I offered my potential solution in an earlier post (we require a tyrant of our own to destroy the structural systems that enabled our decline and institute functional stopgaps by force), and I agree with Patrick’s analysis of my solution:

The systems that enabled our decline (including but hardly limited to the requirement of obscene amounts of money and/or obedience to it in order to gain power) make it impossible for someone willing to be a tyrant for prosocial causes to achieve the power necessary to do the hard but indispensable things.

Believe me, I looked for any viable path to run for president myself with this explicit intention. There is no way for an individual not already steeped in the halls of power to gain entry without demonstrating their corruption and loyalty to existing powers.

So my new “solution” is a variant of Patrick’s. I’m preparing for what happens when the downward grade becomes a precipitous step function. As a psychologist rather than an economist, I can only estimate when this will happen. My working assumption is it will be within the next year as the economic fallout from Iran’s successful and ongoing blockade combines with Democrats’ utter unwillingness to use their power in congress and states which they currently control to take effective action to remove the most immediate threats from power - assuming Democrats even manage to win majorities at state and federal levels.

What happens then? When people can no longer afford food; when it becomes clear to more than just the already marginalized that the law binds but does not protect them - there will be widespread violence and scarcity the likes of which almost no living American has experienced. If you’re planning to leave, yesterday was the time. Today isn’t ideal, but you could manage it if you’re wealthy or privileged enough to do so. (And I am not casting judgment on any regular folks for taking this option.) For everyone else, prepare with your community. Start gardening. Stockpile non-perishable goods. Get a bicycle and the tools to repair it. Make some new friends and support them now; they will be your only viable route to survival in the months and years to come.