9 Ways To Become A Better Prepper In 2020 (The Election Year)

In case you’re the one in a million people who haven’t yet heard, next year is an election year.

You know what that means; we’ll be bombarded constantly with campaign ads, polls and pundits making their prognostications. It will be as if normal life comes to a halt, while the business of selecting the president for the next four years and a number of other politicians on federal, state and local levels.

If you’re a big TV fan, like most Americans are, all your favorite shows will be interrupted at one time or another. If they’re not preempted by political debates, they’ll be peppered with false advertising, where one politician or another tries to convince us that they’ll actually do something for the American people for a chance, rather than just for special interest groups and their big campaign donors.

It’s Already Begun

We’ve already seen this process start, as campaigning is something that never seems to end. Politicians in office start campaigning the day they are sworn in and those who don’t manage to get elected start posturing to try and get nominated the next time around.

Every speech that every politician makes is part of the campaigning process, building their base of support and raising funds for the next campaign. So if it seems like they are spending more time and effort trying to tell you how great they are, than they are in being great, there’s a reason for it. That’s exactly what they are doing.

Then There’s Impeachment

The impeachment debacle is all part of this process. Democrats started talking impeachment as soon as the results of the presidential election were made known. They didn’t even have the good manners to wait until inauguration day for it. No, they were sure that they were going to find ground to impeach the president, if for no other reason than he is a Republican.

Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, said it herself, “The President has left us no choice but to impeach him.” While she’s trying to make it sound like she’s doing it for the benefit of the country, the only real thing that Trump has done to be impeached for is to be elected. She can’t control him, so she wants to get rid of him.

This is not a first, by any means. Democrats have tried to impeach every Republican president since Reagan. While they haven’t necessarily gotten as far in their efforts as they have in the current case, impeachment has been a major part of their strategy to prevent Republicans from accomplishing their agenda, when they are voted into office.

But this is going much farther than the typical obstructionism that we’re used to seeing out of the Democrat Party. Rather than just trying to stop the president from doing his job, this is an outright coup. They’re trying to reverse the will of the people, eliminating the value of voting.

Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen Democrats trying to undo the will of the people either. Back in 2000, Al Gore tried to use a recount of the Florida election to reverse the results of the presidential election. Every time Democrats lose an election, they try to reverse it.

Nevertheless, we’re seeing a new precedent going on right now. That is, a sham trial in the House of Representatives, trying the President based not on facts, but on the opinions of a number of Deep State operatives. The only “evidence” being presented is their opinion of what the President meant and what his intent was, not on what he did and the results of his actions.

Remember, this is the same Deep State who gave Hillary Clinton a free pass for breaking the law, because they thought that she didn’t have any intent to break the law. Apparently actions no longer matter, all that matters is intent. If you’re a Democrat, your intent has to be good and if you’re a Republican your intent has to be bad.

Digging a level deeper into what is happening, we see a dangerous precedent. Nancy Pelosi’s witch hunt is all about bringing the President under subjection to the House of Representatives. Remember when she was voted to be the Speaker? She said that being the Speaker of the House made her the “equal of the president.” No Nancy, the Congress as a whole, both houses, is the equal of the president, not you.

If Democrats get away with what they’re doing, then they will have broken the Constitution and stripped the power of the presidency. A successful impeachment, based on the lack of credible evidence they have now, will mean that they can oust any president they want, who doesn’t do what they say. That will turn our government into mob rule and the mob will be the House of Representatives. Their next targets would be the Senate and the Supreme Court, so that they could consolidate power.

Tired of it Yet?

Are you tired of all this yet? I know I am. The 2020 presidential campaign hasn’t even officially started and I’m already tired of all the drama. I’m not sure I can put up with another year of it. In fact, I’m seriously considering throwing away my television, until after the election. Oh wait… I already did.

So, what are we going to do the next year? Allow me to present a few ideas for your consideration; things you can do, if like me, you’re going to try and avoid politics as much as possible. There are much better things we can do with our time, rather than watching television anyway, even without politics taking it over.

Work on Your Preps

We all complain about not having enough time for prepping. Well, I think I know where you can find some. All you have to do is turn off that television; or better yet, disconnect it, and you’ll find that you suddenly have more time. You can spend at least some of it working on your preps, getting done all those things that you never seem to find the time to do.

Build Your Off-Grid Power System

Speaking of projects you never find the time to do, what about building your own off-grid power system? Did you know that you can save half the cost by building your own solar panels, rather than buying them? Building solar panels really isn’t all that difficult, just time consuming. If you build a couple at a time, you’ll also make the project a whole lot more affordable than trying to buy 30 or 40 of them.

Likewise, it’s cheaper to build a wind turbine, than it is to buy one. I’ve built a couple of wind turbines and in each case, the cost was less than a fourth of buying one of comparable power. Not only that, it has given me the opportunity to experiment with making turbines, seeing how different styles functioned and their relative efficiency.

Start a Garden

Here’s another time-consuming project we all talk about doing; starting a garden. Now, I’m not talking about a little 10’ x 10’ garden here; I’m talking about something that’s say 20’ x 30’. Something big enough to actually provide some food for your family. But also something that can be scaled up to be a true source of food, in the event that your family has to live off it.

While you’re at it, you might as well start raising chickens, rabbits and fish to give your family some good sources of animal protein. The more self-sufficient you become, the better off you’ll be. This year could be a year of great investment for you, providing returns for years to come.

Learn New Self-Sufficiency Skills

What about learning a new skill? I’m not talking about something simple, like starting a fire; I’m talking about a major skill, something that will help you in a post-disaster world. There are many such skills, which require extensive time to learn. All the time you’re saving, from not watching television all the time, can give you the time you need to learn at least one of them, if not more.

