Leadership Insanity

I was just thinking of some options to spending our stimulus checks…

1. Pool checks and purchase a $5000 U.S. Savings Bond
2. Cash it and put the money in a mattress
3. Donate it (tax deduction)
4. Send it to your legislature with specific instructions on how to “Spend” it
5. Retro fit your home with energy saving means (solar, wind…)

Any body want to add to the list?

How about we don’t give tax breaks to large companies that are moving their manufacturing to other countries. How about we start a “BUY AMERICAN” campaign that lists companies that still have their manaufacturing in the U.S. and list those that have moved overseas so we can make the choice. Could be as simple as an american flag on products that are made in the u.s. or we tax the hell out of any products not made here…Or else we start learning Chinese since their population & economy will be larger than the U.S. shortly.

I can’t remember now how I spent the last rebate check we got to stimulate the economy. Guess, I must have spent it on something made in China or India which stimulated their economy.

I feel if the $150 billion dollars is spent on our education system, it would provide long term economic stability for us and future generations.

Thanks Will. You are always right on. I hope your keen understanding of the fundamental problems we face will get the attention of our leaders and that they will have the courage and vision to act appropriately. However, it is difficult to avoid falling into a cynical funk when one sees the mess we’ve created and how often we repeat the same mistakes. Thanks for your hope! (have you thought of running for office)

Greetings!

I appreciate your thoughtful, inspired commentary, Will. Let me offer a different perspective on the “leadership failure”, as you put it.

I don’t think there’s been a failure of leadership at all. I think our “leadership” has been leading us right down the path they’ve always wanted: round and round in a circle of never-ending complacency and stagnation, blinded by greed and grinding us deeper and deeper into a rut of tragedy, indifference and fear. We have become the “land of the afraid and home of the misguided”. We might even be more “separate and unequal” than we were in the Jim Crow days. Back then, you were denied access to services and accommodations because of the color of your skin. Now, we do it based on the color of money. If you can afford to live well, you can. If not, you have to meek out an “existence” in “the greatest country on earth”.

The real issues: capitalism, consciousness and connection.

Capitalism: within this economic system, there is “Income” and “Expense”. Only “Expense” is GUARANTEED. There is no sense of “buy American” anymore. The moment it becomes solely about the money is the moment we ALL lose. The big corporations have NO incentive to produce products here - our standard of living has undone us. Sure, everyone wants health care, 401K, insurance, pensions, profit-sharing, etc… Those things cost money. To pay for all that, companies either have to:

1) raise prices
2) cut costs of production, or both

Many companies have chosen to do both. They’ve increased prices while moving their manufacturing operations to other countries with a cheaper labor pool. They don’t have to pay many of those workers benefits or retirement, or even worry about OSHA regulations or other worker protections under US law. The result: cheap goods (compared to “made in USA”)for consumers and lower operating costs for them. Bottom-line - higher profits. AND…we CONSPIRE with them when we buy cheap stuff made elsewhere.

We could have universal health care, if we wanted to… if the WILL was there (no pun intended!) Most other industrialized nations in the world have it: Most of Europe, Canada, many Latin American countries, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and others have it. IT’S EVEN OFFERED IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN! WE’RE PAYING FOR IT! The US is the ONLY wealthy, industrialized nation that doesn’t offer some type of universal health care system.

Consciousness: there are over 6.7 billion people on the planet. We don’t all operate from the same level of awareness, desire, motivation, education, opportunity, etc… You can’t have truly fair trade with other nations that have completely different standards of living. It just doesn’t work.

Connection: we don’t get that we’re all connected. There is one race: human. As Ben Franklin said, “we must learn to stand together, or surely we shall all hang separately!” We’ve got to stop acting like it’s “Us vs Them” and start acting more like “WE”.

