Government_Leadership-13

=**Legacy**=
 * Resolved: To Reverse the Current of Decline in My Field of Mastery**

__Decline of Civilizations__: A study of the decline of 23 major civilizations in history shows that decline happens when leaders fail to respond creatively to the challenges they face, then the civilization sinks under nationalism, militarism, and the tyranny of a despotic minority.

__The Five Laws of Decline__: The decline of civilizations have taken place when the five following aspects have taken place.
 * **(1) Sturgeon's Law:** This was discussed in the Leadership chapter. It's based on the writings of Theodore Sturgeon that says 90% of anything is crud. In leadership, 10% of any group are leaders and 90% are followers - just along for the ride, bobbing in the water, or worse, going the wrong direction. Leaders can't reverse Sturgeon's law, but can create a culture that attracts the 10% and reward performance, not politics. Communities explode when leadership spots are filled with those responsible for creating the current of progress. Alexander the Great said "an army of sheep led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by a sheep." Communities decline when the 90% sheep are given leadership spots. They are incapable of reversing the current of decline. In Government, it's important to elect those with true leadership capabilities - from the 10%, not those from the 90% who aren't true leaders, but have some other agenda.
 * **(2) Bastiat's Law:** Based on Frederic Bastiat who taught that the fatal tendency existing in man's heart is to satisfy his wants with the least possible effort. Man naturally tries to avoid pain. Labor (work) isn't easy, so it's avoided as much as possible, since work is pain and man tries to avoid pain. Every society or community must ensure that people carry their own weight rather than riding on the backs of others' labors/work. This is the fatal flaw with communist theories - the 90% will do as little as possible if given an opportunity, while the 10% will be driven to despair because they aren't rewarded for their productive efforts. Look at the American culture and the increase in the number on the government dole. Even look inside the workforce - see who's putting in effort beyond what is required and who is doing as little as possible but still expects the paycheck.
 * **(3) Gresham's Law:** This law comes from English financier Thomas Gresham who originally developed this law to be applied to monetary policy (the money supply). When government overvalues one money and undervalues another, the undervalued money will leave the country or disappear into hoards, while the overvalued money will flood into circulation. Throughout history, when inflated paper money flows into the marketplace, real gold and silver coins are removed. Bad money drives out good money just like poor character drives out good character. This happens in the workforce when those who play politics are promoted (because who you know, not necessarily results) ahead of productive leaders. When poor behaviors are rewarded, the community/company/entity is quickly filled with others exhibiting the same nonproductive activities. Whatever is rewarded will increase and whatever isn't will decrease.
 * **(4) Law of Diminishing Returns:** This law affirms that to continue after a certain level of performance has been reached, the result will be a decline in effectiveness. An example is fertilizer. A gardener needs fertilizer to grow tomatoes. More fertilizer brings more tomatoes, but eventually too much will burn the plant. This idea can be applied to society or the workplace. Take education - the more and more people attempted to get the benefits and special privileges of education, the less such people taught themselves and the less education actually took place. Take our government - most Americans (if not all) agree that government is necessary for several reasons, including keeping us safe. But as government grew and grew and got more and more involved, it becomes oppressive. This is the nature of decline in civilizations. This is also part of the cycle of democracy.
 * **(5) Law of Inertia:** Sir Isaac Newton said an object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion. The longer the current of decline is in motion, the harder it is to change and reverse it. This is the major reason that companies as well as civilizations decline even when they know they're in decline. This is why it's difficult to get America under fiscal discipline. We've been in a force shift for 100 years and it's become normal to Americans. Balancing a budget and bringing down the debt means cutting - something many voters scream about. The worse it gets, the more difficult it is to stop or reverse that decline. It's possible, but gets tougher and tougher year by year.

__A Leadership Legacy__: A person's true legacy will stand the test of time. A positive growth current is more valuable than money, fame, or power. Our Founding Fathers provided a proper legacy by leaving an environment of liberty and allowing the people opportunity. They left us a nation built on Judeo-Christian principles. They left us a Constitution that provided limited government with individual rights. The Secular-Progressive movement aims to undermine the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, and Christianity.

__Three Types of Liberty__: The three types of freedom or liberty are political, economic, and spiritual. Spiritual freedom means no one can force a person to believe against his conscience; everyone has the responsibility to learn what spiritual freedom means to his/her own life. Economic freedom is capitalism; the freedom of individuals to earn through hard work and be free to use their wealth as they see fit. Political freedom is having rights and freedoms that can't be taken away by government officials. In America, liberty has been declining due to the five laws. Standing against the current is a brave act, moving against the current is the beginning of leadership, and forming a team of people willing to move against the current is what top leaders do. There are five major reasons that the Roman Empire declined: (1) a mounting love of show and luxury (love of money grew over love of values), (2) widening gap between rich and poor, (3) an obsession with sexual aspects, (4) freakishness in the arts, masquerading as originality, and (5) an increased desire to live off the state (which makes the poor poorer). Rome could not reverse their current of decline and collapsed. Will you be a leader and resolve to improve based on the 13 Resolutions for Life and help reverse the current of decline in America?

