By the time you read this, God knows what will have happened with that crazy stand-off going on in Nevada, where apparently "public lands" aren't quite so public when an endangered turtle is sitting on them. Natural News, however, calls into question this so-called environmental siege, by blowing the lid off of certain crony capitalism deals involving said lands in question, energy companies, and fracking.
Rancher Cliven Bundy Takes a Stand
It's amazing how the government can rustle up a bunch of bullies to go hound a guy who's been grazing cattle on the same land as his family for the past 100 years - with turtles apparently intact - but this same government can't seem to get a handle on the insane, demonic drug dealers pouring into our country from Mexico, or the gangs that infest our inner cities. Maybe if someone placed an endangered turtle in the miles of tunnels carved out between Mexico and American border-states, something would finally be done.
But don't expect a turtle to save your sorry butt if the government decides, like it has done in the past, that it needs your gold. Perhaps I have become far too distrusting of Uncle Sam as of late, but I have no illusions that precious metals would necessarily be safe should the worst happen. Look at how anyone who might save some food in Venezuela has become a dreaded "hoarder" - and so IDs were made into a requirement to buy food.
As diverse as the precious metals community is - with people from all walks of life and different political viewpoints - it's likely that anyone who is "prepping" and not buying into the mainstream narrative will be made into a target. If (when) the slime hits the fan, who do you think will be blamed? Maybe the rich, but also the recalcitrant, "selfish" people (like YOU) who had the foresight to save up hard assets, extra food, and toilet paper.
If you're lucky, the government won't just steal your gold and silver, but pay you a pittance in the new currency for it. And since that is kind of what your precious metals stack is for (or should be for), then that's not really the worst thing that could happen to you.
But what if - and now we've gone full into worst-case totalitarian scenario - they just go full-on wealth redistribution and decide they want to take your precious metals and food and "share" them with your neighbors? This would only be easy to do if the mainstream of America had become convinced that precious metals people were dangerous and trying to keep help from the "good" people.
For this reason, I am only somewhat facetiously suggesting that more effort be put into "mainstreaming" precious metals collecting. Perhaps it's too late, but think about it - if people get the idea that Granny is collecting precious metals, they won't be associating them with, well, those people. You know, the Alex Jones listening "Molon Labe" guys who are made into "extremists" by the mainstream media.
But how to do this?
I happen to be a fan of Once Upon a Time. It is a fairy tale show set in modern times, with various twists on the traditional characters. I never go read the IMDB message boards for this show, but did the other day to see if a beloved character was coming back. On these boards, I kept reading all this strange lingo about "shippers."
Shippers? What are shippers?
Well, a brief search told me that "ship" was short for a relationship, and in Once Upon a Time land, passionate "shippers" root for their favorite relationships, sometimes to the point of Twitter insanity.
Each "ship" has its own name - a conglomeration of the two characters. Since the main character, Emma Swan, had a love triangle between Captain Hook and Baelfire, two sets of shippers were born: The "Captain Swan" shippers and the "Swanfire" shippers. People who went completely off the reservation root to see Emma with the Evil Queen, and they are called "Swan Queen" shippers.
I realize this is way much more than you ever wanted to know about the obsessive fans of a television show. But note: In our society, where television takes an almost magical quality, it is perfectly "normal" to be obsessed with the fictional relationships of made-up fairy tale characters. These people, they are just "fans."
You precious metals stackers, on the other hand, are "dangerous extremists."
I say, some enterprising precious metals dealer needs to come up with some sort of Internet soap opera to market coins. Each character would have its own coin. Limited edition "shipping" coins could be marketed with the chosen couples imprinted upon them. Some of the coins would be one of a kind. Think Cabbage Patch Coins.
These soap opera coins could then be marketed on the Home Shopping Network, Grandma would start buying them, and then no-one would think you were some dangerous militia member out to start another Civil War just because you owned a stack of precious metals. They'd just see you as a crazy collector, on par with someone who has a dusty collection of Beanie Babies stuffed in a box somewhere.
You could then keep your precious metals, or, if you collected the most popular "ship" coins, perhaps make a mint off the collectibles market.
While I'm excited that Mike Rowe just got a new show on CNN (the rest of CNN can just die in obscurity, please), he would be a perfect pitchman for our Cabbage Patch Coins:
Now, I realize this post may on its face seem a bit frivolous in parts. But somewhere in there is a serious point. Meanwhile, I will watch the goings-on in Nevada with baited breath, and pray for a peaceful resolution.
Stephanie blogs sporadically at a number of websites, including Freeople and Free Thinking Christianity.
