The Age of Democracy

The culture trend of our day is quickly sweeping us into the age of democracy.

For over two centuries the US culture has been an age of Constitutional Law, but over the last 80 some years we’ve been shifting, changing. The massive and insanely rapid technological advances we’ve been seeing over this period of time have greatly aided this shift towards a far more democratic form of government.

The odd part of this trend, and it seems almost contradictory, is that as governments, businesses, and banks get bigger and bigger, the close relationships built between them and the people at large are getting further and further apart. How many people have, or have had, a close personal connection with someone who has major decision making power in say Amazon, Apple, the Green Bay Packers, Wells Fargo, Fannie Mae, The Presidency, Nike, The New York Times, Samsung, Google, etc.? Or are they under such lock and key, special body guards, and highly private and invention only parties and meetings?

The further away these powerful people get, it seems the more involvement customers want in those companies. The bigger the company gets and the richer these men and women become, the more the people despise and seek after their demise. The more polarized politicians and companies get on issues, the more the flood gates open of hateful memes, tweets, and vines.

We want to have our cake, but we demand to be able to eat it too. This is not a good place to be.

The Age of Democracy

The desire to have the cake and to eat it too very nicely sums up the sentiment that Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville and The Federalist by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay wrote about on democratic forms of government. Let me be blatantly clear, this does not mean the democratic party, simply the democratic form of government as opposed to a republican form of government.

A big win for the whims of men, as opposed to the rule of law, came in a time of crisis and several companies were considered too big to fail. Many people were angry and understandably frustrated that they were too small to be cared about; thus being allowed to fail. Many people lost their jobs, their homes, their security, their credit, and their confidence in the law.[i]

When the law is on our side we’re all for it, but as soon as the benefit for another starts hitting our wallet we can’t stand for the treachery. When government and bank representatives came knocking on thousands upon thousands of homes saying you no longer own this property and you have two minutes to be out. Let me back up a step real quick: by law they were required to give eviction notices with ample time to move.

So many people thought they owned their home, it was not just a house, but their home. Their car. Their things.

The hard cold truth of the matter is that if it’s mortgaged, if it’s financed, if it’s collateral it belongs to someone else. Period. There is no security in debt. The piles of paperwork to sign for a home, a credit card, a car payment, same as cash checks, and title loans are so easily signed. The immediate pressure of paying the wolf pack of money collectors to get them off our backs, or to provide for the expected

Christmas joys, or whatever the case may be comes so easily. But we agreed to pay the piper when it is time, and we struggle to understand why my home isn’t actually mine. Why the judge would be so cold, why the Sheriff is so cruel, why the real estate agents would do such a thing, why our very own government is doing these things to us.

We then cry out, demanding to have our cake. We then cry out foul play. We then cry out to be saved. Big business, big banks, and big government have leveraged the law to win big. They’ve turned the law against the people, making so much fine print that the average person making a living, living a good life, won’t be able to understand.

As more and more people come out hurt and wounded, blind-sided by The Three Bigs (big business, big banks, big government), the people are the biggest of them all and they demand that they are too big to fail. If government officials want reelection, if bankers and businesses want customers and not riots, they’ll start giving the benefits demanded. This has led to the modern middle class squeeze. The wealthy know how to get breaks, the poor get the benefit, and the middle class ends up paying.[ii]

Many of the American Founding Fathers wrote—and many political scientists before and afterwards also came to a similar conclusion—that once a people realize they can vote themselves benefits the society is not far from destruction.

By Whims or By Law

The law used to be in favor of the people at large. But somewhere in the last 80 years the people have stopped studying the law, paying attention to what the heads of each sector of society are up to, and holding themselves and others to the bounds of the law.  

If we were to divide the United States into two parts, I think a very clean line would be made between those who understand how the law works, and those who don’t. Those who know, often prey on those who don’t.

The law should be the check and balance between the elite and the other classes, but also amongst themselves. Once the law is used as a whimsical tool to aide one business over another, or one group over another, then the firm foundation by which the referee on human nature is founded cracks, slips, and crumbles. Then it becomes every man for himself. It degrades to whose whims can win over the law more than the next man’s. This war of human nature and its whims does not end well.