What’s the answer? I don’t know if I have THE answer. I certainly have some ideas. The first of which is to abolish capitalism - worldwide. Did you ever stop to think that the reason there’s a “fuel shortage” is because we spend most of our fuel in pursuit of money? If most of the world didn’t have to go to work everyday to chase a dollar, we’d have LOTS more fuel. We may even have more incentive to find alternate fuels to reduce our carbon emissions.

“The love of money is the root of all evil.” I’m not a big bible thumper, but I do think there’s wisdom in this line.

I wish you all peace.

Happy Valentine’s day.

I agree with everything written in Will’s letter except the fact that EVERY person running for president shows no leadership. Please reconsider - RON PAUL displays leadership every time he speaks. He understands the problems facing America and is willing to lead the charge. I’d advise everyone to put their rebate check into precious metals. Remember that these checks are not free money, but only an advancement on your 2008 tax refunds. You’ll pay later. If you keep that check in American dollars, by the end of this year, when you have to pay it back it will probably have lost half its value. All I can say is Will is right, VOTE FOR RON PAUL, and invest your money wisely!

America, what’s to become of her?

The choice is truly ours!

There is certainly a strong division of opinion about this topic, which can be good if we use it to drive deeper and look for real solutions. While each person’s statement may very, each certainly has their points! However to solve the challenges that face us today we have to look deeper at the heart and motive of mankind and how it influences thinking.

I’m not a bible thumper myself, I do however as a physics major and aerospace minor find principles and laws to be irrefutable and love to look within the pages of antiquity to see beautifully expressed, the laws, principles and statutes of benevolence that have withstood the test of time and empires alike!

It was written that in the last days of history, perilous times would come and that man kind would be lovers of themselves despising good and calling those things that are evil, good and calling those things good, evil. The word evil, interestingly, is live spelled backwards. So backwards living would be considered good? Awkward I am sure you would agree!? In another word, backward living is living contrary to principles. It went on further to say that mankind would abandon the principles of true abundance.

There is nothing wrong with capitalism so long as it is what is called conservative capitalism. That is capitalism that seeks the benefit of empowering another to prosper. When you make a profit you are empowered to help more people. The manufacturing and production of ideas employees people and gives them an opportunity to feel better about themselves, develop new skills and become more valuable to their employers, and their families as they grow and learn while climbing the leadership ladder. It also inspires better work and higher standards

The real issue is the motive of the heart. It is only when greed settles in for the sake of more and self, and fear grabs hold of ones heart do the problems arise. When one only thinks about self, problems compound globally since we are all connected. Fear also drives much of our behavior causing us to do things again out of selfish protection.

If we take the stance of service again, thinking more about others than we do ourselves, the self sacrifice of personal interests for those of another, as we did in days of old, we serve out of a loyalty to help some one else and in so doing we are all taken care of. However, when we work hard for our own gain we hurt our employers by demanding more. That does not excuse however employers when they take the stance that employees are simply expense for they embrace the wrong attitude as well because a good laborer is worthy of their higher.

It’s the lack of love for one another, an abandonment of the principles found within the book of antiquity that is causing the problems we are encountering not just in America but globally.

While people feel uncomfortable discussing it, because the way it was communicated in recent times, a return to truth, principles, or what others like to refer to biblical standards or spiritual principles, which by the way is what made this country great in the first place, is where the solution lies.

The so called “The love of money is the root of all evil” argument is a miss quote. “It was the love of Mammon”. Mammon was a false idol that got people focused on serving it while giving on ones prolonged attention to it, and living in fear of provision. It is rather different from the law of love that says “What ever you put your hands to will prosper” and give and it shall be given unto you shaken together pressed down, running over will others give unto you, and finaly Love said “I shall supply all your needs”. Money is only a tool to be used for good or evil, just as a gun can be used for good or evil.

To make it easer to embrace, I like to translate it this way, any abandonment of principles results in failure. If you fly at 50K feet and abandon aeronautical law, you crash. If you fail to follow the laws of hydro dynamics you suffer, as they did in New Orleans. So it is with every law that is violated. The principles, or laws, were established for abundance of life. The violation of those laws result in hardship because the laws of benevolence cannot work on our behalf much like the law of light or electricity cannot work if we fail to turn on the switch.

