A Nation of Independents or Dependents?
I was recently listening to a great talk by Oliver DeMille titled “The Four Lost American Ideals“. In this lecture Oliver DeMille makes the point that the Founding Fathers set our society up with the idea of having a nation of “independents” or small business owners.
Before the 1900’s it is reported that about 90% of Americans were business owners and now the reality is completely opposite. This “American way” has dramatically disappeared with less that ten percent of the people in our country currently being business owners. “A nation of dependents won’t be free.”
Often the difference between a person that chooses to be independent rather than dependent is the type of education they received. Those who have a received a “Liber” education generally learn how to think for themselves, whereas others are taught what to think.
I wasn’t brought up in a Liber education. During the past 4 years of my life I have drastically changed my paradigm and way of thinking more in line with a Liber education, through my own studies of the Founding Fathers, the proper role of government and the principles of freedom. The studies have also lead me to studying the writings of other great minds such as Napolean Hill, Norman Vincent Peale, James Allen, and others. This paradigm shift gave me the desire to pursue my own interests in business as an Entrepreneur rather than working for someone else the rest of my life. I have made the choice to be an independent rather than a dependent.
It’s not necessarily a bad or good thing to be a dependent or an independent, it’s simply a choice. I also recognize that no one is ever going to be completely independent, even as a business owner I still depend on other individuals and businesses for many things, though as a business owner I enjoy a lot more freedom than I previously did when working for others. One point I’d like to promote is that whether you choose to be a business owner or an employee, realize that it is a choice. You are free to choose your path, you are the creator of your own life and your own happiness.
I recommend a book by Oliver Van DeMille: “A Thomas Jefferson Education“. Also, you can learn more at the George Wythe University website: http://www.gw.edu. George Wythe University is boldly dedicated to building Statesmen using the methods which trained great Statesmen from Joan of Arc to Washington, Jefferson and Adams to Lincoln, Churchill and Gandhi to Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mother Teresa. Oliver DeMille is the founder of George Wythe University.