There must be a better way than for those who can’t cover the bills to become outcasts and/or babysat, for the middle class to be squeezed out of existence and be the main group paying, and for the elite to either sit idly by or to be siphoning off the labor of the middle and lower classes. There must be a better way than the self-destruction of a democratic or whim ruled society.

Simple or Complex?

What I’m about to propose is nothing amazing or outstanding. It’s not revolutionary, neither is it necessarily exciting and cool.

I’ve mentioned these things before in previous blogs and speeches. I’ve heard them mentioned dozens of times in various places by my mentor. I’ve seen these answers pop up in ancient times as well as modern, from the blue side as well as the red side, the poor side as well as the rich. They have been a common universal answer to practically every problem faced in the course of human nature.

The formula for greatness, for success, for freedom has always been simple. Rarely easy, but very simple. There is a lot of stress, fear, and doubt in our society today, many run from one place to another looking for the fix, the solution, the hero to save the day. We go from making one political party dominant to then making the other party dominant, and then back again. This mad scurry and swinging pendulum won’t stop until we take a deep breath and decide to hunker down and do the hard work necessary to enact the simple solutions needed.

Looking to the Future

We must develop in ourselves and spread the skills and principles of entrepreneurship.

We must become voracious readers and deep thinkers in all things great. This is definitely including the fine print of businesses, governments, and banks.

We must build communities. Building support groups, friend groups, trusting groups. There is strength and power in numbers. There is security, aide, and encouragement in great communities. Communities enable, fill gaps, connect, lead, develop, and strengthen empathy; communities

humanize and aggrandize the whole.

Become a student of success, find the simple solutions for yourself. I’ve found them to be as simple as entrepreneurship or intrapreneurship, being a voracious reader and thinker, and building communities.[iii]

The people have been breaking themselves against the law and not understanding what is going on. One or the other will give. What if both give? What if we lead out by using the three vital principles from above and we all come out of this struggle victors, a free society, a nation of opportunity and prosperity? 

Maybe we’re the next founders of the new golden age of America.

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[i] The Financial Matrix by Orrin Woodward

[ii] “The Middle Class Squeeze” by Orrin Woodward

[iii] Freedom Matters by Oliver DeMille (Or 1913)

Midlife Crisis of U.S. Politics?

Most voters think that whichever candidate gets the most votes will take the nomination for their party, but the reality is more complex.

More people are hearing about the “contested convention” that looks likely for the Republican Party. Even the Democratic race has seen a similar shake-up: Sanders often takes the popular vote, but Clinton wins more delegates.

As Ezra Klein from vox.com put it:

“Americans believe their elections are far more democratic than they actually are, and that’s because the most undemocratic institutions—like super delegates and the Electoral College—tend to follow the popular will. But that’s because the popular will is usually clear and easy to follow.

“This is a year, in other words, when voters on both sides will be looking for reasons to doubt the results of their primaries. And they will find plenty of them.”[1]

In a contested convention for the Republican Party most delegates will be able to vote however they would like. This will probably leave their constituents back at home a little upset if they don’t follow the popular vote. Maneuvering has already been taking place to get delegates who are sworn to one candidate by their State’s popular vote, but who would vote for another candidate in case of a contested convention.

Democrats have super delegates who aren’t tied to popular vote and can cast their vote wherever they see fit. They may “pledge” to one candidate during the primaries and this usually coincides with the popular vote of their state, but it doesn’t have to.  

These are just two aspects of the labyrinth of a republican form of government. In other words, a government by delegation or by representation. Every state has its own method of voting for the president, as well as party rules, and how the state itself runs.

Which One?

The question arises here, are we a government of delegation or a government of popular vote? It seems that the people think it’s popular vote—and get confused, annoyed, and angry when thwarted. But the party leaders and government are living by the rules of representation (granted, this is pretty much by default because they are required by law to abide by these rules).

