Guest Post by Daisy Luther
A term coined in 1985 by an unnamed staffer of the Reagan administration was “Starve the Beast”. This referred to a fiscally conservative political strategy to cut government spending by paying less in taxes. So, in the original sense, “the Beast” was the government, and people were to starve the beast by spending less and using loopholes, therefore paying less in taxes.
These days the Beast has a lot more tentacles than just the government. The system now consists of the government and all aspects of Big Business. Big Agri, Big Pharma, Big Medicine, Big Food, Big Banking and Big Oil, to name a few. It seems that now it’s the Beast doing the starving, as small businesses close because they can’t compete with Wal-Mart, the family farm is on it’s way out because it can’t compete with the huge, subsidized Monsanto mega-farms, people are going bankrupt because they can’t pay the outrageous medical bills…
Perhaps it’s time for another financial revolution – one where people group together and use the power of the boycott to starve all the arms of this Beast that would swallow us whole. If we vote with our dollars, eventually there will, of a necessity, be a paradigm shift that returns us to simpler days, when families that were willing to work hard could make a living without selling their souls to the corporate monoliths.
Every penny you spend with small local businesses is a penny that the big box stores won’t have. Everything that you buy secondhand or barter for is an item on which you won’t pay sales tax. Disassociate yourself completely with “the system” that is making Western civilization broke, overweight and unhealthy. Starve the Beast by taking as many of these steps as possible…
- Grow your own food (this starves Big Agri and Big Pharma both)
- Shop at local businesses with no corporate ties
- Use natural remedies instead of pharmaceuticals whenever possible
- Homeschool your children
- Walk or bike instead of driving when possible
- Get care from naturopaths and healers instead of doctors
- Make paper logs from scraps for free heat if you have a wood-burning fireplace or stove
- Boycott all processed foods
- Shop at local farmer’s markets
- Boycott corporate stores: Wal-Mart, Costco, Best Buy, Home Depot
- Give vouchers as gifts for an evening of babysitting, a homemade meal, walking the dog, doing a repair, or cleaning
- Join a CSA or farm co-op
- Ditch television (and all the propaganda and commercials)
- Participate in the barter system – if no money changes hands, no tax can be added
- Buy secondhand from yard sales, Craigslist and thrift stores
- Sell your unwanted goods by having a yard sale or putting an ad on Craigslist
- Repair things instead of replacing them
- Avoid fast food restaurants and chain restaurants
- Dine at locally owned establishments if you eat out
- Brew your own beer and wine
- Read a book, purchased second-hand or borrowed
- Grow or gather medicinal herbs
- Give homemade gifts
- Attend free local activities: lectures, concerts, play days at the park, library events
- Dumpster dive
- Play outside: hike, bike, picnic
- Mend clothing
- Invite someone over for dinner instead of meeting at a restaurant
- Throw creative birthday parties at home for your kids instead of renting a venue
- Camp instead of staying at a hotel
- Bring your coffee with you in a travel mug
- Do all of your Christmas shopping with small local businesses and artisans
- Reduce your electricity usage with candles, solar power and non-tech entertainment
- Drop the thermostat and put on a sweater
- Bring your snacks and drinks in a cooler when you go on a road trip
- Stay home – it’s way easier to avoid temptation that way
- Pack lunches for work and school
- Make delicious homemade treats as a hostess gift
- Close your bank account or at the very least, strictly limit your balance
- Visit u-pick berry patches and orchards, then preserve your harvest for the winter
- Use precious metals stored at home as your savings account
- Raise backyard chickens for your own eggs
- If you are a smoker, roll your own cigarettes – if possible go one step further and grow tobacco
- Live in a smaller, more efficient home
- Use solar power for lighting or cooking
- Collect rainwater for use in the garden
- Learn to forage
- Buy heavy, solid, handmade furniture instead of the flimsy imported stuff
- At the holidays, focus on activities and traditions instead of gifts. Go for a walk or drive through the neighborhood to look at lights, get into your PJs and watch a special movie together on Christmas Eve and make certain treats that can always be expected
- Make your own bath and body products using pure ingredients like coconut oil, essential oils, and herbal extracts
Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor. Her website, The Organic Prepper, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email her at [email protected]
– See more at: http://www.theorganicprepper.ca/50-ways-to-starve-the-beast-04052013#sthash.3Vvy7xps.dpuf
Don’t have kids.
“Perhaps it’s time for another financial revolution – one where people group together and use the power of the boycott to starve all the arms of this Beast that would swallow us whole.”
————– from the article
I’d love it. I’d even partake. In fact, I do about half the things in the suggested list … plus some she doesn’t list.
BUT, has there ever been a Large Scale boycott that was, ummm, actually successful?