If we allow real truth, or the laws of benevolence to rule in our hearts, understand the relationship of principles & laws, and the interaction between & behind them instead of embracing ones opinion, we would fair much better and arguments would cease to exist. We don’t argue over gravity, the solar system, or anything else in which we allow truth to prevail. Churchill said it best, “Truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is”

I don’t have room for opinion myself. When my plane is heading towards the ground because something is not working I want the truth about what’s going on and how to fix it so I can survive. I cannot afford some one’s opinion at that point.

So the solutions we face are rather simple. A return to the laws of love! Science has proved it, and history has confirmed it!

Think of others above ourselves. Think of our employer and serve them well. Take the attitude of giving 10 hours of work for 8 hours of pay because you care. Give your best and whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might, all your soul and all your strength as if you were doing for God himself and watch what will happen.

We will not see the changes immediately just as we did not see the miss direction our country has found itself in when we abandoned those principles in the early 60’s, but we will feel the difference instantly and we can rest I peace knowing that as we cumulatively work together towards these principles, the world will be made better for all and our children’s children will have a future to look forward to.

If we are too stubborn to listen, like little children, then we’ll find ourselves dashed upon the rocks of truth just as a ship is that fails to listen to the light house.

The examples are around us every day, and the truth or principles of benevolence can be seen in everything if we’ll allow our hearts to see it. If you don’t know what they are, start by reading the book of antiquity for yourself. I prefer the amplified version to express its whole meaning myself.

The question remains then…Will we overcome the statement that says “the one thing that history tells us, is that we don’t learn from history”, or will we continue to repeat it to our eventual destruction? How far must we fall out of the sky before we believe that only truth can fix it? Truth is truth and has no argument. It is only opinion that causes problems. If we can come together in unity we can overcome the forces of destruction and find ourselves living in a much better world.

In Your Service;

Roger
—-
Roger Gauthier,
whosdependingonyourdream.com
CEO, Tri-Vision Global, Inc.
Launching You To Xtreme Success!
http://www.trivisionglobal.com

I read your blogs every time you send them, and every time they are AWESOME!! I love what you have to say & want to acknowledge you and THANK YOU! As a social worker & citizen of this country, I do believe in the American Dream and am determined to believe that it can be possible for ALL Americans! I especially loved this blog because it really expresses how I have been feeling about our failing economy, as well as leadership that also fails to take responsibility. Too much of anything is bad, especially consumption…and I agree that it is NOT the answer right now.

Thank you for your e-mail. I couldn’t agree more. Our generation needs to make a contribution of sacrifice, our Apollo mission (?) as Hillary put it, and do the necessary investing in our country so that our future is not only strong but secure. But what to do with $600 “free” money. Spend, save, send it back with “No Thank You” Card? What do we do that will do the most good? Believe me, that’s where a lot of Americans are, left scratching our heads. We’re being fed a bunch of horse manure about stimulus *spend,spend,spend* and most people will do what their told. We have been given no other options. So…. who’s going to step up to the plate and push American’s to do something with the money that might actually do some good. We need a leader, one we can trust, one who will direct us, one with passion, sincerity, vision, and the drive necessary to lead, not just someone who talks the talk, and talks and talks and talks, but one that walks the walk, all the way. Is that someone you? What the heck do we do, Will? I guess we have until May to figure that out.

At the very least, put this essay of yours into the hands of the candidates, where it might do some good.