Of course, many of those skills are going to require you investing time in setting up someplace to work on them as well. You can’t exactly do blacksmithing on your patio or weaving cloth in your living room, unless you do some major modifications. For that matter, you may have to build some of the equipment you’re going to use.

Read More

Reading has always been a great alternative to watching television and one that I personally prefer. Depending on what you like to read, it can either be a great diversion from life, allowing you to exercise your imagination (fiction) or a great way to further your knowledge base (non-fiction). There are always new things to learn and books are a great way to learn them.

Of course, in our modern, connected world, you aren’t limited to books. Every bit of human knowledge is available at your fingertips, through the internet. For that matter, if you don’t like reading, chances are that you can get all that information on video, making it easier to digest.

Write a Book

Always wanted to write a book? Well, here’s your chance. Since you’re not going to be spending so much time watching television the next year, now’s the time to write that book you always wanted to. Writing can be both fun and challenging at the same time, as you seek to find the best possible way to express your ideas.

Build a Cabin

Don’t have a survival retreat to go to on a bug out? Why not take this extra time and build yourself a cabin? Not only will it be a great project; but you’ll have someplace to go, should the brown stuff hit the rotary air-movement device.

What’s that; no land? Well then, build yourself a portable bug out cabin. There are several forms this could take, like a yurt or tiny home built on a flatbed cargo trailer. My sister is in the process of building one of these now and she’s doing it with mostly scavenged materials. So it doesn’t really have to be an expensive project.

Remodel Your Home for Survival

Is your home set up to be a post-disaster survival shelter? If you’re like most of us, it’s not. What does it need? A well? A smokehouse? A root cellar? An outdoor kitchen? I’ve spent years working on my own home, trying to turn it into the ideal bug in survival retreat for my family.

If you’re not sure what to do, just look around. Imagine how you would do things without electricity and running water. That will tell you the projects you most need to do, so that your home is ready. Pick one and get stated, but write the rest of them down so you don’t forget them.

Start a Home-based Business

I’ll bet you said to yourself, as you read that list, “I can’t afford to do that.” Am I right? Well then, why not start a home-based business, as a sideline to your normal job. Not only will that provide you with an additional incomes stream; but it will be income that is unassigned in your budget. That means it will give you money for all those other projects.

Economic experts say that you should have multiple income streams. This is even more important now, than ever. If something should happen to your job, having another income stream could be what keeps your family eating or keeps you from losing your home while you are trying to find another job. If thing go right, that business could become your full-time job, allowing you to work at home.

One Final Thing

Before I go, I just wanted to mention that to one extent or another, I’m doing everything on that list, except for building a cabin. So don’t tell me you can’t do it. You just have to decide you want to. Not knowing how isn’t a valid excuse. If you don’t know, I’m sure someone on YouTube would be glad to teach you.

Remember, this is about surviving the election year. Your other option is to watch all the folderol on television. If you want to keep your sanity, any of these ideas sound like a better option.

Written by

Bill White is the author of Conquering the Coming Collapse, and a former Army officer, manufacturing engineer and business manager. More recently, he left the business world to work as a cross-cultural missionary on the Mexico border. Bill has been a survivalist since the 1970s, when the nation was in the latter days of the Cold War. He had determined to head into the Colorado Rockies, should Washington ever decide to push the button. While those days have passed, the knowledge Bill gained during that time hasn’t. He now works to educate others on the risks that exist in our society and how to prepare to meet them. You can send Bill a message at editor [at] survivopedia.com.

Latest comments
  • President Trump will lose the 2020 election, no matter how many people vote for him! The global elitists have already ordered their deep state operatives to arranged it, and they will not repeat the mistakes they made in 2016! Mark My Words!

    And that is when Armed Revolution will be the ONLY Solution! Hope you are all prepared!

  • Being a prepper isn’t an event, it’s a way of life. An on going, daily attitude. It’s about being self reliant. When I was a child my grandmother would notice when I was doing nothing. She would hand me the embroidery hoop and tell me to work on my pillow cases. Idle hands were not permitted. She made all her own clothes, except under garment. She would shop the Goodwill for men’s suits, bring them home and take them apart for the fabric. Then she would design suits and coats for her self, and sew them up. When you grow up in that kind of atmosphere, you learn a lot of skills. And I have. And learn, learn and don’t stop learning. The day you stop learning, you begin to die. There’s so many resources available todyay. Books in abundance the Internet of course, trained people at places like Home Depot. They’ll be happy to help you learn. The key to learning is asking questions. When you get a specialized treatment done, pay attention to what they do, and how they do it. Then, you can repeat the process for someone else. I could go on, but this is supposed to be a comment, not a bog. Thank you Bill. Good article.

    • The way I figure it, if I run out of projects, I must be dead.

  • I really value and enjoy the prepping suggestions and recommendations but I really dislike how many writers feel they have to venture off into politics. Donald Trump is one of the most corrupt politicians in American history.Trump is as more dangerous to the good of our country as any of the bad Democrats we have ever had. There was a good choice in 2016 in the Libertarian Party but people get stuck on electing Republicans or Democrats. He does not believe in the rule of law as our republic was founded on. Trump on believes in the rule of Trump. Trump was a New York con artist and he still is today. One of the best reasons to prep is because of how Trump is damaging our nation and becoming such a lackey for his buddy Putin. Wake up guys! Keep the political comments out of prepping and stay true to preparing for emergencies that are as likely to be caused by Trump as they are Democrats like Clinton.

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