Brrrrr,
So where the heck did Summer go?!? All year it was cold, cold, cold, 2 days of sun & heat, then BLAM!! Fall's here... I gues welcome to Michigan eh? :)
Anways, I can't complain too much since usually the colder it gets, the more likely I am to study, read, learn. A blessing in disguise indeed since I had the chance to pull out a book I haven't touched in a while. A book titled "The Next Millionaires" - by Paul Sane Pilzer. This book is very pregnant with concepts and statistics. The main premis of the book Pilzer is underlining are the trends of commerce our econemy is climbing. He is predicting the increase of more and more millionaires and of less and less billionaires emerge. Pilzer is also predicting that between 2006 & 2016, there will be a wave of 10 million NEW millionaires!
Out of this book, there was a section on Unemployment that gave me a very interesting perspective. I wanted to copy this section of the book so you can read it too. I hope this perspective will ignite a great conversation with you.
"Unemployment is the first and only true sign of economic growth." Paul Pilzer
The Truth About Amployment (pg 39 - 41)
Today we hear quite a bit about unemployment. While the media focuses its attention on human-interest stories of people displaced from jobs, politicians vie to top each other's promises as to how much more unemployment their policies will eliminate than their competitor's will. But what their promises would really mean ( if they could fulfill them) would be to turn back the clock and reverse the natural progression of events.
What they are missing is the connection that only unempolyment - the kind that results from a change to a newer technology - can create new jobs and grow the size of the economic pie for everyone.
Imagine a self-sufficient desert island community with only ten families, all of whom subsist on fish. Every day, all 10 men go out in their communal boat with their fishing poles, while the ten women stay home to take care of the huts and the children.
Now along comes a missionary who shows the men a new and better technology for fishing: a large net. Using the single net instead of the ten individual poles and lines, now it takes only two fisherman to catch the same number of fish: one to pilot the boat and one to throw the net. The same number of fish, or even more. Amazing!
But now they have a problem. Unemployment in their little island community has just risen from zero to 80 percent! Notice that the island society as a whole is still just as wealthy as it was before; in fact, since it can preserve te little bit of extra fish it catches, it's growing even slightly wealthier. But eight of the ten fishermen are now out of jobs. How will it feed and clothe these eight unemployed fishermen and their families?
It could pass a law against nets, to prevent unemployment.
Sound Ludicrous? That's exactly what many societies do. Or, when a new technology displaces people from jobs, different groups will picket and protest to try to get their politicians to do something to stop the advance.
Or, it could "solve" its "problem' by taxing the two working fishermen and redistributing the earnings to the unemployed fishermen. All this would take would be an income tax rate of, let's see...hmm, 80 percent.
"Ridiculous," you say. "What kind of society would increase the marginal tax rate to 80 percent on the producers of siciety?" Us! That's who! During the first half of the twentieth centure, that is exactly what we did. This was the world's primary response to short-term unemployment as the implementation of technological advances made certain people far richer than their neighbors. Between 1912 and 1960, the United States and Western Europe instituted highly progressive income taxes, increasing the personal marginal income tax rate to as high as 91 percent (in 1959) on the producers of society.
Let's return to our island community for a moment. What could our island friends do instead? They could help the eight unemployed fishermen develop new jobs that will add to the wealth of the community. One could learn medicine and help raise the level of health for everyone on the island. One could specialize in roofing, and develop stronger and more protective huts. One could specialize in teaching the children, and increase the level of intellectual and creative skills throughout the next generation. And they could both arter their skills with the remaining fishermen as well as with each other - which is exactly why we call it "playing their trade" - and thereby increase both the welfare and the wealth of everyone in the community.
Note that in our island community, none of these jobs or professions - healer, roofer, teacher - existed before. There were only fishermen, and they got by as best they could. It was only after a better technology had increased the productivity of the fishermen 500 percent and caused 80 percent unemployment that these new jobs began to exist.
Just as economic alchemy teachs us that resources don't exist until the human mind creates them, and "demand" doesn't exist until the human mind creats it (through technology), here we can see that new jobs don't exist until the human mind creats them.
And what will they do in these jobs? Innovate. Invent. Create. Find better ways of doing each of those tasks.
This is one of the most difficult concepts to understand because of the enormous paradigm shift it represents: Unemployment is the first and only true sign of economic growth.
Wow!!! This is incredible!! This helped me put into perspective when we hear people say "We are no longer in the Industrial age. We are now in the Information age"
Hey, c'mon, take it easy...Just because I love to learn, doesn't mean I'm the fastest learner... ;)
So how do you feel about Paul Pilzer's point? And, why do you feel that way?
I know for me, the opportunity of economic growth in the information age seems so much more abundantly these days with the unemployment rates being higher than they ever have been.
Looking forward to reading your thoughts.
God Bless,
-Larry
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Excerpt by Team CEO, Bob Dickie III
One of the reasons why I work for the Team, is because I believe in the path that the company is going. Leadership and Liberty is vastly needed in out land today.
I came across an excerpt that was written by the CEO of Team, Robert Dickie III. Through his insight and wisdom, coupled with Orrin Woodward (Co-Founder of the Team) & many others, Bob has been able to articulate complex ideas and situations we are faced with today.
Please enjoy this article as I have. And please feel free to put your thoughts below and share some wisdom.
God Bless,
Larry
The Cycle of Democracy
The following blog post is written by Orrin Woodward. It is very thought provoking, extremely well researched and written, and I highly encourage everyone to take the time the time to read it. At the end, I would love to hear your view points and comments if you would like to share them with the group.
