The Number of Survivalists, or Preppers, Grows After Republicans Disabled Competent Government

These are frightening times. Yet, things didn’t have to get this bad. After 12 years of a Republican Congress and 8 years of a Republican president telling us how bad government was, and then dismantling it to prove their point, people have every reason to believe the worst. In the following McClatchy News story, you’ll notice the reasons for the increase in gun purchases and the survivalist movement depends greatly on 3 major Republican failures, all resulting from their hands off approach to government:

(There) is a different breed of survivalist, far from the right-wing militants or religious extremists who hole up in bunkers, live off the land and wait for the apocalypse. Preppers are regular people with regular jobs who decided after 9/11, after Hurricane Katrina or when their 401(k)s tanked that they can’t rely on someone else to help them if something goes awry.

"We are normal people just like you," said Jack Spirko. Jack Spirko owns a media company, Spirko has been stockpiling food, water, gas, guns and ammunition. He also has a load of red wine, Starbucks coffee and deodorant stashed away. "I refer to myself as a modern survivalist. Spirko, an Army veteran and self-described "stark-raving-mad Libertarian," is part of a growing movement of people who are preparing for a disaster natural, economic or man-made.

At Cheaper Than Dirt Outdoor Adventures, a gun store in north Fort Worth, business has never been better. Owner Dewayne Irwin said he sees three types of customers: "You have the everyday good ol' boy Texas gun owner. You have the folks that are coming in and saying, 'I’ve lost my job and my neighbor lost their job’ and they really believe they might have to fight over a bucket of carrots or something. And you have the guys who are first-time gun buyers and they don’t really know why. It is Main Street. It is crazy."

I don’t think I’m going out on a limb by stating this isn’t a healthy trend. What I don’t get about conservative orthodoxy is the idea that government can’t be managed well. If they’re such independent, go it alone fighters, why not demand improvements instead of walking away like a absentee father?