One of the central concepts of Juggernaut rests in the virtues of self-sufficiency. A summary can be found in the first part of the book:

It can be assumed that men are born free and so are naturally capable of self-rule; but self-rule requires the ability to at least reject the prevailing hierarchy, which means that a people must be able to survive and flourish on their own. In short, self-rule is workable only when a people are self-sufficient enough to reject the hierarchic system as it stands. Prior to the discovery of the New World, men may have been capable of self-government, but without self-sufficiency they faced definitive barriers. After the discovery, men could be self-sufficient, and thus self-rule came quite naturally.

Of course, the concept of ‘self-sufficiency’ is not necessarily the most agreeable in a modern society built on complexity and interdependency. To many, ‘self-sufficiency’ means giving up all the comforts that we enjoy, and returning to a simple life of subsistence farming.

Now, ‘self-sufficiency’ is a somewhat ambiguous term that can mean different things to different people. These days, the term has come to mean ‘isolationist’ and ‘positively resistant to cooperation of all kinds’. We think of the word ‘autarky’ as it is used to describe mercantilist states from the early modern era or China up to the late twentieth century. But, at their root, both ‘self-sufficiency’ and ‘autarky’ mean merely ‘independence’ or ‘the ability to sustain oneself’.

Independence does not necessitate isolation, just that a person or a people are not reliant on others. The fact is that one can interact with others and still be independent, as long as he doesn’t have to interact with them in order to survive.

Indeed, it is possible to be self-sufficient and at the same time engaged in a high volume of trade and cooperation—as long as one has the ability to provide for himself, he can trade and interact all he wants. The key is personal autonomy, which can certainly take the form of isolationism, though it does not have to.

In the fourth part, the idea of self-sufficiency is delved into further and an outline of possible steps are provided to achieve personal and community self-sufficiency in order to achieve the ultimate goal of personal and community self-rule.

To that list, I would add a simple and very accessible list of techniques found on an excellent blog, Galt’s Gultch or Bust! As the author acknowledges, the concept of self-sufficiency, or the closely allied ‘survivalism’, can be daunting, a fact that doubtless steers most moderns used to the comfortable life away. From the blog:

When you first get into the survivalist world, everything hits you like a ton of bricks.  There is so much information to go through and process that the task of prepping seems monstrous and the goal of self sufficiency seems almost unattainable.  This post is about getting back to the basics of survival.

To make it more accessible, the author offers a bare-bones guide, funny throughout and very practical. Ultimately, it’s for anyone who might be interested in chucking the system, or just being able to.

The blog: Back to the Basics (Survivalism 101).