I’m not talking about small scale boycotts like when parents boycotted Mattel over lead in Chinese made toys …. which resulted in over a million toys being recalled. No, I’m talking about a boycott large enough to “starve the beast”. Any?
As a side note, ‘boycott’ derives from an Irish Land Agent, Captain Charles Boycott . The little fucker tried to evict poor people then all his workers and trading partners deserted him.
Charlie —- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Boycott
We’ve been boycotting rational thought, honesty, and functional intelligence in government for a few decades now and that seems to be working just peachy. Those things are almost completely gone.
P.S. It is time for the word “artisan” to be purged from the English language. “Organic,” too.
Freakin’ hipsters.
I appreciate articles like this. Doom and gloom is fun, but from time to time we need a ray of sun. Whether we can starve the beast or not, what is outlined above is really the best way to live our lives going forward.
A little more self reliance, a lot less dependance is a good thing.
Fuck the beast.
“24. Dumpster dive” ——— from the article
No way in hell. Dumpsters contain shitloads of germs, bacteria, even disease. Are you fuckin’ nuts?
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“30. Camp instead of staying at a hotel” ——— from the article
No. I went camping once. Almost lost a thumb. I now stay at Camp Marriott.
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“47. Learn to forage” ——— from the article
Blow me. “forage; to search widely for food or provisions” … where? .. a dumpster?
The dumpster diving part confused me as well. Either you are going to be eating shit like pizza that sat under the hot lamp too long (and was never any good to begin with) or veggies and meat that is either on the verge of spoiling or is already in the process of early decomposition. Fuck that.
In my business I have to travel a lot and I see people eating out of trash cans ,on the street begging for food or money.In some cities you see people camping out in parks or behind hotels.It’s sad but I see homeless ,begging poor people more now then I ever have.I usually carry a few dollars to give people.It’s better then having to shoot someone.
bb
Selling vacuum cleaners door to door must be a tough way to make a living, but with your 75 IQ I guess that’s the best you can expect.
Admin , Sometimes you.remind me of the.things I have read about Karl Marx ….I shall build my throne
High overhead ,cold.,tremendous ,shall it’s summit be ……If.you ever get the time read …Marx and. Satan.
Maybe there’s another side to dumpster diving.
I work for a construction company. Lots and lots of good materials gets thrown away because it’s easier to throw the material away than to re-stock it or store it. Lumber, ceramic tile, wire spools, painters’ buckets, etc. all end up in the dumpster. Sometimes, they’ll even throw away copper or stainless steel which has high salvage value.
I’ve gotten to the point that anytime I walk by a 40 yard dumpster at a jobsite, I crawl up and peek over the side, just to see what’s in there.
Learn how to forage in your own city. Someone here on the north side of Chicago conducts free classes on how to forage for edible plants, a form of public wealth that most people have no awareness of, including “weeds” that are edible, and, often, blueberry bushes and fruit-bearing trees growing in parks or in alleys with no assistance from a local gardener.
Just be leery of the mushrooms- almost anything fungal you see growing in the wild is toxic. It is necessary to become extremely knowledgeable before foraging for mushrooms. Be careful of the berries, too- many are lethal, designed by a knowing God to keep the human population from getting out of hand.
Dumpster diving can be very fruitful if you are looking for things besides food. Dumpster food is out of the question, but, as Tim points out, many valuable materials are tossed in the dumpster and can be salvaged.
And people toss perfectly good furniture all the time, often putting it out in the alley by their dumpsters. Most of what’s disposed of will be nothing you’d want to take home, but one couple in St Louis found a painting that turned out to be done by a 19th century artist of minor fame, and was worth a couple of thousand dollars. Other people post beautiful older furniture on Craigslist either for free or for sale for pennies on the dollar, because they’re downsizing and don’t want to pay to move the thing. I scored a beautiful mahogany dining room set for $500, that originally sold for about $5000 and is superior in quality to what I see in showrooms now for $4000-$7000. Missed out on an immense 8′ high, 10′ long mahogany breakfront that went for $450, that was made by Baker Furniture and cost at least $10,000 new. Truly good furniture is well out of the range of most middle class people if bought new, but is available on Craigslist and sometimes e-bay, for a pittance.
@Chicago: You are correct about the Craigslist, but don’t forget about resale shops. It is amazing what people put up for sale there.
Yes, I am a 1%er but I shop at them all the time. I recently bought a stroller length golden brown MINK COAT for $200, paid another $200 to get it refurbished/glazed and it is drop dead gorgeous. Turns out it was a $7500 jacket in 1985 when I contacted the company on the label.
Daisy Luther is a good egg. I have a lot of her books and her homemade remedies are great. I do take issue with #6 on her list about going to doctors, perhaps she meant to say adopt a healthy diet and lifestyle. Also, #25, no way am I going dumpster diving. Otherwise I am totally on board with her list.