Introduction to the Governance Mountain
After Faith, the Governance Mountain is of critical importance for human flourishing in the land
The 7 Mind Molding Mountains of Cultural Influence are threaded through every facet of a culture and they influence our minds, behaviors, emotions, desires, expectations, and habits. I conceptualize and order them as:
Faith,
Governance,
Money/Work,
Learning/Education,
Health/Wellness/The Family,
Creativity/The Arts & Entertainment,
Media.
If you haven’t read Intro to the 7 Mountains yet, see that HERE.
Essence
This is NOT about politics—this is about our way of life! I place the Governance Mountain as the second mountain after Faith and call it "Governance" instead of "Politics" because true governance is about so much more than politics or even government institutions.
YOU govern your body, your home, your work, your choices, your path in life. The entire concept of the United States of America works if you largely have a self-governing people. Practices like law enforcement only work if the majority of society is law-abiding, making the law breakers the exception, not the rule. Over time, we'll unpack some of these ideas.
Yes, proper governing is done at an institutional level (that can be in government, business, education, etc.) and that matters, but the more important governing that goes on every single day is an individual's self-governing choices, habits, and practices.
I place it after Faith because what your beliefs are in the Faith mountain largely shapes how you govern yourself and how you believe others should be governed as well. Additionally, the governance policies of any given nation or institution either allow self-governing, human innovation and thriving, resources to blossom, bloom, and flow or not.
We'll unpack how governance concepts have been hijacked and perverted, especially by politics (of all kinds), and my theories around why and how this has happened. Keep in mind that "politics" is all over society, not just in government institutions. There are corporate politics, church politics, government politics, school politics and I surmise that only a select few personalities thrive in the games of politics. I would argue that many people find the game of politics revolting, especially if you've gotten a taste of what it really is.
More Color
The word "politics" has become a nasty word. In a lot of ways, it's defined as a noun, not an adjective. As in, capitol "P," Politics. For a lot of people in the United States if you say the word "politics," people tend to think of the nasty game of blue donkeys and red elephants (maybe a green something-or-other in there) duking it out in a bloody and very nasty Roman Colosseum type environment. Win at all costs.
I hear people say things like, "Oh I don't get involved in politics." Or "I really don't like politics." No kidding. Few do--not the way it's currently played. I know very few people who actually like "politics." It's exhausting and crushes the human spirit. Not only that, it's not sustainable.
For example, if I invited you and your family to join me at a 4th of July Parade, you’d never say, “Oh I don’t get involved in politics.” That would be silly! Fourth of July for many of us is about family, community, hot dogs, parades, days on the lake, and fireworks! How did it get that way? Because we are CELEBRATING as a FAMILY all the GREAT that this nation is. Is she perfect? Uh. No. Far from it. But the IDEAS that were birthed in the form of being WRITTEN down and signed off on, on July 4th are worthy of consistently remembering and celebrating. We have gotten good at celebrating and partying, and really bad at coming together to do the hard work to keep the principles and practices of liberty clean, pure, and at work in our land.
I have come to see that there really are two kinds of people out there: work horses and show ponies. Work horses get stuff done. Show ponies talk about it a lot and prance around looking busy but really, it's all a show--there's very little tangible output from all their efforts. They like the pomp and circumstance but when push comes to shove, they're not really interested in the hard work required behind the scenes to make good things happen for everyone. How can you tell the difference? By the crop they produce.
I believe there's a place and a role for both the ponies and the horses in society. The problem becomes when you're out of balance. Not good. I know lots of show ponies who know that about themselves and make efforts to sometimes be more of a work horse and vise versa. The whole idea is to know who you are and who you’re not and make efforts to deal with the traps and pits in your own personality.
Under this Governance mountain, we'll explore different governance ideas and concepts from individual governance to local governance entities to federal and state governance bodies. It is my theory that these ideas, concepts and entities have been hijacked and perverted to keep you and me out of it. As long as you and I don't want to touch these issues and topics with a 10-foot pole, then bad actors and well meaning incompetence can have their way with us.
First, we'll unpack how governance issues have been hijacked by the nasty game and smokescreen of politics—there is a big difference between the two and this is a pressing issue for ALL of us to begin to really grasp.
One truly serves the good of the people and results in a thriving people & land, while the other serves itself and its own interests as evidenced by a suffering, divided people. When politics is thriving, lawlessness, corruption, and impotence abounds in the land. When true governance is thriving, self-governing people abound through hard work and their gifts and talents serving themselves and those around them, which produces abundance in the land. One produces oppression, fear, and death; the other produces freedom, love, and life.