The following quote is from Alexander Fraser Tyler - (in his 1770 book, Cycle of Democracy). I have been thinking about this quote and the state of our union for many months. I do not write this article in an attacking spirit, but in a spirit of searching for the right path in a world wandering down blind alleys. "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury.
From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising them the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over a louse fiscal responsibility, always followed by a dictatorship. The average of the world's great civilizations before they decline has been 200 years. These nations have progressed in this sequence:"
Here is Tyler's "Cycle of Democracy" with my thoughts of of America in the cycle. From bondage to spiritual faith; The Great Awakening of the 1730's in the American Colonies was a time of revival and spiritual longing. Jonathon Edwards, considered by many to be America's greatest mind, led the revival with Biblical sermons and a fire for truth. Edwards taught the unvarnished truth about sinful man and our accountability to an Almighty God.
Not surprisingly, he is mocked and laughed at today, but that is more of an indictment of our society than Edwards preaching. Pastor Edward's magnum opus, Freedom of the Will has never been refuted by any scholar. This was a critical step in developing the conviction to fear God and not man. Even if man happened to be the largest empire in the world in which the sun never set – the British Empire.
From spiritual faith to great courage; Spiritual faith leads to great courage based upon convictions worth sacrificing for. A person who will does not stand for something, will fall for anything. Think of the true heroes throughout history. One of the uniting principles that all heroes have is a willingness to stand for truth and convictions in a world of untruth and apathy. The Founding Families had great courage to stand for the truth of against tyranny and oppression. They did this because they knew the Bible said, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty." The British were moving in the direction of excessive taxation (1 %) and the Colonist would not sit back and allow an offsite government to tax local colonist. From courage to liberty; The Colonist defeat of the British Empire was not a defeat of British military forces as much as a victory over British will. The Colonists were fighting for their deeply held principles that they were willing to give their life, wealth and sacred honor for. The British were fighting for some extra taxation in one of their many colonies. The American will defeated the British will because of an imbalance in the convictions involved. With the defeat of Cornwallis and the subsequent genius of our American Constitution, liberty reigned in the United States under rule of law. From liberty to abundance; The abundance generated by free enterprise and limited government was one of America's biggest blessings, but also one of our biggest challenges. One of the few standing economies after WWII was America's. Our products flowed to nearly all foreign markets creating the wealthiest society in the world's history. It takes incredible discipline to remember where our blessings come from with abundance heaped upon further abundance. Over time, people forget the principles that created the liberty and the fruit of that liberty. Seeing the inequalities in the blessing of individual citizens, an envy of our fellow Americans germinates. The fruit of this unholy thinking is a desire to take our brothers and sisters abundance and give to those less abounding. Government would have to intervene and right this wrong according to the envious. From abundance to selfishness; The 1960's were a decade of self masquerading as a care for those less fortunate. Free love, destruction of society's norms, and a drug culture prevailed in the youth. The 1960's were a rebellion against the plastic society of abundance without the belief in the principles that created that abundance. The Church, having lost conviction of the truths of the Bible, ossified into ghetto culture within America. With little truth in the Church, the youth were left on their own to search for answers to the hypocrisy that engulfed them. Instead of returning to the Biblical principles and the God that created the blessings, society entered into the worship of self and self-actualization. The youth of the 60's saw the hypocrisy, but in their endless faith in their own holiness marched America even further from its Biblical roots. From selfishness to complacency; Without a Biblical foundation, the rebellion was bound to produce worse fruits than the plastic culture it attempted to replace. With no firm convictions to stand upon, the rebellion dissolved into peace and personal affluence. The loss of Biblical absolutes is bound to lead from convictions to surrender to complacency as no one is sure what the truth is. What is the use of standing for anything, if we are not sure that what we are standing for is truth? The 1970's saw this complacency as the youth joined the "system" and pursued peace and affluence with little understanding of original principles that America was founded upon. From complacency to apathy; 1980's were a brief respite in the cycle. Thanks to the leadership and convictions of Ronald Reagan, America stood its ground against Communism and found that Communism was a paper tiger. The respite was short lived because the President, even with his bully pulpit, cannot consistently educate Americans on Biblical truths. This must be a function of the church, which has abdicated their responsibility in an effort to be relative to a lost generation. The 1990's saw a near complete surrender to apathy and personal fulfillment. With a near complete rejection of absolute values, people defined their own values and pursued fulfillment in the myriad of choices available to them. People did not care who was running the government as long as they were left alone to pursue the own personal agenda. Government performed by doing focus groups to ascertain what the people wanted and giving it to them, surrendering all leadership responsibilities to the disparate wishes of the people. Government, instead of playing the role of umpire and defender of our freedoms began to play the role of a benevolent dictator. The dictator studied to learn what we wanted and offered that to us with only a presumed token price of submission to the almighty sovereignty of government in the affairs of the citizens. From apathy to dependency; The 2000's will be remembered as the decade of complete submission to the government's largesse. The American citizen's depend upon government for their welfare, health care, social security, etc. It would be unthinkable for most Americans to live without the direct involvement of our beneficent Big Brother. The price of dependency is submission of our freedoms to the dictates of Big Brother. The old saying that you boil a frog one degree at a time aptly fits here. If you take a frog and throw him