On Wealth Re-distribution

(Received via e-mail, author unknown)

Today on my way to lunch I passed a homeless guy with a sign that read "Vote Obama, I need the money." I laughed.

Once in the restaurant my server had on an "Obama 08" tie, again I laughed as he had given away his political preference--just imagine the coincidence.

When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and explained to him that I was exploring the Obama redistribution of wealth concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone who I deemed more in need--the homeless guy outside. The server angrily stormed from my sight.

I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10 and told him to thank the server inside as I 've decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy was grateful.

At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment I realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn even though the actual recipient needed money more.

I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept than in practical application.

(But just imagine if the waiter freely and voluntarily gave the tip to the homeless man. A society that forces the bestowal of good will may feed a man for a moment, but it ultimatley undermines the social will and therefore the ability to do so in the long run. Better it seems to teach the principle of benevolence, and let them govern themselves.)

Sage Political Advice

The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.

Cicero, 55 BC

Introduction to Personal Freedom

Personal Freedom is the realization of who you really are and what you are capable of becoming and that only you stand in your way.

Psychologist Victor Frankl discovered this great truth while a Jewish prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. He observed that those who survived developed a will to survive. He realized that no matter what was inflicted upon him, he could choose how to feel and think about it. He poignantly illustrates the depth of this discovery when, considering a guard, he says to himself, “You have more liberty than I, but I have more freedom.” Frankl concludes from his experience that a prisoner's psychological reactions are not solely the result of the conditions of his life, but also from the freedom of choice he always has even in severe suffering.[1]

Freedom of choice is the first great personal freedom.

Personal Prisons

Personal Prisons are cages of our own forging. They are the things that keep us down, that keep us in a rut, keep us in our box, prevent our growth, and weigh us down with depression, discouragement, and defeatism.

These bars and shackles are forged out of the alloy of misperceptions and bad habits. Ideas that we are victims in this world, that we are owed something, our poor self-image, laziness, complacency, addictions; ideas that “this is all there is,” or that “nothing can be done” and the like form our individual prisons.

Dr. Carter G Woodsen described it this way:

"If you can determine what a man shall think, you will never have to concern yourself with what he will do. If you can make a man feel inferior you will not have to compel him to seek an inferior status for he will seek it himself. And if you can make a man feel justly an outcast, you will never have to order him to use the back door he will go without being told, and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one."

But as Frankl points out, you can choose what to think. In fact, in every circumstance you choose what to think, feel, say and do with respect to that circumstance. Many of us are accustomed to reacting, or playing off of and reflecting the circumstance back on itself. Most of us respond out of habit and without thinking and by so doing demonstrate our character or lack thereof. These habitual responses, or auto-responses, are the sum of the choices we made long ago based upon our experiences. They become reflex so we no longer consciously make a choice. The good news is that at any time, you can choose to take control of your programming. You can choose to change.

"It is not what happens to you but how you think about what happens to you that determines how you feel and react. It is not the world outside of you that dictates your circumstances or conditions. It is the world inside you that creates the conditions of your life." --Brian Tracey

"I used to say, "I sure hope things will change." Then I learned that the only way things are going to change for me is when I change." --Jim Rohn

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[1] Victor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning, October 23, 1984 Revised and Updated, Washington Square Press.

For the continuation, see Part I: Law of Cause and Effect

Election 08

With the election fast approaching, I find myself wondering about the nature of the political arena. If the last debate is any indication, it is a bloodbath of insults and issue regurgitating. Where are the statements of leadership? Those decisive statements that drive a nation like "Mr. Gorbechev, tear down this wall," or "In ten years we will land a man on the moon."

Such is the regrettable state when individuals bread in the legislative primordial soup become executive political combatants. Thankfully, Sarah Palin can offer that leadership perspective to the mix.

As the ideological differences have become more clearly defined than ever before in my memory, I find myself wondering why the McCain camp has not taken up the cry, "I am for self-reliance and I oppose Socialism."

Where are the definitive statements like:
"America has the technology. Let us be energy independent in ten years time."

"The US will support the rights of all people and all nations to worship as they will until that worship violates the rights of others' life and liberty."

"If any United Nations country such as Israel is attacked it is the duty and oath of the United Nations to defend that nation. If other UN nations will not abide their oath, the United Sates will do so without reservation and without measure."

"Al-Qaeda is an enemy to civility and civilization. I call upon leaders of all nations to join with us in eradicating it whether by persuasion or by force. As Americans we are committed to doing so, with you or without you."

"If a nation knowingly harbors terrorists, they must know that we are coming after those terrorists, with or without their permission."

"Let us make the way clear for businesses to operate and provide the products we need. But be forewarned that you will be held accountable for the way you use our national resources and how well you clean up your mess when you get finished."

"We as Americans must reform our thinking from that of consumers to that of producers."

Perhaps I am alone in this.

Truth

"The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. Ignorance may deride it. But in the end, there it is." Winston Churchill