Did you know that most individuals are their own worst enemy? You, because of human nature and your own propensity to under-value yourself, all too often reject an opportunity, an invitation, or a chance to really have good things happen to you and your family,…to really make it big and become totally successful. Yes, what I said is true….don’t deny it! Stop lying to yourself!

You don’t have a chance unless and until you first take a chance!

Of course, taking a chance to change,…to grow,…to become more than you presently are all require taking a risk. Therein lies the challenge with most people today. Because of our society, our culture, and sadly our own government, most people don’t know anything about risk taking, about getting involved in the Free Enterprise System, about seeking new opportunities, or climbing out onto-a-limb in order to receive a great reward, blessing, other type of benefit, or entrepreneurial gain.

Sad to say, in light of our American spirit and history, but, we have become a “Nanny” state culture. A vast majority of Americans today desire, more than ever before, to live a completely “risk-free” life. They do not want to take any chances. They want the government to provide everything they need….They want some sort of government entitlement…and after they get it,…they want some more entitlements. Living life without any risks makes these type people feel the safest.

It is called being cared for by the government “from-cradle-to-grave,” or….being a “ward-of-the-state.” This type of living may in fact be risk free, however, it automatically by definition, offers reward-less living and insures no opportunity to gain true success. You see, friends, whenever you have a floor in place, a security, safety-net guarantee that will never allow you to “fall” into the basement,….you will always, without exception, have an upward limit barrier, known as a ceiling. This ceiling restriction will always prohibit you from rising any higher, or being blessed to any greater degree, than is the ceiling’s height.

With every floor, there will always be a ceiling. The problem always is that there is very little distance between the floor and the ceiling. You peak out in your ability to earn more income all too quickly. From then on you just exist,…get by,…mark time until you run out of time, or run out of money because of government imposed taxes, interest, or inflation.

Obviously some limited governmental regulatory control is necessary for any country to operate efficiently and to protect itself. But the question always remains…How Much? I do know this for a fact. Government is very expensive. It costs lots of money to operate. Those funds can only come from being taken from the populace, the taxpayer base….i.e. you and me.

Government creates no revenue….It can only take it away from those who earned it.

If the funds are taken from me and you and our earnings, then we should demand to have a significant say in how they are to be used….how they are spent,…how they are wasted. I use the words, “a significant say” referring to an actual voiced say, not just an on-paper legal “right” to say… that is not really given, honored, or respected…for which elected officials are not forthrightly held accountable.

Let us look at the facts. America, quite nicely and quite successfully got to where it is today without all of the governmental laws, limits, regulations and restrictions. Lots of success was created and built by individuals and organizations from our initial founding as a nation up to this point in our history. Ours is a free enterprise economy. Free enterprise is defined in the “Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language” as follows:

Free Enterprise n : freedom of private business to organize and operate for profit in competition with other businesses with a minimum of interference by the government; also, an economic system providing this freedom.

Words are important. Words mean things,…important and powerful things.

A few things to note from this definition:

1. No where in the definition does the word employee appear.
2. No where is there included any statement allowing the
intrusion into a business of regulatory rules and laws from any agency
of the Federal Government.
3. No where is permission given to the government to charge and collect additional taxes, fees, or other charges, including healthcare, retirement funds, or union costs that strangle dollars out of business profits that are desperately needed to expand and grow the businesses through increased productivity.
4. No where is listed permission for the government to pass new laws that
strip these profit dollars from a business for the purposes of making up
for government’s inability to control their own spending habits.

Millions of Americans who have passed through this life before you personally showed up on the scene,….paid a mighty price in shed blood so as to preserve and maintain your and my rights and freedoms to become whoever it is that we choose to become. Those blessed souls willingly gave their lives…their all…so that you and I had a better chance to become more than they had become. We all should be humbly and respectfully grateful for their sacrifice. As a free American, a military veteran, as a husband and a father of three children,…it greatly pains me to see how little we as a nation recognize and pay homage to those precious ones who sacrificed all that they had so that you and I could remain a free and “ceiling-less” unrestricted people.

The questions beg to be asked…What and Who has caused all of the “mess” that currently exists and looms large and dangerously over our heads today? How could the greatest and most powerful country in the world allow itself to fall to the depths of despair in which we find ourselves today? How could we, America, the wealthiest nation in the world be so far in debt and be teetering on the edge of financial collapse? How could it happen?

The answers to these and other similar related questions lies where the answer to all organizational questions lie.

Everything Rises and Falls on Leadership.

In our quest to control, manipulate, adjust and bend to our own liking or way, we have failed to live up to our own American rights and responsibilities. We have foolishly elected people who are not qualified to lead,…who won’t lead,…and who don’t believe in The Constitution of the United States…the very document they vowed to uphold once they were elected and took their oath of office. To be successful, there is no place for these type people to hold a position in the running and operating of any government founded on the principles of freedom and free enterprise.

The saddest thing of all is to see how the weak-kneed, poorly educated, and uninformed American citizen is so totally uninvolved in the election process for government officials. Far too many voters don’t even know or understand the personal values or experience of the candidate for whom they are voting. Very few voters actually know what is important and valuable to their candidate….what their personal characteristics are as demonstrated by and through their personal activities, be they open or private. Our election process pathetically has become a personality contest or “lessor-of-two-evils” choice rather than a “best-qualified-candidate” choice. Therein lies the answer as to why we are in such a mess!

Where we as a nation went wrong in my humble, but well educated personal opinion, occurred at the very beginning of our birth as a nation. The mistake was made at the time the Constitution was written. Our Founding Fathers, as brilliant as they were, could never in their wildest imagination envision any elected official ever desiring to serve more than one or two terms in office. Men and/or women duly elected would meet their obligation of service for a short term commitment. They would serve their country to the best of their abilities. Once their term in office expired, they returned to their homes to run their personal lives and businesses, and to take care of their family’s needs and their other personal responsibilities. None of them could seriously consider or ever dream about spending a “life time” in elected office. None ever wrote about or discussed building a dynasty, a career, or an empire in a political office. Real and true “unadjusted” history records and substantiates what I am saying as true and valid.

Because they could not and did not ever envision a future problem in the way that future politicians would attempt to undermine their original intent, there was never any provision to limit the time or number of terms in office an elected official would be permitted.

Our Founding Fathers simply could not imagine and therefore made absolutely no provision to prohibit a “career politician.”

It is the career politician that has steered and manipulated us into the untenable position in which we find ourselves today.

Long term political careers I am afraid have become far too lucrative for any elected official to voluntarily opt out….i. e. to serve a term, no more than two, and then simply not run for re-election. In my personal opinion, the problem will not…cannot…be resolved until political term limits are established for all elected officials….NO MORE THAN TWO TERMS IN OFFICE.

I know of no one person nor have I ever read about one who is so valuable, so necessary, so indispensable, and so brilliant that whatever he or she contributes would ever require more than two terms to accomplish. Shorter shelf lives of congressmen insure a newer, fresher flow of ideas, solutions, changes in the way of doing things, and related costs and expenses. Shorter terms also permit a solution through attrition of those who are problem makers,…of blockages of progress…and stumbling blocks to solutions. These powerful “hindrances” would be eliminated through making an existing seat available for a new brain that actually works and knows and appreciates the true history of America.

Keep the faith…stay the course…..never give up…We will win! It will obviously take a lot of hard work,…but in the end,…we will win!

Peace and love to all of you……..Poppa Bear