into boiling water, the frog will have enough sense to jump out. But if you turn up the temperature slowly, the frog will open up its pores and will literally be boiled without an attempted escape. Americans are now boiling in our dependency on our government. From dependency back again to bondage. Eventually in our dependence, we see our status falling in the free world as slaves can never perform the functions of free men and women. Although the government still mouths the words of our founding fathers, the words have new meanings. The citizens cannot put a finger on the malady, but they know something is not right. In their desperation, they look for a messiah to save them. Because the Churches are not sharing the message of the true messiah and the true way to liberty, the citizens look for a worldly messiah. A perceptive leader, with words that tickle the ears promises to be the searched for messiah. With the republican form of government torn asunder and transformed into a nascent democracy – the powerful words and promises of deliverance speak directly to the masses. A savior is born unto the people and salvation is just around the corner. A shocking truth is learned too late that man cannot save man and only Jesus Christ can liberate the soul in bondage. A people held in bondage to sin can never be responsible to run a free government. The people in bondage will look to the government the way Christians look to their Savior. Government cannot be the savior to the people and was never intended to be so when created by our Founding Families. America's national debt is now over $10 trillion and to service the debt on the interest is over $450 billion per year. This makes interest on debt the 3rd biggest item on our government's budget! We are bankrupting our children's inheritance on the altar of self indulgence! Ben Franklin said after the creation of our Constitution when asked what type of government was created, "A republic, if you can keep it." A republic was formed to keep the masses from directly running the government and voting the government into bankruptcy. How far have we traveled from our founding principles and roots? I did not write this to scare people into inactivity, but to awaken our consciences to the choices that face us. We do not have to complete this cycle and just as Ronald Reagan interrupted the cycle, we can too! Will it take convictions and guts? Yes, but a Godly people that have studied the truth of our founding principles will not be swayed by the promises of an almighty government. Examine yourself. Where do you stand at this historic time? Let me close with one of my brothers favorite authors. The science fiction writer, Robert Heinlein called this issue "Bread and Circuses" - a reference to Roman Emperors providing food and entertainment to distract the masses. In "To Sail beyond the Sunset" the character Lazarus Long discusses this problem: "A perfect democracy, a 'warm body' democracy in which every adult may vote and all votes count equally has no internal feedback for self correction. It depends solely on the wisdom and self-restraint of citizens...which is opposed by the folly and lack of self-restraint of other citizens. What is supposed to happen in a democracy is that each sovereign citizen will always vote in the public interest for the safety and welfare of all. But what does happen is that he votes his own self-interest as he sees it...which for the majority translates as 'Bread and Circuses' "Bread and Circuses is the cancer of democracy, the fatal disease for which there is no cure. Democracy often works beautifully at first. But once a state extends the franchise to every warm body, be he producer or parasite, that day marks the beginning of the end of the state. For when the plebs discover that they can vote themselves bread and circuses without limit and that the productive members of the body politic cannot stop them, they will do so, until the state bleeds to death or in its weakened condition the state succumbs to an invader--the barbarians enter Rome." Where do you think America is on the cycle and what do you think we must do to address and fix? I will close this article with the Biblical passage from Hosea 4:6-10, which I believe captures the crossroads where America stands. I will address proposed solutions in several future articles.
God Bless,
Orrin Woodward
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
7 " The more they increased, The more they sinned against Me; I will change[a] their glory[b] into shame.
8 They eat up the sin of My people; They set their heart on their iniquity.
9 And it shall be: like people, like priest. So I will punish them for their ways, And reward them for their deeds.
10 For they shall eat, but not have enough; They shall commit harlotry, but not increase; Because they have ceased obeying the LORD.
I came across an excerpt that was written by the CEO of Team, Robert Dickie III. Through his insight and wisdom, coupled with Orrin Woodward (Co-Founder of the Team) & many others, Bob has been able to articulate complex ideas and situations we are faced with today.
Please enjoy this article as I have. And please feel free to put your thoughts below and share some wisdom.
God Bless,
Larry
The Cycle of Democracy
The following blog post is written by Orrin Woodward. It is very thought provoking, extremely well researched and written, and I highly encourage everyone to take the time the time to read it. At the end, I would love to hear your view points and comments if you would like to share them with the group.
The following quote is from Alexander Fraser Tyler - (in his 1770 book, Cycle of Democracy). I have been thinking about this quote and the state of our union for many months. I do not write this article in an attacking spirit, but in a spirit of searching for the right path in a world wandering down blind alleys. "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury.
From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising them the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over a louse fiscal responsibility, always followed by a dictatorship. The average of the world's great civilizations before they decline has been 200 years. These nations have progressed in this sequence:"
Here is Tyler's "Cycle of Democracy" with my thoughts of of America in the cycle. From bondage to spiritual faith; The Great Awakening of the 1730's in the American Colonies was a time of revival and spiritual longing. Jonathon Edwards, considered by many to be America's greatest mind, led the revival with Biblical sermons and a fire for truth. Edwards taught the unvarnished truth about sinful man and our accountability to an Almighty God.
Not surprisingly, he is mocked and laughed at today, but that is more of an indictment of our society than Edwards preaching. Pastor Edward's magnum opus, Freedom of the Will has never been refuted by any scholar. This was a critical step in developing the conviction to fear God and not man. Even if man happened to be the largest empire in the world in which the sun never set – the British Empire.
