I can see where you're coming from. But...

The entire 'survivalist' take on peak oil is just another consumer fad.

It very well may be the last consumer fad. The days of dirt cheap weaponry, tools, and outdoors gear are almost over. Soon these things will be outside the reach of most Americans - probably permanently. In other words, buy now, or forever hold your peace.

Countries that have had recent economic collapses are many; Mexico, Russia/USSR, Thailand, Indonesia, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Cuba ... these place and Europe too have crime and many have crime gangs and drug gangs but there is civil society even if there is a shortage of consumer goods and other niceties.

The crucial difference this time around is that the collapse will be global.

In your examples, there were rich, industrialized Western nations to either (a) arm the military to keep order; (b) invest in the collapsed economy and provide a source of revenue for the government; (c) a combination of of a and b. In any case, intentions were the same: keep the collapsing country from descending into complete chaos so as to continue pillaging and exploiting their resources.

In a global collapse, there is nobody to turn to.Some governments will be able to keep their head above water for a while, but eventually, supplies, resources, and capital will simply run out.

Providing services is the main task of government; FEMA failed after Katrina, this does not mean that the government lacked resources or will fail in all subsequent emergencies...and somebody in Washington will figure out how to direct them properly, even if the current (and incoming) cast of clowns cannot.

Here we will have to agree to disagree. I cannot fathom how a person could so flippantly place the health and well-being of their family in the hands of a government - a government that has repeatedly shown utter disdain for its populace. The trillion dollar banking bailouts, while our health care system lies in shambles, only being the most recent example.

Third, it is unlikely the US political system would break down. This country's political traditions are strong; America one of the longest continuously- running governments on Earth.

America's indigenous population was nearly wiped off the face of the planet. Therefore, for the past 300 years, the nation has had virtually unlimited access to natural resources. The economy also got a great kickstart through the kidnapping and enslavement of millions of Africans.

The bottom line is that America's economic pie has been steadily growing from the get-go. So it's not surprising that the government has survived. But it suddenly becomes an altogether different story when the economic pie starts to shrink.

Also, America's root aren't as deep you make them out to be. The average life span of civilization is 421 years. The United States has only been around for 229 years, and is about to slam into the perfect storm: arguably the most formidable confluence of challenges in human history.

If everyone does these things the country buys a hundred years to get the technology/ecology/population/economic issues straightened out.

If...

Take a look at newspaper. Do you see ANY sign whatsoever that this nation is getting serious about addressing our energy problem in a realistic manner? I sure don't.

Violence as a whole may not increase as the peak oil situation progresses. Mobility will be way down and isn't mobility itself, as provided by the use of an automobile, one of the key ingredients of crimes? Without mobility most opportunities to commit a crime are really not available.

Furthermore, why would anyone use violence as opposed to flattery, bartering, etc. to get what they want when violence takes more work and is personally risky and gives one a bad conscience to boot? Many many people all over the world are very good people who will face their own starvation rather than lower their moral standards.

Without really good access to health care, committing violence (and facing the risk of injury) will be like committing suicide. Even a small cut could become infected and without a doctor nearby, this could be fatal.

Agreed. Most of the US population finally got their freedom from someone who was willing to go to jail for it. Women especially ought not thank a soldier for your freedom, thank a protestor instead.

You really think you wouldn't be speaking German, Japanese or Russian?

Wow talk about a self deception. Good luck when reality finally hits you in the behind.

I agree that the Nation State is the greatest threat to your liberty and life at present, but I think the Nation State will be under substantial pressure; hollow states, primary loyalties, bazaar of violence and all that.

Now your local warlord or hopped-up mayor...that might be a problem.

I guess I'm too much into the Atlas Shrugged school of helping and I have no interest in being the "keeper" of every non-productive bum around. I'm also not interested in helping idiots who posit junk reality. I'm also not interested in helping people who will not take responsibility for their own survival.

+1, well put.

Much like BushII, Obama OR Biden is the last person I would trust my safety too.

If you aren't the "keeper" of the bums, that is, if you don't support them and their lazy lifestyles, then you must instead support:
1. The police, lawyers, civil servants, and prisons who clean up their crime
2. The taxes that pay for public welfare
3. The doctors who cure diseases which spread from unhygienic environments
4. The undertakers who dispose of their bodies
5. The lifestyles they engender with their children

And so on.

Any single human, on his or her own, is virtually useless. It is only when we work with each other that we accomplish things for mutual benefit.

For every "bum" out there, there's a person who was once just as lucky as we are, who fell on bad times and couldn't pull themselves up on their own.

Very soon, most people here are going to be bums. And the remaining lucky few with resources and opportunity will look down on these new bums, as the old lucky used to look down on the old bums.

It has a fractal self-similarity to it.

You obviously don't know too many in the various communities, most of us have gardens and are well aware of the world situation with regard to resources. In addition, we actually live with mother nature up close and personal.

Most of the farmers in Iowa could fall under your crazy "survialist" label. Got extra food? Got guns? Got bullets? Afraid of economic meltdown? Willing to take personal responsibility for your own welfare Check on all five.

If you aren't willing to protect your loved ones with your life, why should anyone else be willing to?