The people are playing Baseball while the delegates are playing Football, and the rules of the two games don’t mix very well. In the overlap, we’re getting major chaos and only one side can prevail.

Before we continue, let’s take a few steps back and take a good look at these two forms of government.

Popular vs Delegate Societies

A pure democracy exists where the majority decides what happens. If 51% of the population wants free health care, then it passes a law and it’s the duty of the officials to make it happen. If 49% wish for slavery, they can’t pass as law because there is no majority.

Things move quickly, and usually vehemently, in a society ruled by solely popular vote. Even Aristotle categorized democracy as a bad form of government. Most of the founding fathers studied many different forms of government as they were putting together the Constitution of the United States. John Adams said:

“Democracy… while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.”

Think of the book Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, or The Scarlett Pimpernel by Emma Orczy, or any history book covering the French Revolution, and you’ll get the picture of what everyone was so worried about when it comes to democracies.

On the other hand, a republican form of government exists where the populace gets together and votes for delegates or representatives who then decide what laws to establish. Instead of the populace voting for everything, their representatives or delegates take the duty to maintain society through necessary law-making and executing those laws. A classic example of this is the Roman Republic or the Roman Senate.

Another great example of this is our modern Presidential election. Every four years we have a national election—which is partly done by popular vote and partly done by a delegated vote, depending on the state—and a great number of citizens rally around this great cause. Once it is over most people hibernate again until something exciting comes along, like the next presidential election.

If you’d like to know more of what the role of the average citizen should be during this “downtime,” dig into these two books Oliver DeMille wrote for this very purpose:

1.       Freedom Matters by Oliver DeMille

2.       The U.S. Constitution and the 196 Indispensable Principles of Freedom by Oliver DeMille

What Is Our Identity?

When the endgame is unknown it’s pretty much impossible to win. If I’m given a golf ball on a soccer field, and I’m told to make the loop, what am I supposed to do? What if I’m not given any instructions? Am I supposed to be on offense? Defense? Maybe play goalie. Is there even supposed to be a goalie? Am I allowed to block, where am I to focus to help score, do I want a high score or a low score? Is there a scoreboard?!

Not knowing what you don’t know can be very frustrating and stressful, leaving you without any hope of making progress. We no longer seem to be a nation with a unifying identity. A similar thing happened in the 1770’s between the colonies and the British, again in the 1850’s-60’s with the Northern States and the Southern States, also during the 1940’s with bigger government deals as well as global community issues. We’re in another such period; over the next few years we will likely see society shift again in major ways.

Will it be a shift towards more opportunity, success, and freedom, or something worse?

What is the Coming Shift?

It might be too soon to tell, but this presidential race might just be an omen of the coming shift; a microcosm of what the future holds for the “United” States of America.

This disconnect and misunderstanding of how the elections actually work could be the perfect setting for a democratic revolt. The populace might demand, despite whatever laws, rules, and constitutional measures are in place, that government listen to the voice of the people. To do what the people vote for and right away. No more of this arguing, debating, and political maneuvering in Congress. Let’s get it done!

The checks, balances, and the democratic republican constitutional form of government we now see hanging by a thread could very well be severed and swing us heavily towards a government by the whims of men.

Now, because of the numbers, I know many who read this will still be asking: but why is this shift a bad thing? Isn’t it bringing us more freedom? Isn’t it getting the people what they have so long desired? No more ridiculous laws or government officials telling us what we can and cannot do; we will take the responsibility in our own hands!

If men were angels this would probably work out much better, but as history has shown again and again this is not the case. Remember the quote by John Adams earlier? Remember your French Revolution history? Logically we might “know” these things, but still! Look at what’s happening today in our society. The people are being held back as corruption in high places seeps further and further.

Who will win this fight? The corrupting upper crust of society, or the beaten down and squished populace?

Or is there a third option?

Another Way

Think of it this way: when societies were ruled by the whims of the masses, the leaders that rose to the top were Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Nero, and the like. Historically these are the type of men, and women, who rise to the top and gain control.