From spiritual faith to great courage; Spiritual faith leads to great courage based upon convictions worth sacrificing for. A person who will does not stand for something, will fall for anything. Think of the true heroes throughout history. One of the uniting principles that all heroes have is a willingness to stand for truth and convictions in a world of untruth and apathy. The Founding Families had great courage to stand for the truth of against tyranny and oppression. They did this because they knew the Bible said, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty." The British were moving in the direction of excessive taxation (1 %) and the Colonist would not sit back and allow an offsite government to tax local colonist. From courage to liberty; The Colonist defeat of the British Empire was not a defeat of British military forces as much as a victory over British will. The Colonists were fighting for their deeply held principles that they were willing to give their life, wealth and sacred honor for. The British were fighting for some extra taxation in one of their many colonies. The American will defeated the British will because of an imbalance in the convictions involved. With the defeat of Cornwallis and the subsequent genius of our American Constitution, liberty reigned in the United States under rule of law. From liberty to abundance; The abundance generated by free enterprise and limited government was one of America's biggest blessings, but also one of our biggest challenges. One of the few standing economies after WWII was America's. Our products flowed to nearly all foreign markets creating the wealthiest society in the world's history. It takes incredible discipline to remember where our blessings come from with abundance heaped upon further abundance. Over time, people forget the principles that created the liberty and the fruit of that liberty. Seeing the inequalities in the blessing of individual citizens, an envy of our fellow Americans germinates. The fruit of this unholy thinking is a desire to take our brothers and sisters abundance and give to those less abounding. Government would have to intervene and right this wrong according to the envious. From abundance to selfishness; The 1960's were a decade of self masquerading as a care for those less fortunate. Free love, destruction of society's norms, and a drug culture prevailed in the youth. The 1960's were a rebellion against the plastic society of abundance without the belief in the principles that created that abundance. The Church, having lost conviction of the truths of the Bible, ossified into ghetto culture within America. With little truth in the Church, the youth were left on their own to search for answers to the hypocrisy that engulfed them. Instead of returning to the Biblical principles and the God that created the blessings, society entered into the worship of self and self-actualization. The youth of the 60's saw the hypocrisy, but in their endless faith in their own holiness marched America even further from its Biblical roots. From selfishness to complacency; Without a Biblical foundation, the rebellion was bound to produce worse fruits than the plastic culture it attempted to replace. With no firm convictions to stand upon, the rebellion dissolved into peace and personal affluence. The loss of Biblical absolutes is bound to lead from convictions to surrender to complacency as no one is sure what the truth is. What is the use of standing for anything, if we are not sure that what we are standing for is truth? The 1970's saw this complacency as the youth joined the "system" and pursued peace and affluence with little understanding of original principles that America was founded upon. From complacency to apathy; 1980's were a brief respite in the cycle. Thanks to the leadership and convictions of Ronald Reagan, America stood its ground against Communism and found that Communism was a paper tiger. The respite was short lived because the President, even with his bully pulpit, cannot consistently educate Americans on Biblical truths. This must be a function of the church, which has abdicated their responsibility in an effort to be relative to a lost generation. The 1990's saw a near complete surrender to apathy and personal fulfillment. With a near complete rejection of absolute values, people defined their own values and pursued fulfillment in the myriad of choices available to them. People did not care who was running the government as long as they were left alone to pursue the own personal agenda. Government performed by doing focus groups to ascertain what the people wanted and giving it to them, surrendering all leadership responsibilities to the disparate wishes of the people. Government, instead of playing the role of umpire and defender of our freedoms began to play the role of a benevolent dictator. The dictator studied to learn what we wanted and offered that to us with only a presumed token price of submission to the almighty sovereignty of government in the affairs of the citizens. From apathy to dependency; The 2000's will be remembered as the decade of complete submission to the government's largesse. The American citizen's depend upon government for their welfare, health care, social security, etc. It would be unthinkable for most Americans to live without the direct involvement of our beneficent Big Brother. The price of dependency is submission of our freedoms to the dictates of Big Brother. The old saying that you boil a frog one degree at a time aptly fits here. If you take a frog and throw him into boiling water, the frog will have enough sense to jump out. But if you turn up the temperature slowly, the frog will open up its pores and will literally be boiled without an attempted escape. Americans are now boiling in our dependency on our government. From dependency back again to bondage. Eventually in our dependence, we see our status falling in the free world as slaves can never perform the functions of free men and women. Although the government still mouths the words of our founding fathers, the words have new meanings. The citizens cannot put a finger on the malady, but they know something is not right. In their desperation, they look for a messiah to save them. Because the Churches are not sharing the message of the true messiah and the true way to liberty, the citizens look for a worldly messiah. A perceptive leader, with words that tickle the ears promises to be the searched for messiah. With the republican form of government torn asunder and transformed into a nascent democracy – the powerful words and promises of deliverance speak directly to the masses. A savior is born unto the people and salvation is just around the corner. A shocking truth is learned too late that man cannot save man and only Jesus Christ can liberate the soul in bondage. A people held in bondage to sin can never be responsible to run a free government. The people in bondage will look to the government the way Christians look to their Savior. Government cannot be the savior to the people and was never intended to be so when created by our Founding Families. America's national debt is now over $10 trillion and to service the debt on the interest is over $450 billion per year. This makes interest on debt the 3rd biggest item on our government's budget! We are bankrupting our children's inheritance on the altar of self indulgence! Ben Franklin said after the creation of our Constitution when asked what type of government was created, "A republic, if you can keep it." A republic was formed to keep the masses from directly running the government and voting the government into bankruptcy. How far have we traveled from our founding principles and roots? I did not write this to scare people into inactivity, but to awaken our consciences to the choices that face us. We do not have to complete this cycle and just as Ronald Reagan interrupted the cycle, we can too! Will it take convictions and guts? Yes, but a Godly people that have studied the truth of our founding principles will not be swayed by the promises of an almighty government. Examine yourself. Where do you stand at this historic time? Let me close with one of my brothers favorite authors. The science fiction writer, Robert Heinlein called this issue "Bread and Circuses" - a reference to Roman Emperors providing food and entertainment to distract the masses. In "To Sail beyond the Sunset" the character Lazarus Long discusses this problem: "A perfect democracy, a 'warm body' democracy in which every adult may vote and all votes count equally has no internal feedback for self correction. It depends solely on the wisdom and self-restraint of citizens...which is opposed by the folly and lack of self-restraint of other citizens. What is supposed to happen in a democracy is that each sovereign citizen will always vote in the public interest for the safety and welfare of all. But what does happen is that he votes his own self-interest as he sees it...which for the majority translates as 'Bread and Circuses' "Bread and Circuses is the cancer of democracy, the fatal disease for which there is no cure. Democracy often works beautifully at first. But once a state extends the franchise to every warm body, be he producer or parasite, that day marks the beginning of the end of the state. For when the plebs discover that they can vote themselves bread and circuses without limit and that the productive members of the body politic cannot stop them, they will do so, until the state bleeds to death or in its weakened condition the state succumbs to an invader--the barbarians enter Rome." Where do you think America is on the cycle and what do you think we must do to address and fix? I will close this article with the Biblical passage from Hosea 4:6-10, which I believe captures the crossroads where America stands. I will address proposed solutions in several future articles.