Fiat money is not backed by gold or any other valuable item. It has value because a government says so, by fiat. This dismal monetary history began with a failed plundering expedition in French Quebec. The Massachusetts government often conducted such raids on the French in Quebec. However, they (Massachusetts colonists) were defeated on one raid in 1690. This caused a small problem in Massachusetts and a huge problem for the West due to the poor precedent set by decisions in that day. Soldiers got back to Boston, ill-tempered and demanding paid regardless of the failure. The Massachusetts government couldn't raise the funds so they printed 7,000 Pounds of paper notes. To make sure the paper money was accepted, they promised to be able to redeem it all in gold and silver from revenues over the next few years and also they promised no more printed notes would be issued. Both pledges were disregarded as fast as government politicians could say "free money." In less than four months, more notes were printed and issued to make up for a shortage of government funds. In February of 1691, 40,000 Pounds of unbacked paper notes were printed.
 * Colonial New England and Fiat Money:**

The five laws of decline went unrestrained and started crushing progress, causing the negative flow to hinder colonial growth. Sturgeon's law proves and shows that any time a vote is taken, the 90% looking for an easy way out regardless of the long-term consequences will vote for short-term ease over long-term principles every time. In Massachusetts, they printed money to satisfy the soldiers in hopes that the problem would go away. This led to Bastiat's law. When politicians learned they could print more money instead of asking for more taxes or make cuts in their spending, a nirvana on earth was proclaimed by the politicians.

Multiplying the fiat money of course led to inflation. Gresham's law kicked in. The printed money was worth 40% less than gold or silver. The real money (gold and silver) were driven underground and everyone bought and sold using the paper money. The British Crown finally intervened, but not until the paper money expanded to 2.5 million Pounds by 1748. Gresham's law drove out not only the real money in gold and silver, but also the good politicians, who would have nothing to do with the immoral printing of fiat money. In came bad politicians with dishonorable motives and ignorant politicians with hunger for power.

Next came the law of diminishing returns. As the government printed more fiat money, it seemed to have less effect so they kept on printing. Finally, the law of inertia made it nearly impossible to stop the fraud once it had begun. It was only interrupted by the British Empire. The colonies were no longer restrained by the British in the Revolution and the Continental Congress printed millions of dollars called "Continentals." The five laws of decline, therefore, bankrupted the Continental Congress. The colonies won the war, but couldn't service the debt. The Constitutional Convention was in part an attempt to fix the financial problems. One of the first items discussed and approved at the convention was barring the states and the new federal government from printing fiat paper money. Obviously, that didn't last, but that's another five-laws-of-decline story that is more of a current events lesson.

The founders stood against the five laws of decline. They reversed the current of decline setting up free trade across state lines, no personal income taxes, separation of powers, an independent judiciary, and the Bill of Rights to spiritual and economic freedoms needed to pursue one's dream. The current of decline today is evident with total taxation in the West and sadly, many citizens are seeking government solutions instead of demanding freedom. America needs leaders who will stand against the current of decline and even drive the current in the other direction. Will you help reverse the current of decline?

__Thinking Questions__: 1. A legacy can be world changing, but a legacy need not reach the scope of the world to be considered a legacy. Merriam-Webster defines legacy as: something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or from the past. Share some of the legacies that have been transmitted to your own family, church, community, or country. 2. Explain how you see a difference between legacy and tradition. 3. Leaders wanting to create a legacy must take the legacy challenge and create the culture that creates legacy. Think of Sam Walton. Walton has now been dead for over 20 years, but his company, worth $24 billion upon his death, grew in worth to $258 billion in 2011 and is still growing. Walton instilled his culture into his followers who kept it going. The legacy challenge is to create a culture of excellence that will outrun the forces of decline. In your family, your career, your passion, your life, what can you do to begin to infuse excellence into your surroundings to create a culture that will outlast you? 4. Legacy is summed up in a sentence or a word. And we don't get to pick that word, our actions pick it. Every one of us is special and can resolve to live a life that matters by choosing daily actions that will lead to that legacy. If you could pick your word or your sentence, what would you want to be remembered for? 5. For 13 lessons, we have challenged ourselves to become better. We've covered purpose, character, attitude, the ant and the elephant, plan-do-check-adjust, keeping score, friendship, finances, leadership, conflict, systems, adversity quotient, and legacy. Which of these resolutions has impacted you the most? What can you change in your life by implementing the information from that resolution? What about all 13? 6. What will you take from this lesson and begin applying into your own life?

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