As goes the Family so goes the Nation

Self government is the goal of every family and dictates the future of the nation.

Freedom is a frightening thought for those who like everything to be under control. What is to say, that when someone is given freedom to choose, that they will make the right choice. The fact of the matter is, that there is no guarantee. So is freedom a good and safe thing, or is it dangerous and unpredictable?

If freedom is to be safe and good, it must be cherished in the hearts of responsible people. Would you feel safe if you had to give very important decisions into the hands of irresponsible people, of course not. And so how do you ensure that there are plenty of good responsible people to make all the important decisions?

That makes us look with scrutiny into the way people are shaped and formed, that's right the family.

There are some things that must be taught to children in order for them to be able to make important decisions.

When children are born, all of their decisions are made for them. When they are grown and mature they must make their own decisions. Of course if they fail at that time, to make good ones, then they are sent to jail where all of the decisions are made for them again, and they can start over.

The first and best thing you can do for your children is to teach them how to think for themselves.

Don't be deceived into thinking that they will be taught in school. School is where children are taught what to think, rarely how to think. Recently someone told me to do something, and upon completing the task, I realized that what I had done was wrong. As I questioned myself I realized that I had just followed orders without thinking. Now being compliant is sometimes better than non compliance or rebellion, but it is not always the best. You don't want your child to be compliant when the drug dealer or hustler asks them to do something do you? No you want them to think for themselves.

Children must be taught how to reason from cause to effect, It will keep many of them from making unnecessary mistakes. You can help children learn this by asking them questions, like what would happen if someone spent everyday playing or partying?

Here I must be candid, I spent 8-10 of the prime years of my life as an alcoholic. I have and still am learning difficult lessons about the cause and effect of my faults. The short of it is, that alcoholism and addiction itself is something that happens to people who avoid responsibility. Some people like to call alcoholism a mental illness, well OK then I'll put it this way. Brian Tracy, one of my favorite success experts, quoted this saying “there is no such thing as mental illness, only varying degrees of irresponsibility”, there is a lot of truth in that.

It's obvious that I didn't learn responsibility as a child. What I did learn, was how to get what I wanted by manipulation. For someone to learn and practice manipulation, it requires someone to practice on; someone who will co operate. Hmmm. I would like to think that I was just practicing the art of persuasion, but I could be wrong.

There is another Issue that goes hand in hand with irresponsibility and addiction. I was never taught to reason from cause to effect. If I do this what will be the result or consequence. You can see that it wouldn't take an addict very long to see a problem if they were able to see cause and effect clearly. Addicts usually act in response to their feelings and not by logic or reason. They have learned to gratify their own selfish feelings instead of following duty and responsibility. These things are best learned when young. Young little children usually want to help their parents, train them while they are willing.

I am beginning to see that many of life's problems are like grapes, they come in bunches and are closely related. If you have a habit of avoiding responsibility, then it stands to reason that it will be difficult to make important decisions, because decisions usually involve responsibility and carry significant consequences.

I remember a wise man asking me in my late 20s “what do you plan to do with your life”? I just stood there blind sided, it was like that thought had never entered my mind. Children must have a reason to live, besides fun and excitement. Without a dream or a goal, children learn to give in to immediate gratification. Immediate gratification, without considering cause to effect is a prescription for addiction.

The Success or failure of a free nation depends on the success of the family in raising responsible children. Young people must know how to think for themselves, not just be a reflector of other mens thoughts. If they can't reason from cause to effect then they can't understand with clarity. Lets take a look at economics with respect to clear reasoning.

There are two cities right next to each other. Both are growing at incredible rates. Roseville does everything it can to keep tax revenues low. Rocklin has much higher tax rates. If you don't have clear reasoning you might assume that Rocklin brought in much more revenues. The fact of the matter is that Roseville brought in 5 million dollars in retail sales revenue during a given period while Rocklin had only in the $300,000s.

What the Rocklin planners failed to consider was the effect of economic policy on people. All of the big retail stores built right on the border of the two towns but of course on the Roseville side. Most of the people in Rocklin shop in Roseville. In fact the Walmart in Rocklin recently packed up and moved across the line into Roseville and opened a super Walmart and closed the Rocklin facility. Wouldn't you if you were a business owner? Don't you take every legal tax deduction available? If you don't pay any more taxes than is necessary, then you wouldn't expect a business owner to do any different, would you?

The type of people who think that raising taxes automatically raises revenue have lost the ability to reason from cause to effect, and to look at the long term effect of their policy on the actions of people. They are also the ones who would see people avoiding their carefully laid plans of taking money, and try to find a way to force them to pay, by making new laws.

I was reading the Wartime memoares of Charles Linbergh. It mentioned a law in France that forbade people from taking water from the sea for any reason. It was a law passed to keep people from using sea water to get salt and thus avoiding the salt tax.

David