God Bless,
Orrin Woodward
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
7 " The more they increased, The more they sinned against Me; I will change[a] their glory[b] into shame.
8 They eat up the sin of My people; They set their heart on their iniquity.
9 And it shall be: like people, like priest. So I will punish them for their ways, And reward them for their deeds.
10 For they shall eat, but not have enough; They shall commit harlotry, but not increase; Because they have ceased obeying the LORD.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
I"m back and ready for Freedom!
There is nothing like posting at 7am after about a month of absense. However, I'm back!
Since My last post, I have had so many exeriences and I'm bummed that I cannot share them all with you. However, the underlying theme to what has been weighing on my heart these past few weeks has been Freedom. What does this word really mean to America? What does it mean for me? What does it mean for you?
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/freedom
WOW! Just read through the first 17 and let your mind open up to ideas that are sparked from the words you'll read in 1-17 of the definitions of "freedom".
The more I learn about what is going on in our country, the more I realize what I've been called to do. Preserve our freedom. However, I don't feel called to go into ministry and I don't feel called to enter into our military. I do feel called to help people preserve their own freedoms, and inspire others to do the same. If enough people can build their own platform of freedom, then we as a country can deserve to be the freeist country in the world. Currently, America is sitting as the 6th freeist country, and Canada is sitting as 7th! What happend? Is Washington promoting what made us great, which is freedom? Or is trying to promote Power?
Let me refer you to some good books that have helped open my eyes to truth.
1. Leadership & Liberty -Chris Brady & Orrin Woodward
2. The Coming Aristocracy - Oliver DeMille
3. Thomas Jefferson Education - Oliver DeMIlle
4. The Founding Fathers on Leadership - Donald T Philips
These books in the past several months have really opened my eyes to some trueisms that I had never known. Here is a link of some good blogs & videos as well
1. http://orrin-woodward-team.blogharbor.com/ (Check out the Documentary by Aaron Russo called America - Freedom to Fascism
2. http://orrin-woodward.blogharbor.com/
Since My last post, I have had so many exeriences and I'm bummed that I cannot share them all with you. However, the underlying theme to what has been weighing on my heart these past few weeks has been Freedom. What does this word really mean to America? What does it mean for me? What does it mean for you?
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/freedom
WOW! Just read through the first 17 and let your mind open up to ideas that are sparked from the words you'll read in 1-17 of the definitions of "freedom".
The more I learn about what is going on in our country, the more I realize what I've been called to do. Preserve our freedom. However, I don't feel called to go into ministry and I don't feel called to enter into our military. I do feel called to help people preserve their own freedoms, and inspire others to do the same. If enough people can build their own platform of freedom, then we as a country can deserve to be the freeist country in the world. Currently, America is sitting as the 6th freeist country, and Canada is sitting as 7th! What happend? Is Washington promoting what made us great, which is freedom? Or is trying to promote Power?
Let me refer you to some good books that have helped open my eyes to truth.
1. Leadership & Liberty -Chris Brady & Orrin Woodward
2. The Coming Aristocracy - Oliver DeMille
3. Thomas Jefferson Education - Oliver DeMIlle
4. The Founding Fathers on Leadership - Donald T Philips
These books in the past several months have really opened my eyes to some trueisms that I had never known. Here is a link of some good blogs & videos as well
1. http://orrin-woodward-team.blogharbor.com/ (Check out the Documentary by Aaron Russo called America - Freedom to Fascism
2. http://orrin-woodward.blogharbor.com/
I don't want to go into a definition of what I think Freedom is. That's why I dropped these sources of good books and websites for you to determine what freedom means to you. However, I do know that when I DON'T have it, quality of life suffers.
