Navigating the Storms

It is painfully obvious that our nation, once described as the "land of the free and the home of the brave" has become divided. A recent Gallop poll, for example, reveals: "Forty-nine percent of Americans say the state of moral values in the U.S. is 'poor' -- the highest percentage in Gallup's trend on this measure since its inception in 2002. Meanwhile, 37% of U.S. adults say moral values are 'only fair,' and 14% say they are 'excellent' or 'good.' Americans have always viewed the state of U.S. morals more negatively than positively. But these latest figures are the worst to date. In earlier polls on the measure, Americans were about as likely to rate the country's moral standing as only fair as they were to say it was poor. But in 10 of the past 12 annual polls since 2007, Americans have been decidedly more likely to rate it as poor."

Whether the cause of this moral decline is the result of systemic injustice, media bias, political correctness, a disparity in health care, the entrenchment of racism in our culture, or failing immigration policies and their seeming association with the long war on drugs, the depth of these problems and civil unrest now endangers not only the American Dream but the very lives of our citizens.

CRITICAL and TIMELY:

There's no better way to state the significance of Navigating the Storms. 

Each of us knows that conditions in this great nation are deteriorating at an accelerating rate. Its very survival depends upon an informed and God-fearing people, without which it becomes an "also ran" in the saga of mans attempt to elevate the species. Our society becomes as all others—servile and dutiful worker bees, humming about, performing their assigned tasks and making no waves, yielding to the wishes of their masters, the elite who's wisdom supposedly surpasses the masses. 

As Benjamin Franklin once said, "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."

At the heart of the decline is integrity. Ethical practices, whether in business, at home or in Washington, lie at the core of our precarious situation. Without proper conduct and mutual respect, we have little to look forward to but chaos and suffering—which is growing out of control. Amiable intervention is essential—but that interposition must be at the individual level. After all, the only person we truly control is ourselves.  Without self-mastery, without discipline, how can society get back on track and advance upward? Ultimately, we are each responsible for who we are and how we interact with others.

Tom Fairbanks has uncovered the primary reason for business failure and how that discovery also applies to all facets of life, and to the core of our societal blight.

The United States of American can and will be great again, if and when it decides to adopt and practice the Principles of Good Business...

— R.M.H.