On the flip side of this coin is the rule of the wealthy or privileged. Enter the Feudal Age and the ancient and modern systems of slavery. King Henry the VIII wasn’t elected or put on the throne by a revolution of discontented people, he was born into the position. He was at times just as bad for the people and to the people as the tyrants mentioned before. That’s because these monarchs or oligarchies still rule by the whims of men.

What our Founders did differently—as did every other truly free people in the history of the world—was study freedom deeply, and then build organizations or communities that solved the issues of their time. In other words, they took responsibility to get things done themselves, and they developed their leadership to make sure their ventures and communities would succeed.

Let’s Pay the Price

What every free people in the history of the world did different was set up checks and balances, forms and processes, and auxiliary precautions to guard against these destructive tyrants, both of the general people as well as the individual tyrant and everything between. It’s safer in the long run to establish laws, rules, and forms that are no respecters of persons. This has been the formula for establishing freedom for generations.

This means the rules of the game must be understood and upheld by the masses. If the average citizen doesn’t, then we’ll quickly learn to vote for any and every benefit we can. Or we’ll have the threat of having our representatives and upper crust of society take power and rule with an iron fist—squashing the general populace.

I’m not saying the current forms and systems are perfect, but we should understand why they were established in the first place. If we throw off the bonds that make us free we will quickly spiral into an era of major losses of freedom and opportunity for generations to come.

Let’s pay the price of understanding the rules of the game to maintain freedom. 

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[1] “This presidential campaign is developing a legitimacy problem,” by Ezra Klein Vox.com, April 19, 2016

A Key Principle for Rule by Law

By Ian Cox

Power of the Scoreboard

A lot of power in any field is lost when there isn’t a scoreboard to check against. How do you know who is winning and who is losing? How do you know when to play harder in order to beat the opponent?

Montesquieu says that having a written constitution gives you that scoreboard on government. You can read the constitution and check it against the government’s actions. The Federal Government must abide by Constitutional Law checked against the scoreboard of the written constitution.

This means that to centralize and expand powers in the government is much more limited, it takes longer, and the debate is usually over specific words and clauses, and any major change must be justified—or else blatantly ignored.

The written scoreboard is always there for everyone to review and ensure that the actions of the government and the system of laws are done by law and not the “whims of men” as John Adams said.

Key Concept

There are many powerful and great aspects in the Constitution of the United States that ensure our nation is a nation of law: the intricate system of checks and balances, the division and separation of powers, the amendment process, the very process of ratifying the constitution, among others.

One of these seems especially pertinent in solidifying the culture and principle of “a government of laws” for our nation. It is a process that is often referenced, hard to use, and rarely accomplished. The last time this key principle of “a government of laws” as opposed to a government “by the whims of men” was last used in 1992.

In and of itself the amendment process may not be all that fancy and strategic like the checks and balances or separation of powers, but the principle found here truly is key.

The Principle

The Amendment power teaches us many things. First and foremost, the Constitution as it stands is not perfect, there may be unforeseen needs, there may be more or better constitutional measures that come to the surface as the constitution itself is put into practice over the years.

The ability to change the constitution is separated, checked, and balanced. It leaves the majority of the constitutional writing power to the states, as it was with its original ratification. This again suggests that we are a Federal Republic form of government, several states united for greater success.

Change should not be arbitrary, but a systematic and deeply analyzed process governed by law and not the whims of the people or government officials.

This simple process of amending the constitution can be seen mirrored in every other part of the constitution. This one constitutional power holds in itself most of the vital principles and processes of law, if not all of them, that the American Founders studied in history and wanted to guard against any possible tyranny—or in other words, rule by law and not the whims of men.

The Rare Skill of Succeeding

People who consistently succeed have a secret. Actually, it is more of a skill. True, this is a rare skill, which is why only a few people have it. What is this skill, this rare knowledge that almost always creates consistent success for anyone who applies it?