In this paticular blog this morning, I feel called to talk about economic freedom. To me, having economic freedom means that nobody owns you and you don't owe anybody anything! But to achieve this, obviously requires some education. First and foremost is the question, "why?" Why on earth would anybody want economic freedom? What does that mean to you? Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Sick of charging everything you buy to Aunt VISA? Then knocking on Uncle MASTERCARDs door for a loan to pay Aunt VISA back? Are you ok with feeling the crushing weight of interest piling up and phone calls coming in daily? Or maybe debt is ok with you, but because of the debt you don't have money and freedom to spend time with family and friends. Is that ok? If any of this resonates with you, then trust me when I say education is KEY to obtaining economic freedom. Well, it is key if you actually plan on DOING something about it. :)
I can tell you that I want economic freedom. Not just for me, but for as many people who want it. In order to get it, you have to deserve it. In other words, you have to learn new principles to live by and develop the diciplines to follow the new rules. Developing this freedom for yourself and your family means that you have to conquer so many other demons, that you will in turn develop ways to preserve other freedoms along the proces such as Mental Freedom(and emotional freedom), Social Freedom (not feeling like you have to keep up with the Jones') and potentially (hopefull), Spiritual Freedom.
As a matter of fact, you'll find that by running towards economic freedom, you'll accomplish SO much more then being debt free.
I hope that by my example of running towards eonomic freedom and accomplishing other areas I can inspire others to do the same. If we all accomplished this as a nation, the future will actually look bright again. When Stacey and I start a family, we want leave to my kids & grandchildren a nation that promotes freedom rather than power, and actually deserves to lead.
My question I want to leave you with is this: What does economic freedom mean to you? And, what is it that you want out of life?
*NOTE* You don't have to be a young, punk kid like me to want more for your life. Most successful millionaires didn't start their wealth creation until after the age of 50! Winston Churchill didn't start his main reign of leadership as Prime Minister until he was 77!! SO, if you are 77, or 18 alike. You can still make a difference!
God Bless
-Larry
Monday, August 10, 2009
Paradigm Shift
WHHOOAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!
I had the most SPECTACULAR weekend!! "Let me explain...no no, there is too much, let me sum up!" (courtesy of the Inigo Montoya Character in the Princess Bride movie)
It was mid evening on Wednesday night, I get a text message from an executive Policy Council member at the Team by the name Bill Lewis, stating that he had 2 extra tickets to the Drum Corps International Championships! The only condition was, that I had to drive down there on Friday, and spend on the entire weekend with him and his wife!!
Between getting a weekend full of time with my buddy Bill, driving his Maserati Quartrosporte, recording some clean beats, and not paying for anything other than a couple drinks and some sun screen, I'd say it was a PRICELESS weekend! There is just something different about taking a trip like that and not having to worry about anything.
Through this trip, I have realized a few things about success and money. In some of my following posts, I plan on touching on this topic.
God Bless!
I had the most SPECTACULAR weekend!! "Let me explain...no no, there is too much, let me sum up!" (courtesy of the Inigo Montoya Character in the Princess Bride movie)
It was mid evening on Wednesday night, I get a text message from an executive Policy Council member at the Team by the name Bill Lewis, stating that he had 2 extra tickets to the Drum Corps International Championships! The only condition was, that I had to drive down there on Friday, and spend on the entire weekend with him and his wife!!
Between getting a weekend full of time with my buddy Bill, driving his Maserati Quartrosporte, recording some clean beats, and not paying for anything other than a couple drinks and some sun screen, I'd say it was a PRICELESS weekend! There is just something different about taking a trip like that and not having to worry about anything.
Through this trip, I have realized a few things about success and money. In some of my following posts, I plan on touching on this topic.
God Bless!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Integrity
It's amazing how sometimes we can be walking along somewhere in neutral thought...drifting into space...not feeling a certain way about anything... and within a nano-second, something fires up your brain cells!
I was just getting into work today, still trying to completely wake up from my nightly slumber, and I looked at a framed quote on the wall that I have probably seen 100 times. For some reason or another, this passage really jumped out at me. When I was walking back to my computer, I remembered that I took a picture of it with my phone so I could refer back to it later. Well, today I feel called to do just that! Here is the quote:
The Courage of Integrity:
"The highest courage is to dare to be yourself in the face of adversity. Choosing right over wrong, ethics over convenience, and Truth over popularity...These are the choices that measure your life. Travel the path of integrity without looking back, for there is never a wrong time to do the right thing."
WOW! That hit home! But why?...When I read something like it, depending on the day or the experience, I will either think "Yeah! That's right!!" or I might think "oh man...I need to make better decisions". Either way, why does something like this resonate with the human soul?
I'd like to break this down a little bit to see if I can uncover some truth here:
The choice of words here are interesting... the 'HIGHEST' courage is to 'DARE' to be 'YOURSELF' in the face of adversity.
Let's 1st take a look at the word "Courage"
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/courage
So, if courage is taking action in spite of fear, how is it that the highest courage is daring to be yourself in the face of adversity? One of the easiest things we do as humans, is deceive ourselves. That might be a personal opinion, but there is a good book called "Leadership & Self-Deception" by Arbinger Institute that wrote an entire book on, well, self-deception. So, understanding who you are and what you believe, and why you believe that, in my minds eye, will determine if you can "dare to be yourself" in the face of adversity! If you don't know yourself, you won't dare. If you don't know what you stand for, then you won't stand. The problem to me is this: where knowledge and beliefs are lacking, Fear has triumph. So, the lesson that I walk away with, is that the task of learning about and knowing yourself is one thing, and then not cowering or giving in once you KNOW the truth, even in the darkest moments, will require the now defined "highest courage"
"Choosing right over wrong, ethics over convenience, and Truth over popularity...These are the choices that measure your life."