Many put the Government or Political Mountain in a different order. I have put it second after Faith because governance ideas and policies affect the people and either put a land on the path to thriving or not. Without limited government and a self-governing people, businesses do not thrive, schools do not thrive, communities do not thrive. Instead bureaucracies thrive and before long, you have entire generations of people who don’t know how to do anything except what they’re told and given from someone else.
So for example, did you know that our founding fathers and original governance leaders were small business owners? Farmers, inventors, everyday working people who took a few years off their normal path to serve the people in this way. It was when politics became Big Business that this nation opened the door to heavy corruption. When thousands of ticky tacky bureaucratic rules mount up to where no one even knows what the rules are anymore, again, corruption abounds. It is death by a thousand paper cuts and the lawyers get rich while the people are confused and suffering.
If our local governance entities are not operating according to the Constitution, everyone suffers. If there is no real justice and enforcement, then crime skyrockets, corruption and societal impotence flourishes, and lawlessness increases.
Need proof of that at work? Starbucks recently closed PROFITABLE stores because lawlessness is abounding in certain areas. How is lawlessness abounding? Because the LOCAL GOVERNANCE OFFICIALS are allowing it to happen and enacting policies that feed and foster it and they are NOT enforcing existing laws. This is NOT hard, it’s just a matter of doing it. Leaders like this either want the chaos or they are wildly incompetent. Either scenario isn’t good.
There is another key piece we have neglected: Citizen Responsibility. As I mentioned, law enforcement and thriving societies only work if the majority of the citizenry is self-governing, law abiding, and willing to hold officials accountable (ALL humans need accountability, it’s why living in community is so important).
When the scales tip, mayhem ensues. On my father’s side, I am a direct descendant of the Mayflower through the Fuller family. Two of 41 people who signed the Mayflower Compact were my family members. The extraordinary part of that Mayflower Compact is that it outlined a self-governing way of living that would be good for the entire colony and they did it. There were two main groups on the Mayflower: the Separatists who were looking for a free place to purely worship their God, and tradesman who were looking to start fresh in the new world. And the two groups often did not agree. However, they were able to create a 200 word document focusing on what they DID agree on and it WORKED. They all signed it and started their journey in the new world.
The Mayflower Compact is thought to be one of the inspirations of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America. Can we get back to the original documents? Can we recover this great nation from the insidious and inside takeover from socialist ideology and Marxists? I wholeheartedly believe we can, but it will take the citizenry rising up, effectively mobilizing with a proper and unified strategy, and staying the course. Half the battle is simply showing up.
Did you know those early colonists tried a socialist structure and quickly abandoned it? They all tried sharing the land and its product. Naturally, those who had a penchant for laziness didn’t work as hard as those with a natural bent toward hard work and discipline. Yet those who didn’t work as hard still got the same yield. This produced learned laziness for one group, and resentment from those who outworked the lazier ones. Certain systems breed certain outputs. WORK was a part of God’s original design because it’s good for humans and requires something out of us that nothing else does.
Those early colonists went to their governor and said, “This isn’t working. It is breeding laziness and resentment. We need to each own our own plot of land and produce what we can produce.” How wonderful is that?!?! Then, those who lean lazier can find a way to make a living that allows them to go buy what the more diligent, disciplined farmer can produce! Maybe that’s a bit of an oversimplification, but you get the idea. The purpose of God-given gifts and abilities is that I go do what only I can do and then make it available to others. As creators made in the image of a Creator God, we can go invent things that are useful and helpful to society. THAT’S how you get to utopia—not through socialism.
Interested in a perspective of how the current United States officials are functioning more like mob bosses than governance servants? Check out Michael Franzese's new book titled, "Mafia Democracy." I got to spend some time with Michael about 10 years ago or so when I was serving in a men’s prison ministry and he was our keynote speaker. Michael is the real deal and a regenerated man who in a past life was a top official for the Colombo crime family and his assessment of the current US government is FASCINATING. Let's just say that he sees more mafia tactics than he does free, proper leadership. Mafia Democracy: How Our Republic Became a Mob Racket.
I wholeheartedly believe that every single issue in our society is fixable. Every one of them. But society as a whole will never totally shift for the better if every individual isn't willing to look inside and deal with their OWN stuff. Hurting people hurt others and then that puts everyone on all kinds of destructive paths that manifest in everything from abusive home environments to abusive government environments and everything in between. My attitude is always, "Okay, so you've got some crap to deal with. Welcome to the human experience. Now let's go deal with it and MOVE ON!" It is never a big deal to deal with the crap, especially right as it comes up. The big deal happens when you refuse to deal with the crap and it piles up to epic proportions and starts spawning and creating systems that hurt the masses. That's essentially where you get Marxism and Fascism. But those are topics for another time!