Last night while watching the State of the Union address by President Obama it dawned on me that about 40 million American’s were watching this man speak hoping that he would say something that would help turn this economy around. To me this is a preposterous notion to think that one man, or even 500 or so Politicians in Washington, can turn around the financial well being of our whole nation. It is a flawed notion to think that these people, including President Obama, are going to be the force behind a financial turnaround. The change must come from our local Communities, and more specifically the average American Citizen.
Here is a good example. Recently, I read the book “The Richest Man in Babylon”. It was written in the 1920′s and was set in Ancient Babylonian times. Within the first few pages it states, “Babylon became the wealthiest city of the ancient world because it’s citizens were the richest people of their time. They appreciated the value of money. They practiced sound financial principles in acquiring money, keeping money and making their money earn more money. They provided for themselves what we all desire . . . . incomes for the future.”
Doesn’t that sound like early America? The richest city on earth, where people valued their money, and practiced sound financial principles? Citizens “providing for themselves”.
At what point did we become a nation of over spending citizens? I am not enough of a historian to know the answer to that question, but the point is somewhere in our recent past we lost the financial core values of what made this country great. We have allowed marketers of debt and of “cache lifestyles” to take over our financial well being. We allowed ourselves to simply live beyond our means.
So, of course, when you have a democratic nation of big spenders living beyond their means the government simply follows suit. Should we really be surprised that our government is broke? Aren’t we really to blame for this? Is our government not a representation of it’s citizens? I would say yes, and that includes myself. I am not pointing fingers, but rather admitting that I and many from my generation have been part of the problem.
The solution then becomes very basic: Our local communities here in the US, and the citizens within them, must re-institute a set of solid financial core values. If we can do this our government will simply follow suit. An informed and determined citizenry will elect the right officials, watch their local budgets more closely, and become more involved. Over time the government will simply follow suit. Our government is a democracy and that is what democracies ultimately do – follow the direction of it’s citizens.
In the end we have two choices as American citizens: 1) Take action in our own financial lives and in our own local communities or 2) Continue with the status quo and hope for the best.
Personally, I have decided to not only build and maintain a solid financial foundation for myself and my family, but I am doing my best to spread the word throughout my local community. I am facilitating a course at my church on personal finances, and it’s opening the eyes of all of the participants to a brighter future. It is bringing confidence and peace back into their lives. I am a Real Estate Broker. So this blog, and this course that I facilitate has no correlation to my profession, but it is in my opinion the best impact that I can make as a citizen. It’s time that we as citizens take control of our own financial well being, and stop worrying about how dysfunctional Washington is. The time to act, one citizen at a time, is now.
Geoffrey Green