Home, Home On The Range…

The picture at left is from Architectural Digest, which did a photo layout of one of John and Cindy McCain’s Arizona homes in 2005. Here is the full slide show. Nice place.

Not exactly like our homesteads, which more often look sort of spliced together from this and that as we attempt to grow our personal independence and self-sufficiency in an increasingly hostile economy. Heck, many of us dedicated homesteaders have had to invent some creative ways just to pay the mortgage, which does tend to bite into time for completing the goat barn or installing the solar panels or building the sluice for the water turbine or… well, suffice it to say that for most of us, our homesteads are a forever work-in-progress. We wouldn’t be doing it if “Home” were not the most important asset we have in the world, on which we lavish our time, toil and love unconditionally.

Thus it wasn’t a delighted laughter that greeted a clueless John McCain when he told an audience of evangelical ‘base’ Christians the other day that people can be considered “rich” if they bring home $5 million a year. Which makes his rival Barack Obama’s measly $4 million income last year positively middle class. The laughter was more along the lines of “…he said WHAT!!!???”

Then he ‘forgot’ how many houses he owns. Told Politico that he’d have to have his staff get back to you on that. The answer, in case you’re wondering, is somewhere between 7 and 12. Maybe more, but they’re condos so who’s counting? I admit to being floored, and wonder how it is that this guy has managed to stay within the margin of error with Democrat Obama in this year’s Presidential campaign. Are Americans really that scared? Since the entire Republican game plan is to keep people so scared of terrorists that they don’t dare vote for anyone who might be able to address real life problems like housing, health care, deficit spending, downsizing, etc., etc., etc. What ever happened to the “Home of the Brave” part of our national identity?

I guess Homesteaders are just a different sort of breed of American. People who actually do desire being as responsible for themselves and their families as they possibly can be. People who will go ahead and plant a few rows of wheat this fall just because they can and people are going hungry. People who don’t mind milking the goats or playing “find the eggs” from their free-range hens. People who know how to fix the water heater and patch the roof and build a greenhouse even though they work to pay the bills and barter for what they need. We’re not proud. We’ll buy second-hand, we’ll recycle someone else’s discarded roofing, we’ll drive that beat-up pickup truck every day and thank our lucky stars it still runs. Just so we can continue to live this way, on our beloved homesteads.

Maybe we should be proud-er. I’d lay odds right now that every single one of us who wears the label “Homesteader” knows right off the top of our heads exactly how many houses we own. And where they are. And why we own (or are paying for) them.

The economic situation is bad, getting worse. Our nation needs to start celebrating people who will embrace the realities of our existence in the 21st century, after “peak oil” and the absolute looting of our nation’s wealth. By people just like John McCain, who can’t remember how many homes he owns. Wow. Just… wow.

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Filed under Economics, Garden, Goats, Home Buying, Homestead, Independence | Comments (2)