The first generation of Americans was somewhat
largely cut from the same cloth. They were determined,
motivated, and even desperate for a chance at a better
life. This desperation forces one to find a way to get
things accomplished because there really was no option
of going back from where they came. There was no plan
B for them. America’s success has today created too
many fall back plans. Many people are now incapable of
evaluating the factors necessary in decision making
leading to many not making a decision at all, hence the
increase in the fence sitter mentality. This I believe to be
true for today’s dithering people but this dithering is not
a problem for those with the drive and motivation to
move forward. America is great because it contains
people who possess these positive characteristics, but let
me return to those first few generations of people who
came to America.
Again these first settlers were like minded people,
talented people with little resources who left everything
behind in aspiration of a new future for them and their
families. There was no plan B or fall back plan for them
and they knew it therefore they had to succeed or they
died. Over time this mass of like minded people has
slowly changed through the generations of the last two
hundred years or so. Little by little as people had
families and those people had families, we grew into a
more dissimilar thinking group of Americans. The
number of exceptionally minded, self-reliant, or high
achieving people in relation to the number of average
(average meaning those without the traits of exceptional
people) has diminished. We as a people and a society are
reverting back to the average of where our ancestors
came from originally. I think this to be a natural
occurrence and a very logical conclusion which explains
much about what has influenced the direction of this
country especially in the past one hundred years.
Regarding averages, no matter what one tries to do
there will always be an average. Some people will be in
the top fifty percent, while the other half will be in the
bottom fifty percent. There is no way around it. In order
to agree with my theory you also have to believe some
people are inherently more driven to succeed than others.
Everyone cannot be an above average achiever on an
exceptional scale just as everyone cannot be below
average. My conclusion is because at the beginnings of
America we had a great deal more people come here
from the top fifty percent of the high achiever mindset
than from the bottom fifty percent, this was a very large
factor which greatly contributed to America’s success.
Now that we are reverting to the mean where achievers
are outnumbered by low or average achievers, America,
as it has been known, may be in peril.
We are turning to a culture of jealousy; jealousy of
the exceptional. Jealousy that someone else might have
obtained something they cannot obtain with little
thought as to how it was acquired. Jealousy of those who
make more money, have a better car, or a better house
will more and more tear at the fabric of American
exceptionalism. The American dream will end when a
person will not bother to better himself to earn or
produce more because he will know if he does, he will
not get to keep the fruits of his labor. Once this happens
on a large scale, no one will produce anything of their
own accord but will be forced to by government for the
greater good.
This statement came from a comment posting from
American Thinker.com: “There are so many people in
the United States that actually hate people that are
successful and certainly those more successful than they
are.” I firmly believe this to be a true statement,
unfortunately for us all. People with this mentality are
dangerous to the American way and American ideals.
Their focus seems to be to attack those who succeed
instead of trying to learn from them how they became a
success and use this knowledge to find success for
themselves. Perhaps they may believe there is some
magic piece of knowledge which will quickly and easily
lead them to succeed however, when they find out
success comes from working hard, being persistent,
sacrificing leisure time, bettering your skills, and most
important; having the ability to admit flaws in
themselves, they refuse to accept it.
It is much easier to attack others than to face reality
dealing with the fact the sole reason for their lack of
success lies within themselves, in their attitude, and their
limited outlook on life. They simply ignore the
numerous opportunities available for them in the United
States of America.
The opportunities here are limitless but there is one
very simple strategy which can lead to success in my
opinion and I would like to share it: Most of the time you
have to be willing to start at the bottom and work your
way up over time. There simply is no quick way to the
top. You will have to do things you do not like doing for
a while and I think this is what stops so many from
succeeding today. Too many people today are just
unwilling to do so. For some reason they think they are
too good to do menial jobs or tasks. Instead, they want
immediately the success others have and give little or no
consideration of what it took or the time it took the other
person to get there. When you start at the bottom, you
learn the ropes regarding how things work, and because
you are at the bottom, people know and understand your
skills are limited for a while. There is no expectation you
will do these jobs or tasks your entire life but these are
starting points which will open new paths to a better
future.
He that can have patience can have what he will.
-Benjamin Franklin
If you show you are willing to start low on the
ladder and do what needs to be done without excuse,
complaint or attitude, people will help you succeed.
Successful people will tell you what you need to do but
simply waiting for your turn to give a rebuttal instead of
actually listening to the advice, puts successful people
off. Successful people value their time so if they get the
idea you are not listening to them, they move on. Some
will believe this is just being mean and callous, but it is
not. This is another reason they are successful. They do
not waste time and resources that will not be productive
and are able to make these decisions and judgments
rather quickly based on their experience.
He that is good for making excuses is seldom
good for anything else.
-Benjamin Franklin
To admit to one’s self, let alone to others they are
not pulling their own weight without using an excuse to
bypass blame is a rare thing. It is more likely this
happens much more today than it did by our country’s
founding people. It is a very rare event a person today
can admit they screwed up and be honest with himself.
People are too worried about what other people think
about them, what others may say about them, or may
ridicule them. It is almost as if some people are in a
permanent teenager mode and nothing makes them grow
up.
