When I was quite young, I remember hearing some talk about a famous prize fighter who made a lot of money, but died penniless. I asked my parents how that could happen and they explained to me that people who make a lot of money in sports or entertainment frequently think that their fame and fortune will go on forever. They become accustomed to living high off the hog and have a hard time adjusting when the bubble bursts, as it always does sooner or later. Although I never expected to be rich and famous, I made up my mind right then that, if I ever came into money by accident, I would stash it away for my old age instead of blowing it all on a fancy lifestyle that I wasn't interested in pursuing anyway.
I never saved any money when I was working but, when they closed the mill down, they gave us a generous severance package, which I invested in a stock market index fund. An index fund is about the most conservative approach you can take to the stock market, and it generally earns more than you can get from things like bank accounts and certificates of deposit. I studied up on it some but, before that, the only thing I knew about the stock market was that it causes people to jump out of windows. People often talk about "playing" the sock market but, actually, there are two types of people who buy stocks, investors and speculators. The investors are in it for the long haul, and the speculators are kind of like gamblers except that there is more to it than random chance. I knew that our severance money would not last us the rest of our lives unless I could make it grow, so I took a little risk and it worked out fine. When my mother died, she left me some more money which I invested the same way. I have not actually gotten into Mom's money yet, but it makes a nice security cushion for the times when the market takes a dive.
I'm surprised that you never heard about the Czech's penchant for frugality, which was legendary in our day. Like most legends, it was exaggerated, but there certainly was some truth in it. One joke that comes to mind: "How do they take a census of all the Czechs in Chicago? - They just roll a quarter down the middle of Cermak Road." Another one has to do with the classic Czech success story: Buy a two flat, rent both flats out, and live in the basement. - "Why were there no Czech suicides during the great stock market crash of 1929? - You can't commit suicide by jumping out a basement window."
Speaking of stereotypes, I hope that you know all that stuff about your farmer friend for a fact and are not just profiling him. If I did that to a Black person you would be all over my case, and rightly so. Just because the man raises hogs for living doesn't mean that he's an ignorant red neck hillbilly, you know. Indeed, if he's a successful professional farmer, he could probably buy you and me both out with the proceeds from the sale of just one of his tractors.
It just occurred to me that,when you say "libertarian, with a small "l", you are referring to people who believe in libertarian principles, but are not necessarily card carrying Libertarians with a capital "L". Rand Paul is the son of Ron Paul, who once ran for president on the Libertarian ticket, but later decided that he actually wanted to get elected to something, so he became a Republican. Of course, he's still a libertarian at heart, as are probably a significant number of the Tea Party Republicans. I think that the Bible thumpers in the mix mostly came from the old Southern Democrats and the American Independent Party.
The more I think about it, I can see why you might believe that libertarians and Bible thumpers are unlikely allies, but I think that they have more in common with each other than either of them have with modern Democrats. If we were talking about classical liberals like Thomas Jefferson it might be a different story, but today's Democrats probably have Jefferson turning over in his grave. To be fair, modern Republicans probably have Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt turning over in their graves as well. The Tea Party types tend to believe that government is part of the problem, not part of the solution and, of course, the Democrats believe the opposite. Why would either the libertarians or the Bible thumpers want to form an alliance with the Democrats? If I didn't know any better I would say that you are playing the old "divide and conquer" game. Have you been reading Machiavelli again?
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