The rare skill of succeeding starts with having a Great Mentor. Bill Gates’ great mentor was Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs’ great mentor was Andy Grove, and Andrew Carnegie’s great mentor was Thomas Scott. Find a person with the rare skill of succeeding, over and over, and you’ll always find a great mentor helping them in this incredible process.

But to have a great mentor, these leaders first had to engage the skill of finding a great mentor. This is the rare skill. Learn this skill, and your life of successes is assured. Miss out on this skill, and all your hard work will likely only bring minimal results.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s back up and really understand how this works.

Mentors in History

In mythology, Athena, the Greek goddess of warfare, courage, and wisdom, took the form of King Odysseus’ steward named Mentor. Odysseus had been fighting in the Trojan War for 20 years and his wife and home were being bombarded by suitors for the supposed widow. Mentor, or Athena, stepped in and guided Odysseus’ son, Telemachus, in how to “take care of” those pesky suitors. And then challenged him and encouraged him on a grand adventure to discover the fate of his father. Much of the success and greatness achieved by Telemachus was due to his mentor.

In Greek, the word “mentor” means “one who thinks” or “one who admonishes.” Henry Ford is attributed with saying, “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason so few people engage in it.” “Admonish” is no light term—it is to firmly warn or reprimand. Having a mentor means business! The factor that Mentor was a god in disguise in mythology is a pretty big deal. This suggests a real stewardship, authority, and divine intervention tied to seeking out and submitting to a thinking-admonisher.

When I got thinking about this relationship and how long ago it was considered so important, I started looking at other great men and women throughout history and picked the brain of my mentors to see if it really was such a big deal.

What did I discover?

As mentioned before, behind every Great Anybody is a great mentor. Alexander the Great’s great mentor was Aristotle, Thomas Jefferson’s great mentor was George Wythe, and Mahatma Gandhi’s great mentor was Dadabhai Naoroji.

Mentor Mindset

Simply saying, “Yeah, I have a mentor” is not the point. The history of mentoring teaches us:

-          We’re seeking out those wise thinkers who firmly admonish us out of our mediocre ruts and demand greatness from us.

-          Great mentors invest their time in someone who will consistently traverse the path of success.

-          A mentor does not allow a settle-for life.

-          Even through Socrates is considered one of the wisest men, still, he professed that this was only because he knew he was ignorant—a mentor is always progressing himself.

-          A mentor is able to give outside perspective, be emotionally unattached to the situation, teach and expound principles that connect to the scenario, and give challenging assignments to get through slumps and low points.

-          It can be very helpful to seek specific mentoring from someone who has mastered your own trade.

Mentors Have Results

One of my mentors explained it to me this way: In life we’re smack-dab in the middle of a minefield. If we’re trying to make it to a particular point on the other side of this minefield—which might be success, greatness, mission, service, debt-free, flourishing business, etc.—then what might be the fastest way there? Just picking a way and walking won’t get you very far. Using tools to find the mines and mark a safe passage is very dangerous and extremely time-consuming. My mentor then pointed out that following an experienced mentor’s footsteps through the minefield allows us to move very proficiently and effectively.

The benign relationship of Watson and Sherlock Holmes is a great example of following in someone’s footsteps through a minefield. Watson would draw some conclusions that appeared true on the surface, because what else could have explained it? Sherlock admonished Watson not to take the evidence as indisputable proof for what he believed or wanted to be true, but to take the full evidence and facts to tell what the reality is. In other words, deductive reasoning is much more accurate than inductive reasoning. This enabled them to solve so many mysteries—and ultimately, achieve great success.

Mentors Admonish Greatness

Being around, following, and submitting to a great mentor brings us face to face with greatness in every aspect of our lives. We rub shoulders with someone who is great, and they help pull out the greatness in what we read, what we listen to, the ups and downs of our daily life experiences, and the people we come in contact with.

Then, we become great ourselves. And, in time, we can master the rare skill of succeeding. 

