America's Sad State of Affairs

I just spent a week in Mexico, and I learned several things.

First, fuel prices there have not increased at all over the past year and a half. Can you imagine? Prices are holding perfectly steady.

Second, you can walk into any grocery store and get all the infant formula you want. It's readily available, and shelves are fully stocked.

Third, coyotes on the Mexican side of the border do not let people get to the U.S. border unless they pay an access fee, which usually runs around $10,000 per person. In other words, all those people you see making it to the border have paid a curtain of coyote guards to get there.

Does that strike you as strange?

Fourth, Mexico not only allowed but encouraged the numerous COVID-19 antidotes and preventives - like hydroxychloroquine - that were demonized or withheld in the U.S. Doctors there did not suffer sanctions or worse for dispensing alternatives - or for using their own best judgment.

Fifth, Mexican immigration agents didn't even ask about COVID-19 tests. Going across the border was like pre-COVID-19 times. They did demand people wear face masks in the airport and on airplanes over Mexican airspace. Coming back, it was hilarious to board the plane wearing masks only to watch almost everyone take them off as soon as we crossed into American airspace.

All of these things are interesting, especially what I saw with fuel and infant formula. But have you seen any major media outlets in the U.S. cover any of these things?

If an American outfit has mentioned any of them, I certainly missed it.

This leads me to wonder how much I really know.

No One to Trust

Have you ever wondered whether what you think you know is true? I find myself questioning everything these days. I met with my attorney about some matters recently. He quipped, "I don't trust anybody, not even my friends."

I thought it unnecessarily abrasive at the time, but now I'm not so sure that I couldn't come to think like him.

It's one thing to mistrust people who obviously hold a different worldview, but we're in a sad state of affairs if we can't even trust folks with whom we generally agree.

The old adage that history is written by the winners applies here. My Mexican friends had lots to say about our CIA, fentanyl and puppet governments.

While it's a good thing to get perspective outside our own locales, it can also be quite disconcerting.

I was dubious about the orthodox narrative before... but now I'm dubious on steroids. I want to disengage more than ever. The issues emanating from the deep state are too big for me to influence. If these shenanigans are inevitable, what should I be learning? Where should I direct my attention?

A New Plan

I don't want to be ignorant, but I don't want to expend all my emotional, mental and physical energy on a cause too big and too ingrained to correct. Paul Harvey used to advise us to "hoe our own garden." I think that's a good plan.

My response to everything happening right now is to look to what I can influence, what I can know. That means doubling down on my friendships, my marriage, my life mission. Those are things I know, things I can articulate and things I can influence. It doesn't mean I will stop voting. It does mean I will not be sucked into this campaign or that one.

What if someone really good runs for office? Someone I would really like? I think I'd have to know the person for years before trusting them enough to give money or time. My vote, yes, but anything more would require a level of knowledge I'm not ready to trust I have.

I used to be excited about some candidates. I'm afraid that time is gone. I get excited about soil, earthworms and things I feel confident about. That list is long enough to occupy my attention without getting into commitments and endorsements that will look foolish when more information becomes available.

The unfortunate truth is that none of us can see clearly on a host of important issues. I challenge you to write two lists: one with things that you confidently know and another with things you might not confidently know.

I think if we're honest, the second list will be longer than we would like to admit.

Sincerely,

Joel Salatin