life.

Be free my friends.

Kit