My fourth grade teacher was my first mentor besides my parents.  Franz Luoma was his name and he was a man among boys.  He had been a great hockey player and a strong disciplinarian.  I am so thankful that God ...   more »

LEARN FREE ENTERPRISE

The best way to learn about free enterprise is to get involved in a business of your own. I know it can be scary at first, and it takes courage. In fact, if you want to win in your own business, it takes more guts than money. Don’t believe the socialist (anti-hero) lie that it takes money to make money. My wife Laurie and I had no money when we married and were living paycheck to paycheck with over $30,000 in debt outside of our mortgage when we started in business. In Thomas Stanley’s excellent book “The Millionaire Next Door” he writes, “The millionaires we discuss in this book are financially independent. They could maintain their current lifestyle for years and years without earning even one month’s pay. The large majority of these millionaires are not the descendants of the Rockefellers or Vanderbilts. More than 80% are ordinary people who have accumulated their wealth in one generation.”

America truly is the “land of opportunity” and it is time to debunk the error of socialist (anti-hero) doctrine and get on with “Having Fun, Making Money and Making a Difference.” The Bible talks about “knowing them by their fruit.” Let us take a look at the fruit of socialist (anti-hero) doctrine. Richard Pipes wrote a book called “Communism,” where he stated:

“The cost of the experiments in utopia were staggering. They took a huge toll on human lives. Stephane Courtois, the editor of “The Black Book on Communism” estimates the global number of Communism’s victims at between 85 and 100 million, which is 50% greater than the deaths caused by the two world wars. Various justifications have been offered for these losses, such as that one cannot make an omelet without breaking eggs. Apart from the fact that human beings are not eggs, the trouble is that no omelet has emerged from the slaughter.”

The reason so many people have been exterminated in communist/socialist countries is due to the forced redistribution of wealth (called stealing). When someone didn’t go along with the coercive plan they were punished or murdered. It is a lack of understanding of man’s fallen nature to give to any small group of individuals the power to control a whole economy. Lord Acton said, “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Free enterprise keeps the power well distributed throughout society and only allows entrepreneurs to maintain that power by serving consumers. Pipes goes on to say, “In Russia, which experienced Communism the longest, one of the effects is that the population has been robbed of self-reliance…The nation has found itself both incapable and unwilling to stand on its own feet and take charge of its destiny. This is not the least of the harm that Communism has inflicted on Russia and all countries that, like it, have been subjected to prolonged Communist dressage. It has also killed in them the work ethic and a sense of public responsibility.”

Russia was sold anti-hero doctrine for seventy years and the fruit is a bitter pill to swallow. Why would American want to buy this socialist (anti-hero) doctrine for ourselves when we can clearly see the fruit it produced? Some will say, “O.K. Orrin, going 100% socialist didn’t work, but I think 50% of that plan would be good.” That is like saying if we drink the full cup of arsenic it will kill us, but half a cup will only get us sick. And that is where we are in America; we are sick from drinking too much socialist (anti-hero) doctrine; we are no longer proud of the ethical businessman or woman who goes out and serves people and satisfies a need to earn income.

Free enterprise requires responsible, educated citizens who are not looking for a government hand out, just an opportunity for a fair chance to win. In a free enterprise environment, failure isn’t final. It is a learning experience that propels you on your way to success. Julian Simon, an economist said, “The main fuel to speed our progress is our stock of knowledge, and the brake is our lack of imagination. The ultimate resource is people – skilled, spirited, and hopeful people who will exert their wills and imaginations for their own benefit, and so, inevitably, for the benefit of us all…In short, our cornucopia is the human mind and heart, and not a Santa Claus natural environment. So has it been in the past, and therefore so is it likely to be in the future.”

This is why we as Americans must teach free enterprise: because our true success and failure boils down to “how we think.” The level of anti-hero doctrine absorbed into your brain from school, media, friends, and family is an anchor around your neck as you climb the ladder of success. It is up to you to free yourself and others from the bondage of worn out, disproved, godless, socialist anti-heroic ideas. The reason I listened to so many tapes and read so many books is I knew I had to fix myself. I am proud of the Team education system! I will discuss free enterprise and our system with my head held high, knowing in my heart it is the best vehicle to take a hungry student out of the quiet desperation of mediocrity and to the thrill of financial independence.

Tim Marks continues to amaze me at his rate of growth personally and professionally.  Chris Brady and I have never seen anyone willing to push himself out of his comfort zone like Tim.  Tim has the drive and courage to push on when the going gets tough.  His nickname before the business was "Viking" for his take no prisoners attitude, but I would not believe that today.  Tim's nickname today is "Superman" and he is one of the best mentors on the whole Team helping many people become job optional.  I thank God for the day he brought a leader like Tim Marks into the business.  Step out of your comfort zone and come join team leadership on the team! God Bless!

THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY

Even with a plan in place, there will be times when you are down. The plan may not be going fast enough, you may have to change more than you thought, fear may be holding you back, or the criticism of anti-heroes are getting to you. At these times you will be glad you associate with a community of other like-minded heroes. Many people do not understand that in a free enterprise system, truth and error battle it out on the market. If you are going to be an entrepreneur, you must realize that criticism is part of the profession. A hero does not fear the free transmission of ideas, because he believes in his cause and he will prove the truthfulness of his cause by his or her results. Let me quote from Ed Opitz:

“A society should have freedom of worship, press, and the academy, so that truth and error might slug it out in the forum; truth needs no authority other than itself, and error should have none…Truth needs champions willing to go to the mat for it, willing to expose entrenched error in full and free discussion, willing to expound truth attractively, until the old falsehoods finally slink away. The fact that certain ideas have, at a given time, gained ‘majority acceptance’ is only another way of saying that ‘the masses have an ideology.’ This fact tells us nothing as to the merits of the ideology the masses have accepted, by comparison with those they have rejected. Widespread public acceptance of an idea is no valid test of the idea. A philosophical judgment is not passed merely by a show of hands, pro and con. Nor is man’s intellectual stature measured by the results of a popularity poll.”

Though different books and different authors, the same point is made. If you are going to have above average results then you must do above average things. A heroic life is formed by doing heroic deeds on a consistent basis. A community of like-minded people is extremely important to the hero since the majority of people he meets have passively accepted the anti-heroic doctrine pumped into them by our socialistic educational system. He needs, for example, his local church; a community of like-minded believers who do not rely on public opinion polls to determine what they believe. The hero understands that the truth will never be disproved by error. And he understands that the reason he sees so much name-calling and slanderous attacks from anti-heroes is because their doctrine simply cannot stand on its own merit. They must make noise to distract the masses from that fact.

DEVELOPMENT PLAN

To truly start to grow and change, it is important to find someone who will hold you accountable to your goals and dreams. It is much easier to let yourself down than it is to let your mentor/hero down. A mentor will not let you off the hook to settle for mediocrity if that is not what you really want. The ability of a man or woman to rationalize why they are not growing and changing knows no limits, but a mentor can identify the deception and confront the potential hero with the truth in love. Let me give you an example from the 1940’s book The Rediscovery of Man:

After you have identified a mentor, the next step is to sit down with him and create a personal development plan. To leave the masses and excel in a noble life, it is essential to grow every day. Develop habits of reading great books, listening to heroic doctrine on tapes or CDs, by attending seminars, and by developing personal mentors. Jose Ortega y Gasset in his excellent book “The Revolt of the Masses” wrote:

“For me then, nobility is synonymous with a life of effort, ever set on excelling oneself, in passing beyond what one is to what one sets up as a duty and an obligation. In this way the noble life stands opposed to the common or inert life, which reclines statically upon itself, condemned to perpetual immobility, unless an external force compels it to come out of itself. Hence we apply the term mass to this kind of man – not so much because of his multitude as because of his inertia. As one advances in life, one realizes more and more that the majority of men – and women – are incapable of any other effort than that strictly imposed on them as a reaction to external compulsion. And for that reason, the few individuals we have come across who are capable of a spontaneous and joyous effort stand out isolated, monumentalized, so to speak, in our experience.”

The anti-hero (mass man) is disciplined only by external forces – for example, by a job which tells him when to get up, when to go to lunch and when to go home. But the hero (noble man) is self-disciplined. When you discipline yourself more than a boss ever could, your days on a job are limited. The world will step aside for a man or woman who knows where they are going and has a plan for getting there. Do you have your plan?

When a financially independent person speaks, the Team listens.  When I heard Billy Florence was coming to speak I brought a notepad and took as many notes as I could.  He taught me one of the keys to success in this business and that is always to help the next person win.  If you help enough other people get what they want you will get what you want.  Billy Florence is a server of people.  Many times you would see diamonds with very small groups so puffed up in themselves, but Billy with a massive group was always so cordial and encouraging.  When I first met Billy I wasn't even a platinum and yet he treated me like a diamond.  I felt the way to thank him was to join him at diamond club.  Billy Florence is one of my heroes in this business and in life.  He has remained faithful to the same wife (Peggy) and has raised three great children into young adults.  Billy to me is the modern day Robert E. Lee, very competent and yet very humble and loyal.  A young mother asked Mr. Lee shortly before his death if he had any words of advice for her newborn son.  Robert said, "Teach him to deny himself."  That is such a lost art in today's microwave society of instant gratification, but Billy Florence has this die to self attitude.  I pray for our country that more men serve others like my friend and mentor Billy Florence. God Bless!

MENTORS

To truly start to grow and change, it is important to find someone who will hold you accountable to your goals and dreams. It is much easier to let yourself down than it is to let your mentor/hero down. A mentor will not let you off the hook to settle for mediocrity if that is not what you really want. The ability of a man or woman to rationalize why they are not growing and changing knows no limits, but a mentor can identify the deception and confront the potential hero with the truth in love. Let me give you an example from the 1940’s book The Rediscovery of Man:

“Let us assume that your analysis of the causes of your failure is substantially correct, and that you have been the victim of these outside forces in your environment. The one important question now is: What are you going to do about it? The only person in the world who can solve this problem is you. We may help you to map out a plan of action, but only you can carry this plan into effect. Only you can assume the responsibility for its success. The more time we spend analyzing the causes, which are in the past, the less time and power you will have to practice the new habits and skills which you need to take you out of this situation. The time for talk has ended. From now on the emphasis must be on action, struggle, painful practice, embarrassing moments, self-sacrifice, discipline, patient and persistent effort.”

Has anyone talked to you like that before? A mentor values your dreams and ultimate success more than he values you liking him or her at every point in time. I enjoy the friendship with the Team leaders, but if I had to choose between friendship and respect, I would much rather have the respect of the leaders than their friendship void of respect. My number one responsibility as a mentor is to help future leaders break down the mental barriers that are holding them back from their goals. You do not have the right to mentor people until they know how much you love them. One of the greatest joys in my life is to see leaders have their breakthroughs and move on to the next level.

Mr. Link wrote, “It is remarkable how this challenge to the individual’s powers of self-determination and capacity for effort stimulates many to a new attack on life. The tragedy is that for so many years our civilization and its educational forces have permitted them to believe in their own helplessness. Worse still, it has supplied them with a collection of intellectual tools by which to build a tower of logic in defense of their failures.”

The Bible says, “The truth will set you free.” In everything you hear and read, ask yourself, “Is this creating confidence or taking it away?” The heroic doctrine creates confidence and can only be transferred by a hero to a potential hero. The anti-heroic doctrine is designed to take away confidence, absolve you from guilt, and can only be transferred by an anti-hero to a potential anti-hero. The choice is yours just as I had a choice ten years ago when I began to choose my mentors. The majority of my would-be mentor candidates believed more anti-heroic doctrine than heroic doctrine. The path of least resistance would have been to listen to the anti-heroes, but I knew in my heart of hearts that this “no fault” life was wrong. As author Scott M. Peck, paraphrasing Robert Frost said, “I chose the road less traveled and it has made all the difference to me.”

ENCOURAGEMENT

Any culture that glorifies mediocrity and consistently denigrates performance will produce much more of the former and a lack of the latter. One of the ways we can change this is by encouraging excellence in all that we do and say. When you see someone going beyond their responsibilities to get the job done tell them that you noticed and appreciate their hard work. George Roche said:

“Why do we honor none like them (heroes) today? Surely this is a clear sign of our own faltering convictions and failing courage. Our debt to heroes is no metaphor, but the substance of a free society. It is our duty to one another and to moral law, a duty exemplified at its highest by the hero’s own selflessness. We have not kept our end of the bargain. The very words we need to think about heroes – valor, magnanimity, fortitude, gallantry – rust from disuse.”

Let us begin today by recognizing our heroes who by their example point to the better life that is possible through discipline and thought, character and action. Call up the heroes in your life who have inspired you to do more than you thought possible and thank them. I know in my own life how much my heroes have meant to me and anytime I see them I make sure I communicate my love and respect. There is nothing that feels better to a man or woman living a heroic life than to know that their life and example is having an impact.

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT

This leads us to the fourth area where anti-hero philosophies have created this idea of the “autonomous individual” that demands rights, but accepts no responsibilities. You don’t have to read much of the daily newspaper to find some group protesting about their rights. I am a major supporter of the Bill of Rights, I only wish there was a corresponding Bill of Responsibilities.

Dr. Karl Menninger states that one of the principal reasons for the rapid rise in mental illnesses in our society is the decline in a sense of individual responsibility and personal worth – a feeling of helplessness and lack of direction. He argues, “people have always learned more from their mistakes than from their success; but when the ‘price’ of mistakes is eliminated, the result is confusion and a loss of motivation to do better.”

The anti-hero will tell you “It wasn’t your fault!” “Demand your rights!” and “Find someone to blame!” I believe that the number one reason why people fail in America is a lack of accepting personal responsibility. The world at large is crying out for people-centered leaders who will accept responsibility in their families, churches, communities, and careers. Jim Black in his excellent book “When Nations Die” quoted an article by Michael Lerner in the February 1994 journal “Tikkun”:

“Reacting against the selfishness and materialism that are sanctified by the competitive market – and that undermine our ability to sustain loving relationships – people hunger for communities of meaning that provide ethical and spiritual purpose. They are offered instead a myriad of nationalistic, religious or racial pseudo-communities that never challenge the ‘look out for #1’ mentality of the market. So people soon find that their daily lives are just as empty as ever.”

The problem with this “individual against the world” perspective is that people were made for communion with others. People are happiest when part of a community where they can grow and thrive. In his book “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” Stephen Covey said that the proper development of an individual would lead from dependence to independence to interdependence. Independent people freely choose to rely on other independent people to make an interdependent community. Most people in today’s anti-heroic culture never arrive at this interdependent level. They still believe that happiness can be purchased. As interpersonal communities break down, our dependence on things increase, and our highly commercial culture is only too happy to encourage these bad habits.

Jim Black said, “For most of our history, Americans placed greater stock in a man’s character than in his possession. The American Dream held that, by hard work and self-discipline we could achieve success. And success was not measured in material possessions alone…The common wisdom of the day taught that greed, luxury, and self-indulgence were the passions of weak character. And the frugal nature of the pioneers taught that the treasures to be valued most were the virtues of honesty, good character, and moral strength.”

Where the heroic defines people by who they are, the anti-heroic defines people by what they have. Some of my heroes are not yet wealthy, from a material point of view. They are however, facing their fears, growing and changing to become the people they were meant to become. Then, they will have.

I believe that in true success, character development must come first. Stephen Covey said, “Internal victories precede external victories.” I am astounded by how many people think they can handle success without changing at all. In all my years of corporate and business life I have never met a truly successful person that wasn’t growing and changing daily. The greatest leaders put their personal development high on their list of priorities. Your personal development allows you to serve your team better by developing better attitudes, skills, and character. Henry Link said:

“The issue here is of selfishness or unselfishness. Is the individual to be governed by the principle of what he likes, or what other people like; what he considers desirable or what others consider desirable? If he allows himself to be governed by the former and does always the things which will please him, his personality will shrink, his range of friendships will narrow, his likes will decrease while his fears and dislikes will increase; whereas the person who acts on the principle of what will help or please others, even to the extent of undertaking activities which he dislikes or finds awkward, will develop new skills and in time even convert his aversions into enjoyment. The growth of a personality and the growth of a person’s range of interest, skills and pleasures, are one and the same thing…Personality and its rewards are a by-product of converting one’s energies into habits and skills which interest and serve other people.”

So many Americans today are too wrapped up in their own goals and dreams to take the time to serve others. The interesting thing, as Henry Link stated (and I affirm through my experience) is that “the more you give, the more you get.” If we are going to stem the tide of the anti-heroic culture, we as individuals must make the first step. We must reject the lies of egalitarianism, socialism, and radical individualism.

Chuck Colson writes, “Societies are tragically vulnerable when the men and women who compose them lack character. A nation or a culture cannot endure for long unless it is under girded by common values such as valor, public-spiritedness, and respect for other and for the law; it cannot stand unless it is populated by people who will act on motives superior to their own immediate interest.”

The anti-hero does not like talk of a better life or of making a difference in other people’s lives. George Roche writes, “The anti-hero, shrunken in the misery and guilt of his dissimulations, must perforce cast us all in his own image and try to bring us down to his own level. He must jeer at the hope of a better life. He must denigrate mind and morality to make bearable his own intellectual and spiritual barrenness. ……There is a better life, and it is free for the asking. The value of a life well lived can only be denied, never diminished, by the anti-hero. It is still there, that satisfaction of a good life that we so hunger for now. It can be and still is claimed, as ever, by those who will have it, and in the teeth of adversity.”

As I ponder our culture today and its virtual hatred of heroes, I see seven things we can do to make a difference:

1.       Encourage and edify anyone doing heroic work

2.       Find a mentor to challenge you to grow

3.       Start a personal development program

4.       Join a community of like-minded individuals

5.       Learn about free enterprise and start your own business

6.       Learn the foundational Judeo-Christian principles of our nation

7.       Accept responsibility to teach all of the above to everyone you can

JUDEO-CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES

America needs to wake up from the comfortable lies of socialist anti-hero rhetoric and reclaim its birthright as a country founded upon Judeo-Christian free enterprise principles. Warren Brookes writes:

“At its roots, economics is a metaphysical rather than a mathematical science, in which intangible spiritual values and attitudes are at least as important as physical assets and morale more important than money supply. Products, after all, are the assembly of qualities, and their value derives directly from the innate character and ideals of those who create them and the workmanship of those who produce them. Things are in their final analysis, the expression of thoughts. Quality products derive from quality thoughts, shoddy products from shoddy thoughts. Plainly, then, a national economy, like an individual business or a specific product, is the sum of the spiritual and mental qualities of its people, and its output of value will be only as strong as the values of society”

We need a reawakening of the old American values of a strong work ethic and basic understanding that “your word is your worth.” De Tocqueville, in his classic “Democracy in America” said:

“America is great because America is good, and when America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great!”

Our biggest goal on the Team is to make a difference in each and every member of the team and one of the ways we do that is by educating our members. Quality thoughts produce a quality business. The very thing for which anti-heroes criticize our business – our books and our tape series – is actually our biggest competitive advantage. The growth rate of the Team enterprise is in direct correlation to the personal growth rate of the individual members of the Team.

You might be thinking, “O.K. Orrin I can see your point on free enterprise, but isn’t it wrong for Christians to make money?” Let’s have Wilhelm Ropke answer that out of his book, “A humane economy”:

“Self discipline, a sense of justice, honesty, fairness, chivalry, moderation, public spirit, respect for human dignity, firm ethical norms – all of these are things which people must possess before they go to market and compete with each other. These are the indispensable supports which preserve both market and competition from degeneration. Family, church, genuine communities, and tradition are their sources.”

The market, without Judeo-Christian values, degenerates into a dog-eat-dog affair that is not worthy of our great country. Ropke called it “compassionate conservatism” and some have credited his ideas with greatly assisting in the amazing comeback of West Germany after WWII.

Warren Brookes, in his book, “Economy in Mind,” weighs in with this comment:

“Ironically, just when a growing share of the public sees the direct connection between spiritual and moral values and real economic well being, the mainstream liberal Christian church has all but abandoned primary emphasis on moral teaching. Yet without this teaching, capitalism loses its enormous potential to bless. It is no accident that capitalism rose to world economic leadership only as a byproduct of the spread of Judeo-Christian spiritual values and laws; and to the extent that these values dissipate in hedonistic, amoral humanism, capitalism itself will decline……The same humanist-socialist who hate the market hate Christianity and Judaism with equal intensity, because the God of Israel requires individual spiritual growth and freedom.”

Brookes had a major impact on me when I read his book.

The Team ought to be proud of their emphasis on personal growth and change. That is the only way to build a business or a life that will stand the test of time. It is not popular today to talk about Christianity and business in the same breath, but I would personally be lost if I had to do business without the ethical direction my faith gives me. Let me close this section with one more quote from Warren Brookes’ book “Economy in Mind”:

“Throughout the economic history of this nation, we can see that those companies survive and succeed the longest which have done the best job of identifying real human needs and filling them – and thereby contributing to our general well-being by responding to the market. Conversely, we observe again and again that those companies, which systematically abuse and exploit both workers and consumers (markets) for the sake of short-term gain, tend to have very poor survival rates. There is nothing in this that is inconsistent with the fundamental metaphysical principles and laws which permeate most religious doctrine, which teach that evil motives produce their own failures, while good inevitably produces its own generous rewards. Capitalism, then can survive only if it is leavened by the insights of the spiritual sense which tempers greed and promotes genuine vision”

Chris Brady and I have seen our share of greed in business, but we refuse to label a whole business or industry bad due to the greedy non-Christian behavior of a few individuals. Jesus said that any foundation built on sand would not last the storms and we have seen our share of businesses built on sandy foundation fall. The only nations, businesses, and people whose characters will last are those whose characters are built on a foundation of rock.

OUR NATIONAL BELIEFS

The third area where we see the effects of the anti-hero doctrine is our nation’s beliefs and mores. The Wisdom of Solomon warns us that, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” What we ...   more »

BUSINESS
THE FREE ENTERPRISE SYSTEM

This lack of results-based training in our schools has led to a lack of understanding of our free enterprise system. We live in the greatest country in the world, with the most freedom and the most opportunity due to our free enterprise system, yet we do not teach free enterprise in school. That is an almost unbelievable fact, yet sadly it is true.

In a free enterprise system, your customers score you everyday. An entrepreneur that does not satisfy the consumer will soon be out of money as the consumer will take his money elsewhere. Edmund Opitz in his great book, “Religion and Capitalism - Allies Not Enemies” said:

“All these good things are a result of the effort which began two centuries ago to put the system of liberty – equal rights before the law – into practice. But, of course, when men are free politically there will be, inevitably, economic inequalities. There will continue to be rich and poor, as there have been in every society since history began, but with this difference: the wealthy will be chosen by the daily balloting of their peers in the market place and the wealthy won’t necessarily be the powerful, nor will the poor necessarily be the weak.”

This means the individual that is consistently winning in a free enterprise economic sphere is satisfying the consumers best, no matter what their competitors or detractors say. Warren Brookes in his great book, “The Economy in Mind” said:

“Since economic thought first became formalized over two centuries ago, there have been essentially two different views about wealth. One view, first defined by Adam Smith and Jean Baptiste Say, is that wealth is primarily metaphysical, the result of ideas, imagination, innovation, and individual creativity, and is therefore, relatively speaking, unlimited, susceptible to great growth and development. The other, espoused by Thomas Malthus and Karl Marx, contends that wealth is essentially and primarily physical, and therefore ultimately finite. The modern presentation of this view argues that since usable energy is steadily diminishing into entropy, all wealth is really cost to be shared more equally.”

In a nutshell, Adam Smith believed in free enterprise and Karl Marx believed in communism/socialism. I am always surprised at how many Americans will argue for the worn out ideas of socialism and Karl Marx. According to the economist Irving Kristol:

“The most important political event of the twentieth century is not the crisis of capitalism but the death of socialism.”

Marxism says that as capitalist societies develop, most people are hounded into abject poverty while a tiny group of capitalist thrives. But in fact capitalism has always made societies richer, much richer. Capitalist get rich and workers become more prosperous than their grandparents could have ever imagined possible.

Roger Kimball in his article “The Death of Socialism” said:

“It is certainly significant that the Soviet Union imploded and that its last leader Mikhail Gorbachev recently acknowledged that Communist claims about economic progress had been ‘pure propaganda’………But I cannot help receiving the news of socialism’s death with a certain skepticism. For one thing, the fact that an idea has been thoroughly discredited does nothing to render it impotent. It is part of the perversity of human nature that discredited ideas are often the most successful ideas. Then too, I see little evidence that socialism’s fundamental tenet – namely, the ideal of equality – is on its way to the dustbin of history. The wheels of egalitarianism may grind away more slowly in liberal democratic countries than in Communist ones, but grind away they do…time and again history has taught us that the hunger for equality is among mankind’s most brutal passions. It is for this reason that I believe the philosopher David Stove was correct when he identified ‘bloodthirstiness’ as a central ingredient in the psychology of egalitarianism. Socialism will be conquered to the extent that egalitarianism is conquered. In the meanwhile, I fear that Stove is correct that ‘very far from communism being dead, as some foolish people at present believe, we can confidently look forward to bigger and better Marxes, Lenins, Stalins, Maos, etc…’”

It is not hard to find numerous examples of people arguing against free enterprise from a Marxist Socialist position - not everyone can make it as an entrepreneur, the critics yell. Why don’t you share all the wealth equally, regardless of performance, it’s the only fair thing to do, say others. Winston Churchill said, “Socialism is the equal sharing of misery.” The wealthiest countries are the freest every time, because they allow the entrepreneurs who have the best ideas and serve the consumers best if they wish to create real wealth.

As citizens of the wealthiest country it is imperative to understand just how that wealth was created. To criticize the entrepreneur who generates the ideas and risks his capital is like shooting the horse that pulls the wagon. Entrepreneurs who consistently satisfy the customer should be heroes. They must not be labeled as criminals as they were and are in today’s socialist countries. George Roche wrote:

“However absurd the Marxist theory, all its prejudicial conclusions were retained and are still widely expressed in hatred for, and attacks on, a free economic order. In another sense, Marxist theory did not and does not matter. Its real purpose was to turn envy into righteousness and to justify the immemorial resentments of weaklings and failures toward more successful men. In envy, Marx’s followers already clung to the ancient fallacy that ‘wealth’ was static, not constantly created. It follows from this blunder – exploded by Adam Smith a century earlier (1776) in “Wealth of Nations” - that to acquire wealth you had to steal it from somebody else. All they wanted was an excuse to unleash their envy and hatred with moral righteousness and Marx gave it to them: ‘capitalism is theft’…No demonstration in this century has been more overwhelming than the folly and brutality of this thinking, and the moral as well as economic superiority of free markets. Yet the anti-hero nurses his old fallacies and false righteousness to vent his anger against ‘the rich.’ Deep down he says, ‘It’s not my fault I am not more successful. It’s theirs, it’s the systems, and it’s the worlds.’ Deeming himself to be sensitive and superior, he reasons that if the world does not recognize it, the world is not good enough for him. He will punish it. If the system doesn’t put him at the top of the heap, nobody else can be, either. He will level it…from this cesspool of voodoo economics, whiny self-justifications, anti-heroic posturing and venomous envies springs the modern’s loathing for free markets in a free society. America, symbol of freedom and success, is for that very reason the quintessence of evil in the eyes of the anti-heroic intellectual – here as well as abroad. We do not understand anti-heroism adequately until we see its roots in envy and its motivation in revenge.”

As I read this, my thinking became so much clearer on why socialist countries hate America, and why socialists living in America hate America. There is living proof that their system doesn’t work.

In my opinion, no business in America today better exemplifies the free enterprise system than the Team, powered by Quixtar. When you hear people say negative things about our business, ask yourself why they are saying it. Many are just ignorant about our business and repeating rumor, hearsay or popular opinion, but some are professional anti-heroes that spend countless hours sharing and repeating negative lies and disinformation. The professional anti-heroes all argue from a socialist, anti-heroic, position. “It is wrong to make money in that “pyramid” they say. If someone is making money then someone is losing money.” These people have been well trained by Marx and Malthus.

Warren Brookes in his book “Economy in Mind” said:

“The primary and essential character of wealth is metaphysical, not physical, and is the direct result of the creativity of mind, not the availability of raw materials…Ultimately, a human being is wealthy not because of what he has but because of what he knows. What he has, he can lose through disaster, obsolescence, taxation, or theft. What he knows, he can never lose unless he loses life itself. Thus his real wealth is a characteristic of his thinking not a measured amount on a bank ledger. In fact, our accounting systems are notoriously and increasingly inadequate in their measurement of the real wealth (and potential) of our economy.”

This is a major reason why the Team places so much value on training and education. The real wealth in any business is the knowledge that exists in its people’s minds, not its products. The ability to adapt quickly to market conditions is what separates great companies from average companies. That requires knowledge. The amount of information going into the minds of the leaders is what is making the difference for our teams. When people criticize our training system, I know why. It is just another form of socialist anti-hero rhetoric.

The difference in thinking regarding these two concepts of wealth was never more dramatically revealed than by comparing President Jimmy Carter’s 1981 farewell address and President Ronald Reagan’s Inaugural address:

“The rapid depletion of irreplaceable minerals, the erosion of topsoil, the destruction of beauty, the blight of pollution, the demands of increasing billions of people all combine to create problems which are easy to predict and observe, but difficult to resolve.” Jimmy Carter, Farewell Address, 16 January 1981

“It is time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We’re not as some would have us believe doomed to inevitable decline. We have every right to dream heroic dreams.” Ronald Reagan, Inaugural Address, 20 January 1981

Talk about the difference between anti-heroic and heroic! Only four days separated these two speeches but you would think that these gentlemen were talking about different countries. In fact, they were, because both were saying what they believed based on their outlook on life. Anti-heroes primarily see obstacles (and create obstacles) while heroes focus on opportunities (and make opportunities). Napoleon said, “Leaders are dealers in hope.” Ronald Reagan was a leader who gave hopes and dreams back to many Americans, not by promising handouts, but by providing opportunity.

It’s no different on the Team. There are obstacles and opportunities in our business as well. We choose to focus on opportunity. We’ll deal with the obstacles of course, but we believe, as Reagan did, that we have every right to dream heroic dreams! It takes heroes to build the business just as it takes heroes to build any long-term successful business in a free enterprise setting. Let’s hear what George Roche has to say about heroes:

“Heroes are a fading memory in our times, but we can still recall a little about them. We know, at least what sets the hero apart is some extraordinary achievement. Whatever this feat, it is such as to be recognized at once by everyone as a good thing; and somehow, the achieving of it seems larger than life. Even by this sparse definition, the hero’s deeds rebuke us. We have been struggling frantically merely to achieve the ordinary: that measure of happiness each of us is supposedly entitled to. The hero in contrast overcomes the ordinary and attains greatness, by serving some great good. His example tells us that we fail, not by aiming to high in life, but by aiming far too low. More it tells us we are mistaken in supposing that happiness is a right or an end in itself. The hero seeks not happiness but goodness, and his fulfillment lies in achieving it. His satisfaction such as it may be is thus a result: a reward if you please for doing well. This path to happiness is open to all, not just heroes, and until modern times nobody believed there was any other. To pursue happiness for its own sake it was believed was the surest way to lose it.”

The heroes in my life have always stretched me to do more by their example. I knew if they could do it, I could do it, even if I had to work three times harder. Do you believe that for yourself? Even if the other fellow is twice as smart, if you work hard enough, you can achieve success in our great country.

EDUCATION

The first big breakthrough for anti-hero doctrine was the idea of value-free education. There is no such thing as value free education! Education is the preservation, refinement and transmission of values from one generation to the next. Let me ...   more »

 

As an engineer, the statement “if the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count” really bothered me.  ...   more »

ANTI-HERO DOCTRINE

The anti-hero doctrine constitutes a denial of the value and purpose of human life, which sets us adrift in an existence without meaning or hope. Anti-hero philosophies have been a mixture of scientific error, prideful deceit, and rebellion against God. George Roche in his excellent book, “A World without Heroes” said:

“The anti-heroic dismisses all purpose as illusion. It sees us as helpless pawns, unable to act or even think on our own, fully shaped and determined by outside forces. It reaches this position with tortuous chains of inference, with misused ‘scientific assumptions’ and fanciful formulas that dare to tell us what we can and cannot know, what is and is not real. But all this is contrivance, serving not the search for knowledge and truth, but the rebel’s own dark purposes. And it is all belied in an instant by that one purposeful, death-defying act or a hero. That act, a reality known to us all, tells us more about the human condition than all of the empty and life-hating mutterings of modernist philosophers. It serves a Good we all may turn to for fulfillment in our lives.”

Author Marc Simmons, addressing the Western Writers of America, reached this conclusion about the group’s anti-hero critics:

“You see they must discredit the Western hero because if just one person can be shown to have achieved wholeness, then it becomes evident that the possibility is open to all.”

I believe that there are four areas where anti-hero doctrine has made major inroads:

1.       Education

2.       Business – The Free Enterprise System

3.       Our National Beliefs

4.       Our View of Individual Achievement

INTRODUCTION

While I was growing up back in the small town of Columbiaville, I always looked forward to Sunday afternoons during football season. On the way home from church my dad, Orrin Harvey Woodward, and his three boys would begin discussing whether Roger Staubach would lead the Dallas Cowboys to yet another win. My oldest brother and I usually rooted for the Cowboys while my younger brother and dad usually pulled for whoever was against Dallas. I remember staring intently at the T.V. screen as Roger Staubach (my hero) engineered another amazing comeback against the Washington Redskins. To a young boy of ten years of age there was nothing better than watching your hero pull off another miracle on the football field.

I began to read voraciously about many of the sports stars from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Reading about these great stars helped me form a desire to win, a drive to compete, and a willingness to face defeat in a quest for victory. I had no idea at the time what a positive influence all those sport biographies had on my mental makeup. Whenever my brothers and I would go out to play, I was always Roger Staubach when I was throwing, Tony Dorsett while running, Dr. J. (Julius Erving) when shooting a basketball, and Rod Carew when hitting a baseball. My dad and mom encouraged me to dream big dreams and to emulate my heroes. They believed in the American Dream of working hard and believing in oneself and that good guys can finish first.

In today’s society there is less talk of heroes to edify and emulate and more talk about the human frailties of anyone in a leadership position. While none of us are perfect and all of us have missed God’s mark of perfection, I think it is wrong to throw out the baby with the bathwater. Everyone needs to have heroes in their lives, people to look up to and who are admired because of their hard work and courage in overcoming obstacles.

The old Century Dictionary defines a hero as “a man (or woman) of distinguished valor, intrepidity, or enterprise in danger; a prominent or central personage in any remarkable action or event; one who exhibits extraordinary courage, firmness, fortitude, or intellectual greatness in the course of action.”

There are still plenty of heroes in America, but they are not being talked about and certainly not being lifted up as role models. I am amazed at how many American heroes I have met across this great nation who do a great job while toiling in relative obscurity. They don’t do heroic things so as to be written about or for recognition; they do heroic things because they believe it is the right thing to do. Let us look at how anti-hero doctrine has caused the decline of heroes in our culture and what can be done to recover the heroic culture that was essential in the foundation of our great country.

I wrote an article for the Team website that I thought I would review here.  I believe America needs more free enterprise thinking entrepreneurs willing to serve and sacrifice for the good of all.  Here is the first installment of many to come.

FOREWORD

            The following article discusses the differences between a heroic vs. anti-heroic way of life.  I will take you on a journey through the thought life of the last 250 years to learn how our worldview turned from the heroic view of life to the anti-heroic view.  I believe the importance of our free enterprise system mixed with Christian principles is taken for granted today and that many people wish to see socialist and humanistic worldview replace the historic American worldviews.  This article identifies the causes of our modern day dilemma and determines the way back to our heroic homeland.  My contention is that Karl Marx’s socialist-humanist doctrine has infiltrated the American mind and has poisoned our national psyche.  Without an emergency anti-poison, this nation is in danger of a slow and painful death.  Socialist thinking has led to a wholesale rejection of the role of the heroic entrepreneur in America today.  Without the entrepreneur who is the catalyst of growth, the free enterprise system will not work.  The socialist doctrine that capitalism is theft has been bought to such a degree that entrepreneurs are scorned as thieves and anti-heroes.  If this thinking is not changed and entrepreneur’s roles as heroes rekindled in the Horatio Alger tradition, then the death of America is at hand.  This article is written not just for members of the Team, but any American who loves their country and does not want to see its downfall.   I do not ask that the reader agrees with every point I make, but I do ask that we seek the truth together so that we will all grow in our understanding of what has made America such a blessed country.  One of my favorite speakers, Bob McEwen said, “Freedom isn’t free” and I believe living a heroic life is a small price to pay for that precious freedom.