A recent reading of Robert Ringer’s “Restoring the American Dream” got me to thinking about what I really want from a government.  In a vein not unlike Ayn Rand’s thinking, I believe that governmental functions should boil down to three high level elements:

• Provide for the protection of the lives and property of citizens
  
• Provide for a system of arbitrating contractual disputes
  
• Provide for a national defense

These three elements form the foundation of real freedom, although not a free lunch, for all of a government’s citizens.  If this foundation is deemed reasonable, then what steps can we take to rebuild our government upon that foundation?  Ringer suggests eight steps that I believe are worthy of serious debate.

1. Political leaders should be held to one term and only one term.
   
2. Income taxes should be phased out completely for all citizens over the next 25 years or so.
   
3. No new money programs beyond current level replacement spending should be allowed.  Eliminating deficits eliminates the need for money supply inflation.
   
4. Redistribution of wealth functions need to be eliminated; some in the short term and some over the long term.  This includes the elimination of many governmental services which should become part of the non-governmental economy over a sufficiently lengthy window of time.
   
5. Supply and demand should be allowed to rein.
   
6. Most governmental property should be sold and the proceeds used to pay off the national debt.  Did you know that the Government owns approximately 30% of all our Nation’s land including 98% of Alaska and 86% of Nevada?
   
7. Repeal all victim-less crime laws and release and pardon those currently imprisoned for the same.
   
8. Stop interference in the affairs of other nations; including foreign aid spending.

If the above doesn’t stoke some powerful thinking, try these nuggets:

• Property rights and human rights cannot be separated
  
• Capitalism has not failed, rather capitalism burdened by government intervention has failed
  
• Forced equality means a loss of freedom by definition
  
• Equal opportunity and equality are two very different things

To close for now, ponder Thoreau’s words “that government is best which governs not at all”.

Till next time… all the best.

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Atlas Shrugged & Our Current Economy

As a fan of the book "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand I couldn't help but get a chuckle and then an ah-hah moment out of the chart to the right.

I spied it on the Bastiat Society blog and since it fits so well with the current news, I just had to share it here. Be sure to check out the Society's site as well - moto: those who live in freedom should know how freedom works - for an interesting take on things.

For those of you who haven't' yet read the book "Atlas Shrugged" you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy. Yes, it's a 50 year old book. Yes, it's a multi-pound, one thousand plus page book, and yes, it anchors the discourse around the the railroad and steel technologies of it's era. However, the parallels between its world and today's economic reality are just too striking to ignore.

As you can see from the chart, others share the same feeling as sales performance of the book on Amazon.com spikes perfectly with key elements of our government's "solution" to all that ails us.

Enjoy!

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Rick Santelli's Shout Heard 'Round the World

Rick Santelli may be highly frustrated at the moment, (SEE VIDEO) but his concern may be quite valid.

As he said on CNBC from the floor of the Chicago exchange in response to the rapidly growing we'll-bail-out-anyone tidal wave "Cuba used to have mansions and a relatively decent economy. They moved from the individual to the collective. Now they're driving '54 Chevys -- maybe the last great car to come out of Detroit!"

Remember the quote that's often mis-attributed to Thomas Jefferson but actually came from Gerald Ford in 1974 (a another troublesome economic period in our history) “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have."

Will our big and growing government end up taking everything we have?

Today's parallels to Ayn Rand's book "Atlas Shrugged" are both amazing and a bit scary.

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Seven Principles of Sound Public Policy

Found the following seven principles from a February 11th meeting recap of the Bastiat Society where Larry Reed addressed the group in Charleston, SC.

These are great guiding words with which to measure the actions our government is falling over itself to put in motion.

1. Free people are not equal, and equal people are not free.

• Think about this for a minute or two.

2. What is yours, you tend to take care of; what everyone owns, everyone tends to ignore.

• My Mom used to tell me this all the time and I thought it was just here way of getting me to pay for my own wishes!
  

3. Sound economics requires looking at the long run, and considering the effects on more than just a few.

• Instant gratification is so non existent in the long run!
  

4. If you encourage something you get more of it; if you discourage something, you get less of it.

• My dog taught me this lesson.

5. Nobody spends somebody else's money as carefully as he spends his own.

• My teenage sons confirmed this principle.
  

6. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have.

