Sign up to get updates from us
Introduction
Having an easy life is not a human right; quite the opposite, it is a dysfunctional way to live. And structuring government policy to make things as easy as possible for people is simply wrong. Wrong for the taxpayers, yes, but more deeply and terribly wrong for those afflicted with an easy life.
That is the subject of today’s 10-minute blog/podcast.
Continuing
I believe that America is a unique and exceptional place, and that you–you and I–have an equally unique and exceptional role to play in it. Yes, you have heard that from me before, and you will hear it again. That’s what drives this podcast.
Your role, our role, includes knowing how to live so that we can learn and grow, and help others to grow. There is no learning or growing that comes from easy; learning and growing come from facing hard times and hard things, and succeeding. And only in that way.
This evil, yes the evil thought process life must be made easy thought process that is being perpetuated in exchange for votes is as follows:
I call this line of thinking evil because it traps people into small, dependent lives, lives where there is very little triumph and joy. These people cannot be developed in the crucible of life so they can contribute to others. All of this in exchange for votes. What else but evil can you call that?
We all learn more from the hard times than we do from the easy times. I don’t know anyone for whom that is not true. Do you? And with that hard times learning, we can grow and strengthen ourselves to lead stronger, happier and better lives. Yes, I did say “happier.” There is no conflict between hard and happy.
We all know that to make a muscle stronger, we must work it, and the harder we work it, the stronger it becomes. Our minds are like muscles; we must work them to make them stronger, and the harder we work them, the stronger they become.
It is only when we push ourselves, mentally and/or physically, that we improve, get stronger, and further prepare ourselves for leading contributing, independent lives. The corollary is also true: When we don’t challenge ourselves, nothing gets better. If fact, things get worse. These physical and mental muscles will atrophy. And we get more than a touch lazy in the process.
Life is bad enough when we don’t challenge ourselves, when we don’t take responsibility for getting through the hard times. We are hurting ourselves and those around us. As bad as that is, it is far worse when powerful voices in leadership tell us that if things are hard, that not only is it proof that things are unfair, but that someone else is responsible for getting us through the hard bits. Why is it their responsibility? Because, we are told, they are the ones who made it hard for us in the first place. That’s the reason that identity politics were dreamt up in the first place, and are so often in the news. The idea is to relieve certain groups, those victimized by other groups, of responsibility while placing the blame and the responsibility on the groups who are said to have created the victims in the first place. This is called intersectionality. I call it identity group wars. Wars where only politicians win, and everyone else loses.
Remember the part about how we learn much more from our hard times than we do from the easy ones? The only thing that we learn from someone else easing our hard times by being forced to provide money, housing or more, is that voting for things is a lot easier than working for them. But if we do that, we have been robbed of the learning, the joy, of having done it for ourselves. And we have also been robbed of the perhaps even deeper learning that comes from having tried and failed. Success comes more from previous failures than from previous successes.
We are ready to rework the earlier line of reasoning:
The vast majority of people can, and most of them actually do. Some need temporary help, others need permanent help. In both cases, the help should be cheerfully given and cheerfully accepted. Shame comes in when people won’t. Evil rears its ugly head when political forces convince people they can’t because of someone else. Yes, this way of thinking robs the taxpayers. More insidiously, it robs the people receiving aid that is not fully needed of any real chance at dignity and self-worth. And it robs them of the ability to teach others how to live lives of dignity and self-worth.
Today’s Key Point: Anybody can be victimized, but it takes a volunteer to be a victim. Volunteer instead to step up and succeed, and help others to do the same.
Segueing from the specifics of today’s topic to overall principles, the core, driving principles at Revolution 2.0, are:
And do it all in love; without love, these are empty gestures, destined to go nowhere and mean nothing.
If we apply those two core principles, personal responsibility and brother’s keepers, simultaneously, never only one or the other, we will always be on the right path. Depending upon what we face, one principle or the other may appropriately be given more emphasis, but they are always acted upon together.
The Founders, Revolution 1.0, were declared traitors by the British Crown, and their lives were forfeit if caught. We risk very little by stepping up and participating in Revolution 2.0™. In fact, we risk our futures if we don’t. I am inviting you, recruiting you, to join Revolution 2.0™ today. Join with me in using what we know how to do–what we know we must do–to everyone’s advantage. Let’s practice thinking well of others as we seek common goals, research the facts that apply to those goals, and use non agenda-based reasoning to achieve those goals together. Practice personal responsibility and be your brother’s keeper.
Let’s continue to build on the revolutionary vision that we inherited. Read the blog, listen to the podcast, subscribe, recruit, act. Here’s what I mean by “acting.”
Revolution 1.0 in 1776 was built by people talking to other people, agreeing and disagreeing, but always finding ways to stay united and go forward. Revolution 2.0 will be built the same way.
Join me. Join the others. Think about what we are talking about and share these thoughts and principles with others. Subscribe, encourage others to subscribe. Act. Let’s grow this together.
And visit the store. Fun stuff, including hats, mugs and t-shirts. Recommend other items that you’d like to see.
Links and References
Life is Hard–As It Should Be (EP. 106)
Contact
As we get ready to wrap up, please do respond in the blog with comments or questions about this podcast or anything that comes to mind, or connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. And you can subscribe to the podcast on your favorite device through Apple Podcasts, Google, or Stitcher.
Now it is time for our usual parting thought. It is not enough to be informed. It is not enough to be a well informed voter. We need to act. And if we, you and I, don’t do something, then the others who are doing something, will continue to run the show.
Know your stuff, then act on it. Knowing your stuff without acting is empty; acting without knowing is dangerous.
Will Luden, writing to you from my home office at 7,200’ in Colorado Springs.
