Friday, I rented a tractor and roto-tilled the Mount Rushmore of vegetable gardens. After 33 years of marriage, this will be our second garden; the first being at Colorado State University when we grew a radish. (Radish is singular and not a typo.) Late in April of 1980, we learned of a chunk of ground divided into 100 garden plots which were available on a first-come, first-served basis for married students. The secret was to homestead one of the plots closest to the irrigation ditch as those at the end of the rows were always short on water if other tenants failed to weed their gardens. We hustled to be first in line the morning of the sign-up, and anxiously signed our names to Plot #1 and for a moment we were the gardening champions of married student housing. Then summer started.

After sitting for nine months in the anatomy lab at vet school, the physical demands of my summer job shoveling concrete nearly killed me. Once my stiffness wore off, my concrete job became my best ever because it was so simple—bend over and move concrete or gravel from one place to another. At six dollars per hour, I was not getting rich, but combined with my trophy wife’s income from flipping burgers at McDonald’s, we could afford our own contraception and had food on the table. This was good because the calorie burn from shoveling mud kept me hungry most of the summer. After work I would stagger into our apartment, collapse in front of a large oscillating fan, and gobble whatever I could shove in my mouth. The last thing on my mind was tending our garden, and Plot #1 showed it.

By late July, the entire two acre garden tract became an amazing expression of cultural diversity. Several unique plots were tended by foreign couples who shoveled their gardens into these elaborate, green, four-tiered works of art. Their crops were thriving and it was as if you were staring at a rainforest in their homeland of Ecuador. Plot #1, our plot, fittingly looked like the sagebrush flats in Eastern Montana…during a drought. Commensurate with our efforts, our summer bounty was the radish.

Here is why I am telling you this: Because we are runners, Druann and I eat massive amounts of fruits, vegetables and meat. Whenever I am in Costco, I am amazed by the sheer volume of food passing out the doors. Answer me this: If the progressives successfully collapse the American economy thereby fracturing supply chains, how long before food shelves in Billings, Montana become empty? I think less than one week so the question then becomes how will you feed your family? Think about it.

Because progressives have indoctrinated so many Americans to believe they are entitled to anything they lack, our nation is facing a 16 trillion dollar debt. Be it free healthcare, extended unemployment benefits, green energy subsidies, or food stamps, progressives will continue swapping freebies for votes until the entire system plunges into the abyss. By then, the ruling class will own you and you will be expected to kneel and lick the hand of the government official feeding you. As much as I dislike gardening, if I am going to be on my hands and knees it will be to pulls weeds so I can feed my family and remain free. This is not being paranoid, it is being prepared.