Y'know, this is brilliant.

Uncle Sam: I foresee a shortfall of funds looming in the future.

Elmer: Let's just raise taxes or deflate the currency to make the people pay for what we want.

Uncle Sam: No, the people are restless and taxation and deflation are on their radar thanks to Ron Paul.

Elmer: Well we have to get the money from them somehow. They're the only ones who have any; we're broke.

Uncle Sam: I know what we'll do. We'll wait for the next big disaster and have DHS suggest that people prepare for future emergencies.

Elmer: How will that help us? If there's a disaster, we're the ones who will need the supplies.

Uncle Sam: Well, the people will stockpile whatever we say. We'll also tell them to grow gardens. Heck, I'll bet if we told them to tape plastic over their windows to protect them from nuclear fallout they'd do it.

Elmer: You haven't answered my question. How will making the people more prepared for emergencies help us?

Uncle Sam: When the time is right, we will simply declare that preppers are potential terrorists and confiscate what they have been "hoarding". We could run some news stories showing how mentally deranged these hoarders are.

Elmer: Won't the rest of the people object to this?

Uncle Sam: Not at all. Afterall, it will be in the name of those others -- those that didn't prepare -- that we will be confiscating the supplies. It's the American way.

Elmer: That's great, but how will you know who the preppers are?

Uncle Sam: We already track their purchases. All we have to do is flag bulk purchases or purchases from certain companies selling emergency preparedness items.

Elmer: But they will be spread out all over the country.

Uncle Sam: Exactly, already pre-positioned for use by our forces anywhere in the country.