Again, I enjoyed your posting (Leadership insanity) for its direct and enlightened perspective. If I may be so bold, I would like to add a corollary that adds further stupidity to the stimulus foible. It may seem like nothing when compared to $160 Billion, but clearly the government cares about Millions about as much as I do about pennies (another waste: it now costs 2 cents to produce every penny!). I don’t know how much it will cost to “dispense” the funds (produce and mail checks) to 130 million recipients, but clearly it will be millions. It seems the height of stupidity to produce and mail checks to people 15 DAYS after most of those same people will be mailing their funds to the government. Could we not have saved millions of dollars by simply deducting the appropriate stimulus amount ($300, $600, $1200 etc.) from our tax payments or adding the same to our refunds??? I guess that wouldn’t be as stimulating as getting a check in the mail.

As for the lack of leadership, I suggest (as one of your commenters did) that we ARE being led, very efficiently right to where we want to go. Let me explain. Leadership as you longingly use the term, implies and requires not only an intelligent direction, but willing followers. The counter-culture movement of the sixties has spawned generations of illogical, ill-advised and illiterate opinions. As the saying goes: Opinions are like belly-buttons…everyone’s got one. Our half-assed educational system has graduated millions of uneducated citizens (and aliens alike) who all seem to have strong opinions about what “WE” (read: everyone but me) or the government or other countries should be doing. Far too many of those opinions are formed from information delivered by biased media and such intellectually stimulating TV as ET.

As the ever elongated campaigning demonstrates, politicians (as always) are acting the chameleon, trying to appeal to every audience at once, knowing there is no following unless the leader is going my way. The countless polls try to identify which issues are most important for today’s audience, this particular state or that individual “constituency.” I wince every time an interviewer asks a candidate: “what are the big issues for this group?” Candidates have learned that in order to grow a following, they need to say the right thing to the right group. McCain should get tougher to attract the ultra conservatives. Hillary should give up the ultra left and fight for the middle ground. Romney should forsake his faith so that he won’t frighten away the agnostics. And so it goes.

I fear that we may have “outgrown” our democratic republican form of government. Back in the early days of the colonies, each was founded and populated by groups that shared something in common: ancestry, culture, religion. The Puritans, Quakers, Huegenots et.al. all settled in small enclaves (nice word for ghetto). When they united, it was for a common purpose and their government was limited to those limited purposes (interstate commerce, defense, etc.). A democratic republic was decided upon as a sufficiently complex method of electing representative leaders (the intelligencia of the day) who would make the right decisions for the good of the whole.

Over the centuries, the notion of the good of the whole has given way to what’s good for ME. Each representative (notice we don’t call them leaders) knows that in order to be elected he now is measured not by the decisions he makes for the good of the nation, but how much bacon he brings home to his constituents. (Evidence the 9,000 earmarks to the last budget bill and the “bridge to nowhere” in Alaska.) What elected official would vote against a bill that is not necessarily good for the country, but brings millions to his district or state?

So, our leaders only become leaders when they promise me something…or everything I want. Like the parents that want to be their child’s friend and buy love with gifts, our representatives fail us. Real leadership (making tough unpopular decisions) gives way to new leaders making new promises. Obama has as much chance of accomplishing that laundry list of “yes we can” projects as we do in changing the hearts and minds of Islamic fundamentalist suicide bombers. Within days of his election, we will begin whining that he hasn’t delivered his promises. Even Plato’s philosopher king needed absolute power to rule effectively.

Our culture is the poster child for the individual while most other cultures are concerned more for the whole and have little concern over an individual’s opinion. Witness the millions displaced by the dam in China. Most of us in the U.S. would be reluctant to call that leadership. No leader has emerged to support building a nuclear plant since the Three Mile Island mishap although we all knew that more power would be needed. Now, facing rising energy costs, people are clamoring for alternatives. Like power plants, no one wants Wall Mart in their town, but everyone shops there making Wall Mart the world’s largest retailer. The retail industry clearly regards Wall Mart as the market leader. They offer what we want, whether it’s good for the (local) economy or not.

If we want leaders, WE have to start supporting true leadership, not overindulgent government. We will get what we reward. Simple isn’t it? But very difficult.