Archive:Gulching

Gulching refers to the act of physically retreating from mainstream society in company with other freedom-seekers. The term comes from Galt's Gulch, the fictional village of economic outlaws in Ayn Rand's novel, Atlas Shrugged. These underground communities are called gulches and the inhabitants thereof are called gulchers.

Claire Wolf's The Gulcher's Guide recommends that gulches be located at least 100 miles from any major city, in the event that a national catastrophe causes refugees to spill out of the city in search of food, loot, and refuge. Each possible location involves certain tradeoffs that affect suitability for gulching. For instance, while the intermountain west is perceived as relatively freedom-friendly, it also suffers from lack of water, harsh climates and poor agricultural conditions.

Since gulchers must sacrifice many conveniences associated with government-regulated activities, Wolf considers the most crucial characteristic of a potential gulcher to be adaptability. Gulchers typically eschew government-licensed banks, preferring to barter or use gold as a currency. Wolf notes that gulchers may have to rely on anonymous advertisements to find customers and services, e.g.:

• "Chiropractor needed for individual in Coos County, New Hampshire."
• "Internist and full range of clinic services available to gold-paying customers in Pocatello, Idaho."

Exact statistics on gulching's prevalence are unavailable. However, it is unlikely that they exist on any large scale, since the federal government has vast resources available to combat underground organizations. Government methods have ranged from infiltrating groups with informants (used against Communist Party USA in the 1950s[1]) to setting up undercover "front" businesses to attract illegal transactions (used against the Cali mafia in the 1990s[2]).

References

• Operation Dinero.
• Piper, Michael Collins: FBI Secretly Controlled Communist Party USA, American Free Press.
• Wolf, Claire: Communities for Cats.
• Wolf, Claire: The Gulcher's Guide.