Alright...hold the phone...Choosing right over wrong? What's right? Isn't it hard to know what right is sometimes? Not EVERY time...I mean, if you had the choice of either steeling something from the store or paying for it, that seems obvious right? I'm talking, situations you are confronted with daily. For some people, telling the truth or not in "certain situations" can be in question. I'm not going to dig too far into this right now. This is a MUCH deeper topic and deserves an entire post. But what about ethics over convenience? What are "ethics"?
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ethics+
So basically, ethics is having a set of rules to abide by; a "moral code." What is that moral code? Well, digging into this truth like the difference between right and wrong go hand in hand. However, why can't we have convenience AND ethics? As the saying goes "Success is always on the other side of inconvenience" So, in other words, doing the right thing is synonymous with inconveniencing ourselves?...my gosh, how far could that go? What does this mean? Why does the quote say "Truth over popularity"? I heard another good quote that said (I'm going to para-phrase a little bit here) "If 1000 people all said something stupid or untrue, just because 1000 people said it doesn't automatically make it smart or true." or, better said would be "If 1000 people all said something dumb, it is STILL DUMB!!" *I'm smiling on this one...* :) In other words, Truth is NOT popular. If we are not 100% in tune with who we are, what we live for, and our beliefs, then I believe that we won't fully understand how or why to choose truth over popularity. We won't understand how to stand up for what's right. In the movie "Braveheart" William Wallace stood up for what he thought was right because he had his Bride taken from him. However, he had to Marry her in secret because they did not have the freedom to do so. As long as their secret marriage would have been untouched and no one would have known, they probably would have remained in their "comfort zone" and choose convenience over ethics. However, it took the most devastating adversity (Mrs Wallace being murdered) for William Wallace to stand up for what is right and lead tens of thousands to stand up for freedom! Knowing what you stand for and why will empower you to do these things: "Choose right over wrong, ethics over convenience, and Truth over popularity..." However, this information is only found in the journey! The journey begins when you turn the TV off, get off the couch, and search for your soul through books, dreams, truth, and service. What is your legacy? What do you believe? Why?
"Travel the path of integrity without looking back, for there is never a wrong time to do the right thing."
In all things, do the right thing! If you don't know what the right thing is, well, as the saying goes "hind site is 20/20" Learn from your mistakes. In the mean time, learn from other peoples mistakes so you don't have to make the same ones they did!
I have to constantly remind myself to do the right thing, even when unpopular, inconvenient, misunderstood, ridiculed, or even in the face of adversity. Truth always wins. Even when battles are lost, the wars are always won with truth.
Just blogging about this helps me to reflect. I can't believe how many times I've personally chosen convenience and comfort, popularity and/or the wrong thing... The more I learn about truth and develop my beliefs through my journey of life, the easier my choices become to have integrity and act with the highest courage by daring to face myself.
Please share your thoughts with me on this. I know it is very pregnant with content, but that's alright. What can we do to help uncover truth and live to our fullest potential?
God Bless!
-Larry Allswede
I was just getting into work today, still trying to completely wake up from my nightly slumber, and I looked at a framed quote on the wall that I have probably seen 100 times. For some reason or another, this passage really jumped out at me. When I was walking back to my computer, I remembered that I took a picture of it with my phone so I could refer back to it later. Well, today I feel called to do just that! Here is the quote:
The Courage of Integrity:
"The highest courage is to dare to be yourself in the face of adversity. Choosing right over wrong, ethics over convenience, and Truth over popularity...These are the choices that measure your life. Travel the path of integrity without looking back, for there is never a wrong time to do the right thing."
WOW! That hit home! But why?...When I read something like it, depending on the day or the experience, I will either think "Yeah! That's right!!" or I might think "oh man...I need to make better decisions". Either way, why does something like this resonate with the human soul?
I'd like to break this down a little bit to see if I can uncover some truth here:
The choice of words here are interesting... the 'HIGHEST' courage is to 'DARE' to be 'YOURSELF' in the face of adversity.
Let's 1st take a look at the word "Courage"
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/courage
So, if courage is taking action in spite of fear, how is it that the highest courage is daring to be yourself in the face of adversity? One of the easiest things we do as humans, is deceive ourselves. That might be a personal opinion, but there is a good book called "Leadership & Self-Deception" by Arbinger Institute that wrote an entire book on, well, self-deception. So, understanding who you are and what you believe, and why you believe that, in my minds eye, will determine if you can "dare to be yourself" in the face of adversity! If you don't know yourself, you won't dare. If you don't know what you stand for, then you won't stand. The problem to me is this: where knowledge and beliefs are lacking, Fear has triumph. So, the lesson that I walk away with, is that the task of learning about and knowing yourself is one thing, and then not cowering or giving in once you KNOW the truth, even in the darkest moments, will require the now defined "highest courage"
"Choosing right over wrong, ethics over convenience, and Truth over popularity...These are the choices that measure your life."
Alright...hold the phone...Choosing right over wrong? What's right? Isn't it hard to know what right is sometimes? Not EVERY time...I mean, if you had the choice of either steeling something from the store or paying for it, that seems obvious right? I'm talking, situations you are confronted with daily. For some people, telling the truth or not in "certain situations" can be in question. I'm not going to dig too far into this right now. This is a MUCH deeper topic and deserves an entire post. But what about ethics over convenience? What are "ethics"?
