I think many of us were surprised during Covid to realize just what the supposedly liberal West has become: Essentially the Soviet Union but with better uniforms — well, better video games, anyway.

Of course, it was decades in the making — Covid just showed their cards.

The question, as always, is What's Next?

For better or worse, authoritarianism has happened many times in history — it's kind of the human default. The original state.

Humanity has a lot of experience with authoritarianism.

So how did people protect themselves last time?

Dodging Tyranny in the 1940s
An elegant illustration is the 1940s, where essentially the entire globe went authoritarian socialist and then — as always — went to war.

And the correct response very much depended on where you were.

If you were in New York, you adjusted your stock portfolio.

If you were in Britain you moved to the countryside and stockpiled canned food.

If you were in Switzerland you packed a go-bag in case the German army decided to fill in the map.

And if you were in Germany, of course, the only plan was to get the heck out.

The problem is when to pull each trigger: When do you adjust the portfolio? Buy the canned food? Pack the go-bag? When do you get the heck out?

Each of these preparations has a cost. And the more successful you are — the more you've built or achieved — the higher those costs go. Moving your family, your business, converting your career to location-independent where you can support your family.