Essential Ways to Remain Free (part two)

So here is the no doubt much anticipated follow up to my original post, which looked at the importance of controlling your own wealth & wages.  I strongly argue that this next point is just as important to ensure your freedom; self-sufficiency.  The most basic & essential point is to be free from obligations and be able to provide for yourself.  Being dependant on the state or others for handouts certainly doesn't create a free individual, as this charity could easily disappear.  Being indebted to others is equally dangerous as they own part or potentially all of your production.

To put this point bluntly, if you require others to provide the necessities for your own life then they are in a very powerful position to take advantage.  Whilst I have no doubt that most people are interested in honourable trade agreements, when supply is squeezed there's a very good chance you will either be left without, or pay a substantial ransom for the goods you require if you can't produce them yourself.  Whilst it is obviously impossible to be totally self-producing in the modern age, most of us have no room or resources to keep livestock for example, there are many areas of our lives in which we could remove our dependency on others. 

Sticking with the topic of food there is no good reason so many of us are so heavily dependant on supermarket groceries when there is a variety of goods we could produce ourselves at minimal effort & cost.  Plus if we take the speculation on rising food shortages into account there is even more incentive to start producing some of your own goods rather than be left begging for the last cabbage at Tesco.

Self-sufficiency is not all about foods & goods, education and skills are equally important.  As I already stated, it is impossible/impractical for any one individual to produce absolutely everything they need with the limited resources the majority of us have. Therefore we need to be able to offer other individuals something of value in exchange, most people have a job which pays for their needs but learning additional skills can improve your total wealth.  Even if you do not actively exchange these skills with somebody else they can save you money, thereby increasing your wealth and improving your ability to remain free.  For example, learning to repair shoes, watches, electronic goods, etc will reduce the need to hire other professionals whilst also being a skill you could sell if you ever needed the extra revenue.

To summarise this point, the greater your ability to produce your own goods and the more useful resources (piles of cash won't do you much good if your neighbour needs their roof repairing) you have to trade with others the lower the risk of resorting to slavery/cheap labour in order to survive.  Whilst an apocalyptic every man for himself scenario is very unlikely, being more self-sufficient will save you a tidy sum & aid a more prosperous lifestyle.