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ethics+
So basically, ethics is having a set of rules to abide by; a "moral code." What is that moral code? Well, digging into this truth like the difference between right and wrong go hand in hand. However, why can't we have convenience AND ethics? As the saying goes "Success is always on the other side of inconvenience" So, in other words, doing the right thing is synonymous with inconveniencing ourselves?...my gosh, how far could that go? What does this mean? Why does the quote say "Truth over popularity"? I heard another good quote that said (I'm going to para-phrase a little bit here) "If 1000 people all said something stupid or untrue, just because 1000 people said it doesn't automatically make it smart or true." or, better said would be "If 1000 people all said something dumb, it is STILL DUMB!!" *I'm smiling on this one...* :) In other words, Truth is NOT popular. If we are not 100% in tune with who we are, what we live for, and our beliefs, then I believe that we won't fully understand how or why to choose truth over popularity. We won't understand how to stand up for what's right. In the movie "Braveheart" William Wallace stood up for what he thought was right because he had his Bride taken from him. However, he had to Marry her in secret because they did not have the freedom to do so. As long as their secret marriage would have been untouched and no one would have known, they probably would have remained in their "comfort zone" and choose convenience over ethics. However, it took the most devastating adversity (Mrs Wallace being murdered) for William Wallace to stand up for what is right and lead tens of thousands to stand up for freedom! Knowing what you stand for and why will empower you to do these things: "Choose right over wrong, ethics over convenience, and Truth over popularity..." However, this information is only found in the journey! The journey begins when you turn the TV off, get off the couch, and search for your soul through books, dreams, truth, and service. What is your legacy? What do you believe? Why?
"Travel the path of integrity without looking back, for there is never a wrong time to do the right thing."
In all things, do the right thing! If you don't know what the right thing is, well, as the saying goes "hind site is 20/20" Learn from your mistakes. In the mean time, learn from other peoples mistakes so you don't have to make the same ones they did!
I have to constantly remind myself to do the right thing, even when unpopular, inconvenient, misunderstood, ridiculed, or even in the face of adversity. Truth always wins. Even when battles are lost, the wars are always won with truth.
Just blogging about this helps me to reflect. I can't believe how many times I've personally chosen convenience and comfort, popularity and/or the wrong thing... The more I learn about truth and develop my beliefs through my journey of life, the easier my choices become to have integrity and act with the highest courage by daring to face myself.
Please share your thoughts with me on this. I know it is very pregnant with content, but that's alright. What can we do to help uncover truth and live to our fullest potential?
God Bless!
-Larry Allswede
Monday, August 3, 2009
What I've Learned!
As an amateur blogger, I was having a very difficult time trying to figure out how I would start expressing myself and sharing my thoughts. I am a very strong believer in setting high goals, chasing dreams, developing yourself with passion and making a difference through first your own example. So finding a good starting point was very difficult for me! Until this past weekend, I was in the car with my wife driving home from somewhere, and I was thinking about how I could start my very first blog post. I was trying to figure out how I could capture the very essence of my passion. While in thought, I popped a question to my wife..."Stacey, as long as you've known me up until this point in our journey, what would YOU say, if you had to guess, is my #1 passion?" Her response was NOT what I had expected. In fact it was quite shocking! Stacey, without hesitation, looked at me and said "Your love for learning!" Wow! A love for learning...what a compliment!!
Once we got home on Friday night, I start thinking from then on through the rest of the weekend about what my passion is through the lens of how other people viewed me. I was still taken back because all my life, so I thought, I've always been known for other things: A drummer, a performer, a dancer, a musician, a leader, a comedian (depends on who you ask...) but never a "passionate learner"! But the more I think about it, the more it makes sense! Every chance I get to read the next greatest book (even though I have 3 unfinished ones!) or to listen to the next Audio CD, or to study history and learn about people, the more I realize that learning and growing IS my passion! Which leads me to the introduction of my very first blog!
I have an assortment of things I love to learn about. Here is a list of some of the topics I wish to capture: 1) Faith. 2) People Skills. 3) Health. 4) Success. 5) Relationships. 6) Self Development. 7) Attitude. 8) Money. 9)Making a Difference, etc. And at the end of the day, my sole purpose is to uncover TRUTH!
I hope that though my perspective and passion to learn more and grow, you too will be able to add your perspective and insight to life; to educate our selves so we can inspire others to do the same. If you feel called to add value with your perspective, well as the saying goes "Iron Sharpens Iron". "None of us is smarter than all of us!" - unknown.
God Bless!
Larry Allswede
Once we got home on Friday night, I start thinking from then on through the rest of the weekend about what my passion is through the lens of how other people viewed me. I was still taken back because all my life, so I thought, I've always been known for other things: A drummer, a performer, a dancer, a musician, a leader, a comedian (depends on who you ask...) but never a "passionate learner"! But the more I think about it, the more it makes sense! Every chance I get to read the next greatest book (even though I have 3 unfinished ones!) or to listen to the next Audio CD, or to study history and learn about people, the more I realize that learning and growing IS my passion! Which leads me to the introduction of my very first blog!
I have an assortment of things I love to learn about. Here is a list of some of the topics I wish to capture: 1) Faith. 2) People Skills. 3) Health. 4) Success. 5) Relationships. 6) Self Development. 7) Attitude. 8) Money. 9)Making a Difference, etc. And at the end of the day, my sole purpose is to uncover TRUTH!
I hope that though my perspective and passion to learn more and grow, you too will be able to add your perspective and insight to life; to educate our selves so we can inspire others to do the same. If you feel called to add value with your perspective, well as the saying goes "Iron Sharpens Iron". "None of us is smarter than all of us!" - unknown.
God Bless!
Larry Allswede
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