Originally published August 22 2012
Survivalist congressman advocates preparedness, says likelihood of civil unrest is 'high probability'
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) You buy health insurance, car insurance and homeowners insurance. You buy life insurance as well, but Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, the senior Republican congressman from Maryland, has a different take on what life insurance really means.
"There are a number of events that could create a situation in the cities where civil unrest would be a very high probability," Bartlett - one of the country's most vocal advocates of preparing for the worst possible domestic situations - says in a new documentary called "Urban Danger," where he takes viewers on a tour of a cabin he maintains in rural West Virginia - a structure that is powered by the sun and by the wind.
Far from actually predicting that Doomsday is just over the horizon, Bartlett merely suggests being prepared for any eventuality. He's not so much a "survivalist," as many call him; he's a realist.
What would happen if the electrical grid failed, as Bartlett has often warned could happen? Store shelves would be emptied within a few hours. Water and sewage treatment plants would cease.
"We don't really think of those today, because it's so convenient to go to the supermarket," Bartlett said in an interview with the Bangor Daily News. "But you know, you're planning because the supermarket may not always be there."
'A high probability' of unrest?
Those who are called survivalists by the mainstream media and others are nothing more than average Americans who, for the most part, are simply advocating preparedness and self-sufficiency. For Bartlett, nothing less makes sense; he has even advocated that the more than 80 percent of Americans living in or near urban areas relocate.
"There are a number of events that could create a situation in the cities where civil unrest would be a very high probability," says Bartlett, 86, in his video. "And I think that those who can and those who understand need to take advantage of the opportunity when these winds of strife are not blowing, to move their families."
The longtime Maryland congressman is a patent-holding scientist, an engineer and a farmer. But he's also on the endangered Republican list because his reliably conservative district was recently redrawn by Maryland Democrats to include a hunk of reliably liberal Montgomery County. He will face Democrat John Delaney, a financier, in November, and handicappers are making him the underdog.
His potential defeat; however, hasn't deterred him from his mission to warn Americans about unforeseen game-changing events that could come to fruition in an increasingly unstable world.
For example, in late September he will be the keynote speaker at the second annual Sustainable Preparedness Expo 2,000 miles from his district, in Spokane, Wash.
What happens next?
Also, Bartlett recently met with like-minded experts on Capitol Hill to develop legislation that would require "every citizen to develop an individual emergency plan to prepare for the absence of government assistance for extended periods," and for localities to come up with the ability to provide 20 percent of their food, water and power needs.
The electrical grid is particularly vulnerable, both to internal collapse because of its aging infrastructure, and to terrorist attack.
"This is possibly the most serious threat the United States faces right now, because we are so utterly unprepared for it," Richard Andres, a senior fellow at National Defense University, told the paper.
Bartlett is well aware of the possibility - and the havoc it would wreak. He sees four possibilities for taking down the U.S. grid: via a terrorist attack, a cyber attack, a massive solar storm, or an EMP - electromagnetic pulse - attack, which is a nuclear detonation in the atmosphere which would fry computers and anything else with an electric circuit.
Bartlett's interest in survivalism began during the Cold War, when Americans built so-called nuclear fall-out shelters in case of an exchange with the Soviet Union. Bartlett says he wondered what folks would do next.
"When you came out of the fallout shelter, what then?" he said he often wondered.
Sources:
http://bangordailynews.com
http://www.naturalnews.com/doomsday.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/016946.html
All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing LLC takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no hard products and earns no money from the recommendation of products. NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice from any licensed practitioner. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml