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In this Newsletter, I thought I'd share some thoughts about the causal influences of the current economic crisis and take a peek at what The Law of Abundance offers in the way of understanding our nation's fiscal predicament. In future newsletters I will offer some practical steps toward self preservation during economic hardship.
The Only Thing to Fear is Fear Itself
In 1933 at the height of the Great Depression Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his first inaugural address. In it, he outlined in broad terms how he hoped to govern and spoke the now famous words, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
He pointed out that the fear that gripped the nation was “unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance” and reminded the American people that the nation’s “common difficulties” concerned “only material things”; that “our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we still have much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply.” In other words, although nature’s bounty was still available in abundance, fear was preventing people from tapping into it. The bounty was languishing, unused even though it was “in the very sight” of the people suffering lack.
You can find Roosevelt’s entire Inaugural Address at www.historymatters.gmu.edu. It is worth reading. What you will discover as you read the words spoken in 1933 is that little has changed. The challenges we face today are again primarily “because the rulers of the exchange of mankind’s goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence” and through their own greed. The “practices of the unscrupulous money changers (still) stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.”
The difference now is that this generation of money rulers has NOT “admitted their failure, and abdicated.” Like those who created the Great Depression, they have resorted to the same old tactics of proposing “the lending of more money” when “faced by failure of credit” and they have “resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence” when “stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership.” But they have not stepped down, nor have they been required to. Instead, they have been rewarded with billions of dollars in bailout money—our money—yours and mine.
When we look at what caused the economic meltdown this time, we see a bunch of selfish, greedy people writing tens of thousands of loans, which they knew were bad, and selling them to unsuspecting investors overseas. In effect, Wall Street bankers were knowingly perpetrating a giant Ponzi scheme, so immense that it makes Bernie Madoff look like a kindergartener. Madoff is in prison and the bankers are taking luxury vacations on taxpayer dollars. If our government won’t demand that these thieves take responsibility for their actions and bear the consequences, who will? Who can?
There is only one answer: We, the people. How? By ceasing to support those who have proven themselves unworthy of our support; not once, not twice, but time and time again. The big recession of the eighties was caused by the same kind of thing. All roads led to savings and loans back then. Today they lead to all of the big lending institutions. The “money rulers” continue to show us that they cannot be trusted. As President Roosevelt observed in 1933, “they know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.”
We cannot allow those without ethics, without principles, without vision to cause the people to perish. We must find ways to stop supporting those who would take advantage of us and start supporting one another. We must take the power out of the hands of those who continue to abuse it and give it back to ourselves; not by revolution, but by evolution.
We can affect that evolution because we have the power of the internet. We have the power of communication—the power of person to person connection, and we have the power of new knowledge, a new knowledge that informs and empowers us, if we let it. The Law of Abundance (QuinStar Publications 2009) makes it clear that the path we are on as a nation is the path to more of what we do NOT want, a path none of us really wants to be on.
What does that path look like? Let’s examine it:
The Path of Negative Abundance
The leaders of this nation (government, bankers, big business) are acting irresponsibly. Their behaviors are undisciplined and lacking in courage. Senators and congressmen bicker like first graders, and no one can provide the people with a clear and positive vision of where we, as a nation, are or should be headed so our focus is unclear. Energetically, this sets up a receptive (allowing things to happen) application line. Application is the means by which we give energy to life.
Seeing that our leaders are being irresponsible, undisciplined and cowardly in their approach, and that they are not providing effective leadership, we, the people, respond by feeling angry, frustrated, and fearful. We rail against their behaviors and worry about where we are headed. Energetically, this sets up an active, high resistance, attitude line. Attitude is the means by which we are willing or able to receive energy from life.
Together these create conditions where energy flows backwards toward negative abundance (an abundance of things we do NOT want). The natural flow of energy is toward positive abundance (an abundance of the things we desire), but the natural flow of energy can be slowed, stopped and reversed, and right now energy in the United States is flowing in reverse.
Since the electoral process has not helped us change the dynamics of our official leaders, and since we cannot trust them to change themselves, we must take a different approach and we must do it on a national scale if we are ever to reverse this destructive trend. The big question is how? The answer can be found in the correct energy path; the one that leads to an abundance of the things we DO want. So, let’s take a look at that path.
The Path of Positive Abundance
If our official leaders are not willing to step up to the plate and lead responsibly; if they cannot discipline themselves to stop playing partisan politics and “me first” games; if they do not have the courage to do the responsible thing for the long term good of the nation, then we, the people, must. What does that look like? To be responsible, we must take our future into our own hands—and out of theirs. To do that, we must stop depending on the government and big business and learn new ways to support one another. We must have the courage to refuse to accept irresponsible leadership. We must have the discipline to create a new plan, develop new methodologies, create a clear and compelling vision of where we want to go and how we will get there.
Will it take thought and time and work on our parts? Most certainly. Can we do it? We can if we choose to. And if we love our children, our grandchildren, and the children yet to be born; if we love humanity; if we love this great country we live in, we will choose to. One of my favorite quotes is by Margaret Meade who wrote “Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”
It is time to commit to positive change. No one person has all the answers and no one person can, on their own, make a big impact. But collectively we can find the answers and get things done—and we must. We must gather up the courage to do the right thing. And we must be clear about where we want to go, not just individually, but as a nation.
We must create conditions that are so responsible, so beneficial, so fair, that the majority of the people can see the benefits and be open and receptive to them. We must help one another, but also hold one another accountable. We must choose responsible action for ourselves and allow those who choose to be irresponsible to have the consequences of their actions. Only then will they learn that irresponsible actions have unpleasant consequences and perhaps use the feedback to correct their course.
Let us do more than dream the impossible dream, let’s find ways to make the dream a reality. Become a committed citizen. You can begin by introducing others to principles behind the Law of Abundance so they can use them for their own benefit and the benefit of their family, community, company and our nation. Alone we can do little. Together, we can change the world. To learn more about The Law of Abundance, go to www.thelawofabundance.com
Live Abundantly,
Sherry Buffington
P.S. If you know others who might benefit from this newsletter, please forward it to them. Subscribers can access all past newsletters online.
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