Anyone looking on in horror as a totalitarian technocratic global police state gets erected in the name of public safety™ has probably been ruminating on ways of avoiding it all. There may be no perfect one-size-fits-all strategy to follow, but there are tools and concepts that can get one well on their way to divorce with the system. Some of which may only be tenable for those living outside of densely crowded nations, so your mileage may vary.
Getting away from urban centers may be obvious. There is acreage of rural land to be had for cheap (Note: even though ruralvacantland’s owner shares the same name as Luke Smith, this is not the same Luke Smith who also advocates moving out to the country, it is just a funny coincidence). Such land can be purchased on just a few month’s of savings as one should always strive to avoid entering into a death pledge. And rural property has relaxed building codes with lower overall taxes. I’m told that some demographics even get to enjoy reduced or no property tax. Most importantly, you will have distance between yourself and whichever next crazy witch hunt hysteria surges through the oversocialized masses.
With a bit of luck and planning, the land probably also includes some kind of structure. Ideally, one should get the least square footage required since every extra bit of house also brings burden in cleaning, repairs, heating and furnishing. This is also a great way to further minimize property tax incurrence. Homes with metal roofs are common in rural areas, as well as other stronger design considerations. And if it didn’t have any preexisting structure, that’s no problem! A manufactured home can be dropped into place.
Having an on site well means no ongoing water bills and no water fluoridation. In combination with a septic system gets you fully off-grid. You might also be able to get away with rain water catchment to cisterns and the inclusion of a grey water system. Shallow wells are probably the cheapest to install, if the water table is favorable on your land, and require only a basic electric pump.
Grow your own fruits and vegetables. Even a modest garden can yield so much at peak growing season that you might find yourself giving away excess vegetable. It only needs to supplement your other sources, but of course some go out of their way to build elaborate garden systems. Those more ambitious may even see fit to keep basic domestic animals like ducks.
Off-grid solar carries a high initial investment but, once in place, is basically free energy. It might be a good idea to integrate additional power sources such as wind turbines (for which kits can be found online), managed through a charge control unit. A backup generator that can kick in automatically is probably a must.
The simplest method for heat, especially if your property is wooded, is a wood burning stove. It cannot be left unattended and so one will probably want to have complimentary heating options like gas or oil. The best would be geothermal which simply requires only the power needed to pump refridgerant through the loop. It acts as heating in the winter and cooling in the summer by bringing in the relatively constant temperature from deep underground. Unfortunately, geothermal is currently more expensive to install than the entire cost of the aforementioned properties, so that is something to be installed sometime later.
Consider checking out the FCC mobile broadband data coverage map. No coverage? Perfect! Ditch all wireless junk. That is because your new property will probably have dialup or DSL. Or satellite if you’re really unfortunate. All low bandwidth optons, which is fine if you actually know how to use computers. See my article Make Computing Local Again.
None of these solutions needs to be used in absolute. For example, a solar array is still helpful even if you find yourself remaining on grid connected power. If you’re escaping from deep within clowntown, it may take quite a while to get everything in place anyway. So the plan should be to just tackle each area gradually and thoughtfully.
*Article is subject to revisions