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Until then there are still a few debased dollars to be made. Among the preparedness-minded entrepreneurs on hand is Dennis Anderson of Chicago, who represents Long-Life Foods' line of dehydrated applesauce granules and powdered peanut butter. "I don't own any guns and hand grenades, but I believe in having a year's supply of food." Jack Elkins, a nuclear-weapons physicist from Oak Ridge, Term., got so fired up at the June festival that he went home and invented a home oil refinery. It is about the size of a 55-gal. oil drum and, he says, can refine crude oil into gasoline and home heating oil at the rate of 12 gal. of each a day. The cost is slightly higher than retail: "This is not something you'll use to save money, but in an OPEC emergency it's ideal." He offers to custom-build the refineries for about $1,500 (you supply the power source).
The weekend combines politics with survival. Participants work out a 16-point "platform to revitalize America." Among the proposals: U.S. withdrawal from the United Nations, an end to all foreign aid, repudiation of the national debt, abolition of the Federal Reserve System, and repeal of federal and state income tax laws. The delegates listen to a parade of speakers decry Communism, Zionism, U.S. foreign policy, Big Government, and politicians who ignore their constituents.
"Surround these officials," advises Colo nel B.F.M. von Stahl, U.S. Army (ret.).
"Walk in with four or five people and say, 'Are you going to do what the people want or do we have to tip over your desk?' " While Von Stahl explains how to bring treason charges against a Communist-loving official, Courtney Smith, a representative of the conservative Liberty Lobby, sums up the mood of the participants. "They're really mad. I've heard people here actually talk about killing these so-called politicians. They figure they're traitors. Have not the Russians said they will bury us? And yet our Congressmen and Senators vote to aid and abet them. That's treason. They should be hanged— slowly."
Instructors in fatigues and mufti are still lecturing on the fine points of treason, gun handling and dandelion cook ery. Off to the side, a group of apple-cheeked, grade-school-age girls in ging ham dresses, children of members of the audience, are sitting on swings, singing chorus after chorus of Jesus Loves Me.