• A quote from Thomas Jefferson
  

7. Liberty makes all the difference in the world.

• Patrick Henry preferred death if liberty were to be withheld.

It’s hard to step back from the swirl the media creates and to which we’re drawn as if moths to a flame. But step back we must in order to find the wherewithal to ask questions of our government’s current actions and to measure those actions against principles such as these seven.

For similar minded comments and essays, check out http://bastiatblog.blogspot.com/.

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Marketing Strategies That Really Work!

Following my first book project "Speaking of Success", I had the opportunity to dive into a new marketing project entitled "Marketing Strategies That Really Work!" This time, I'm a co-author alongside Jay Conrad Levinson of The Guerilla Marketing series of books and Robert Bly the nationally known copywriter and marketer.

As I developed my part of this project, I asked my niece Jordan Hallbauer if she could author a poem specifically to be published with this book. She agreed and the result is really a wonderful combination though you'll have to buy the book to enjoy it for yourself! While this is the first published poem of Jordan's (daughter of Mike and Marie (Gudorf) Hallbauer) I'm certain she will publish many more writings in the future. And since she collaborated on this project, she's earning $5 from each book sold to fund her savings.

As to the "Speaking of Success" project, back at the start of 2006, I had the chance to join a book project that featured renowned authors and speakers Stephen Covey and Brian Tracy. You know Covey from his "7 Habits" series and any of you in sales will instantly recognize Tracy from his many public speaking, books, and sales training programs. Those of you who know me, know that my bookshelves are full of books from the likes of these two. So, when the chance arose to write a chapter with my own ideas as to success for publication alongside these two mentors, I jumped at the chance.

If you order from me directly, I'll send you a first run copy of either or both "Marketing Strategies That Really Work" or "Speaking of Success" with a personal note of thanks. These books retail for $19.95 each. The friend and family price is $15 each including shipping. Think of it as a good way to support the Gudorf.Net web site. e-Mail success@gudorf.net letting me know which book you want and I'll send back payment instructions. If you want to buy a quantity as gifts for business associates or customers, just let me know and we'll work out a quantity discount for you.

Thanks in advance for your support!

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You Have To Make It Easy

One of the most basic of rules in the world of sales and marketing is that you have to make it easy for customers to find you or they’ll readily go elsewhere. This is related to the maxim that says it’s easier and cheaper to keep an existing customer than to find a new one. I was reminded of these sales and marketing “truths” when I found myself reaching the end of what has become my favorite note-taking journal.

Over the past several decades, I have used a variety of different notebooks and journals to capture my daily business note and yet never have I found one I liked better than my current choice. It’s the right size with good quality paper, a durable cover, and it was easy to emboss with my company’s name. The only problem is that nowhere on this wonderful journal can I find any markings resembling a manufacturer’s name or model number, nor the name or phone number of the place I purchased it from. Unfortunately, no matter how much I like this journal and wish to buy more of them, it is simply impossible for me to do so.

What a waste of effort by the manufacturer and the reseller combined. They both paid good money to develop this product and market it to the world but they failed miserably to take the last few steps necessary to make it easy for a customer to remain a customer!

Imagine how much more profitable both the manufacturer’s and reseller’s business would be with one simple little change so as to readily enable repeat purchases.

What little changes should we all make in our own businesses so as to avoid a similar fate?

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TRY

We recently visited Dundas Castle just outside of Edinburgh Scotland. The Dundas Castle dates back to the mid-13th century and rests among 1500 acres of rolling woods and fields bordering the River Forth. In a word: beautiful.

The family that owns and operates the Castle nowadays books more than 100 weddings and events on the glorious Castle grounds.

Fittingly, the occasion of our visit was a dear friend’s wedding and true to form, the event was spectacular; thoroughly enjoyed by all. I even had the experience of wearing a Kilt for the first and very likely last time ever. Yes, this photo is me in the kilt standing next to my 16 year old son who is trying hard not to break out in laughter at dear old Dad in a skirt!

One interesting take away from a tour of the Castle grounds however, was the family motto displayed underneath their coat of arms emblazoned in stone on the front of the Castle. The Dundas Castle’s family motto was simply the word TRY.

Which turns out to be a good motto for the success of a wedding, an experience such as wearing a kilt, or even for building a castle that has stood for more than 700 years.

A good motto acted upon really does stand the test of time.

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