Course: Leadership Education for Teens

with Ian Cox

About this Course

When you fall in love with learning, something magical happens in your education. Not only is learning more fun, it also becomes more meaningful, more effective, and even easier! When you have a mentor who loves not only teaching but learning itself—a mentor who’s dedicated to helping you find your inner genius and connect you with your purpose in life—learning to love learning is practically a given.

Ian Cox is just such a mentor. In this class, he will share some of the greatest success stories from history and some of the most important things that made all the difference in their victories, all the while helping students see themselves in what they learn and read. 

The power of a mentor-guided study of the greats is quite possibly unparalleled in terms of actually equipping students with the foundation of a lifelong love affair with learning, and the tools and principles requisite to a truly superb education and a highly successful career in any field.

Ian’s passion for learning can’t help but rub off on anyone who gets around him, so jump in and let’s get ready to rub shoulders with some of the greatest men and women in history!

Click the following link to see the introductory video 

and register today! 

Leadership Education for Teens

Course Reading

AThomas Jefferson Education for Teens by Oliver DeMille and Shannon Brooks

“The Inner Ring” by C.S. Lewis

“The Invitation to the Pain of Learning” by Mortimer Adler

“TJEd Mentoring and Freedom” by Oliver DeMille

“Real Power” by Oliver DeMille

“Leadership Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow” by Ian Cox

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas by Frederick Douglas

“A Message to Garcia” by Elbert Hubbard

“If-“ by Rudyard Kipling

“The Present Crisis” by James Russell Lowell

What’s so Great about the Classics? by Oliver DeMille

“'What About Their Careers?' the Father Asked" by Oliver DeMille

“A World Split Apart” by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Leadership Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Level 5 Leadership was/is practiced by a few great leaders[i], and it in essence means a great leader that develops other leaders who develops leaders. It’s not someone who can just lead people or produce results, but rather somebody who develops other leaders to lead. It’s the frame work of legacy, of lasting influence, and of worldwide impact. Level 5 Leadership is not about followership, but rather developing a community of leaders who lead.

As I read the Bible recently with politics in mind, I kept wondering if Moses was a level 5 leader. Moses probably felt overwhelmed, extremely daunted, and greatly unworthy of the role he was called to play in liberating the children of Israel from the Pharaoh, the world power at the time.

Can you imagine, a lone man, armed with faith alone, come to change the very livelihood and culture of the Egyptians? Your society is built on slavery, your armies are some of the greatest and largest, your education and civilization one of the most advanced, and you come to defy all that in your humble and meager sheep-herding ways, simply proclaiming liberty and peace. 

It’s a wonder Moses wasn’t imprisoned for life or killed on the spot. As incredible, and preparatory, as this was for Moses, I don’t think this is what made him such a great leader of leaders.

Moses was put through a major leadership refiner’s fire. His audience was thousands of people who were not educated, thousands of people who had never been in a position of free leadership, and thousands of people who had never fully taken care of themselves or made decisions for themselves before. They were slaves; they did what they were told to do. This is not exactly the type of people great freedom and business leaders are typically looking for.

Yet, Moses took it on head first. He proceeded with great humility, with incredible patience, and was consistently dedicated to being a servant leader.

Was Moses perfect, according to the accounts we have? No, he wasn’t. But when he received mentoring from his father-in-law to elect and develop leaders among the people, he jumped on it and formed one of the freest forms of government that is still studied today.

The people tried and tested Moses repeatedly, complaining that they would rather be in Egypt to have the comforts and security of slaves than pay the price to become autonomous, to strive for leadership, to obtain freedom. Not only this, but God told Moses that they were unworthy and disobedient people. He said He would destroy them, he would take away the challenge, the pain, and the annoyance of developing these people into a great nation of free leaders.

What an easy scapegoat, right? How often have I wished something miraculous would happen and I would suddenly be successful and wouldn’t have to go through all the painful work to get there! But…where is the “success” in that? If I can paraphrase Patrick Henry, who I think said it very well, what we obtain too cheaply we esteem too lightly.