I myself, often question if I am making the hard
choices or am I going with the flow, taking the easy
path, or just following the herd so to speak. We all like
to believe we are better than average at the things we do
but the fact is, half of us are not. I hope at least my book
will make people more aware of themselves and their
direction in life. To know one has a purpose and is
confident they are heading in the right direction makes
all the difference in the world as to whether one is happy
or not. Taking a hard look and having the ability to
realize you could do better or do more for yourself is a
key to happiness. Always having to look for an excuse is
no way to live as an American. In fact, to be happy and
successful in the United States of America, you cannot
live a life of excuses. This is why some have such a hard
time in the American business world. Feedback and
reward is based on results, not intentions. If results do
not eventually appear, actions are taken. More of us need
to understand this fact. This is how it is in America. This
is part of the culture of The United States.
It is easy to put things off for another day and
necessary sometimes but we only fail if we do not step
back and assess ourselves once in a while and are
brutally honest about it. Brutal honesty may be what it
takes to save our country from those who would usurp
our freedoms for our own good. Being committed is
hard; being proactive is hard; staying focused requires
continuous and self-motivated effort. Yet these are the
actions we must take to make up for those fence sitters
who will not do what it takes. We must in order to
remain free, protect our property and our earnings from
politicians’ good intentions, and to keep our country
governed in the fashion created and envisioned by the
Founding Fathers.
To succeed and to have a fruitful life in America
requires knowledge. If you do not have this knowledge,
you must seek it out. Seek out successful people and ask
them. They will help you but you must listen and be
prepared and willing to accept criticism. The ability to
listen and be self critical above many other traits will
help you on your pursuit of happiness.
Some people think America is mean, a mean country
with mean people and say Americans discriminate
against other people. Well, I have to agree with this
somewhat, America does discriminate, it discriminates
against the uninformed. It discriminates against the
stupid, and so do I. When I say stupid I refer directly to
those who refuse to see reality and accept facts as they
are, not how they want or assume them to be. I cannot
remember but someone said: “Everyone in a free society
is entitled to their own opinions but they are not entitled
to their own facts.” We must as U.S. Citizens teach the
importance of political involvement and American ideals
to our fellow Americans who may not understand them
or have never been even introduced to them. It is our
duty in order to preserve our republic.
It is difficult to encourage people to understand the
realm of politics especially in a culture where vast
numbers of us do not believe in starting at the bottom
but seek instead seek immediate gratification. Well,
politics is not an immediate gratification laced activity,
except possibly when it comes to elections. It may take
years and even decades for things to happen politically
regarding policy issues. I truly believe the founders
intended it to be this way. However, in our fast moving,
cell phone, texting, immediate contact with everyone we
know society, the slow motion of politics simply cannot
compete. There are so many other fun activities to do.
This is how we are taken advantage of by politicians.
People do not pay attention and unknowingly have
access to these very fun activities due exclusively to the
freedom this country provides. Little do they know their
lack of interest in politics and the protection of freedom
will eventually destroy these activities forcing their
attention on politics. At that point unfortunately, it is too
late.
Permanent participation and education in politics is
also difficult because it is hard for people to understand
how they are affected personally. They have lack of
interest because by the time they are affected, the news
of the law is long gone and probably so are the people
who made the laws. Most people do not participate
because they get zero immediate gratification for their
efforts. The election of Barack Obama is an exception.
More immediate gratification seeking people than usual
voted in 2008 because if he won, their payoff in
participating in the election would be immediate and
they had the opportunity to be part of what they believed
to be an historic event. Personal payoff or gratification
is usually never part of any election except to those who
are majorly part of a campaign. I believe people voted
for Obama in large part for the quick emotional payoff. I
do not think contemplating his long term policy effects
on the future of the United States had much of anything
to do with it. If this was a concern, then what was the
reasoning behind the lack of vetting of his public career
before being elected to try to discover or even anticipate
how his prior dealings might impact future policy
decisions? It was never really considered seriously.
People voted for him mainly for the immediate,
emotional delight.
What unfortunately also plays into this is many
people are disinterested in politics not only because of
the personal distance or their belief politics does not
affect them but they also are rarely given something
important to vote for. So many people only go to the
poles when they are frustrated and want to put a stop to a
person or policies they feel are not going well; see
President George W. Bush. In 2008, there were not only
policies people wanted to put an end to but also
something historic to vote for. People need something to
vote for and freedom and American ideals should always
be a clear choice on the ballot for them. If these things
are on the ballot and part of a candidate’s platform,
people will show up and keep America great. If people
only have to look forward to voting for the lesser of two
evils, they will remain uninterested and America’s ideals
of freedom and liberty will falter incrementally over
time.
When we only have the threat of losing a seat in
office after the fact as the only action persuading an
official to do what we want, we must seriously look
more deeply at the character of candidates before an
election and scrutinize them with brutal honesty and
unending questioning. We must be more certain now
than ever our elected officials will indeed take the
actions after elections which are in line with their
language from before the election. This all comes down
to electing people of high moral character and integrity.
A politician who will say anything to get elected and
tries to tell everyone what he thinks they want to hear is
useless and dangerous to freedom and to our republic.
This U.S. Citizen