Being handed a million-dollar home, or expensive car, or whatever, is much much different than working, toiling, and becoming the person who pays for it in cash. This is not to say you don’t have mentors, or miracles from God, or an incredible community of leaders who helps along the way, but rather that I need to pay the price of servant leadership, live the process of the refiner’s fire, and traverse the path of greatness.

How Moses responds to God’s offer to take away the pain reminds me of the great people I’ve studied and heard about from history, and it blows me away every time I think of it. They say, “That would be nice, but I’d rather keep trying. I don’t want to stunt my growth here. To truly accomplish my mission, my passions, my purpose, I know I need to keep growing. So, now is a better time than later.” Moses asks God for another chance, to keep developing his leadership as well as the leadership of his brothers and sisters.

This is level 5 leadership.

It is a powerful thing to be a producer of great leaders.

Such is the essence of world-wide influence. Such is the essence of legacy. Such is the essence of greatness.

Such is the essence of freedom yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Ian Cox

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[i] See: Launching a Leadership Revolution by Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady, Good to Great by Jim Collins, and The 21 Irrefutable Principles of Leadership by John Maxwell

Frederic Bastiat, Foreign Affairs, and the Future of Success

“Across the entire innovation chain, from basic research to commercialization, governments have stepped up with needed investment that the private sector has been too scared to provide. This spending has proved transformative, creating entirely new markets and sectors, including the Internet, nanotechnology, biotechnology, and clean energy.”[1]

In this Foreign Affairs article, Mariana Mazzucato argues that government has the capital and power to take the risks the private sector won’t. The results, as quoted above, are advances and discoveries that we frankly would not want to live without today. The investment and involvement of the government has created whole new markets, thousands of jobs, and significant progress.

Sounds pretty good, right?

Mazzucato doesn’t stop there though. She lists many examples of great success due to government loans when no one else would fund certain research and development such as all the components in an iPhone, or the all-electric car produced by Tesla Motors, as well as the innovating behemoth Google.

She also gives a few examples where it was a financial sink hole for the government. She calls for reform, to make it better and easier for the government to obtain more gain from the success and not just be stuck with the failures. She explained, “it requires fundamentally reconsidering the traditional role of the state in the economy.”

This got me thinking.

To fundamentally change the traditional role of the state, what is the “fundamental role” in the first place?

The Black Belt in Freedom mentoring program with Oliver DeMille covers Frederic Bastiat’s power-packed little essay, The Law, where Oliver and Bastiat take this question head on. 

They break it down like this:

In a free society, the proper role of government is to protect life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness. Period. Anything else leads to less freedom.

And that’s the catch.

I’m not saying that Mazzucato is wrong, neither am I arguing that she’s right. But if the fathers and mothers of today, if the business men and women, if the leaders of each sector[2] don’t know how the proposed solutions to the problems we face right now compare to natural law, then freedom will decrease and the generations to come will be less free until they can’t be free—and not being free is unnatural.

When government has to fill in the gaps where other leaders aren’t magnifying their roles in society, it comes at a cost. That cost is almost always a decrease in freedom. If private individuals won’t heed the call to be leaders in society, if we won’t innovate, if we won’t support those who need the help, if we won’t provide opportunity, if we won’t be actively engaged in a good cause—in short, if we won’t fund freedom—government agencies and institutions are more than willing to step in and take that role from us.

But government is force, and it doesn’t relinquish power very easily.  

Besides, how many businesses failed or innovations stalled because governments regulated and taxed at the high rates that gave them access to the money they loaned? How many innovators would have flourished more, earlier or simply done better without such government intervention? There is a reason many private institutions are more afraid to risk nowadays—and that reason is government.

The need for regular people to stand up, to become their own unique type of leader, to immerse themselves into the great conversation is as great as ever in today’s world of rapidly expanding government programs and benefits.

It’s time for people like you and me to dig into the great ideas, to become fluent in our inalienable rights and our inalienable duties, and to understand, live by, and protect natural law in all spheres of society.

Ian Cox

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[1] “The Innovative State” by Mariana Mazzucato Foreign Affairs January/February 2015

[2] Freedom Matters by Oliver DeMille