Nothing is more powerful than an individual acting out of his conscience, thus helping to bring the collective conscience to life. – John F Kennedy

John F Kennedy was always a great believer in the human spirit. No further proof of this is needed than the fact he believed America could start from more or less scratch and put men on the moon in less than ten years. Sure, there were political reasons why he did this, but to believe we could is testament to his belief in what us humans could achieve if we put our minds to it.

I believe in the human spirit, too. While us humans will put up with an awful lot, there comes a time when we will decide something has to be done.

Our current government is an excellent example of that. No one can seriously claim our federal government is serving us well. It is not. We have let it turn into a partisan, fractured and bickering mess, completely unresponsive to anything other than their own self-interest.

We could blame the incumbents, of course, but it’s not their fault. It’s ours for continually tolerating lousy government. Any change must start with us, the governed.

Nothing is more powerful than an individual acting out of his conscience…

An individual acting out of conscience can do a lot. That’s why I am running for Congress from Colodaro’s 3^rd District. Many individuals, however, acting out of conscience can do even more. This is where you come in. Gaylon For Congress needs your support. Together we can make a difference in how our country is governed, but it is not going to happen if we are standing on the sideline.

This will not be easy. One of the things I learned campaigning for the United States Senate in 2014 was the biggest obstacle to getting a vote was human nature: it is human nature to stick with the familiar even when it isn’t serving us well. Us humans, however, have a long history of overcoming ourselves and we must do so now. All of us must act out of conscience.

Friends, our country needs our help. I’ll lead the charge. Let’s go!

Editor’s Note: Gaylon is the Libertarian nominee for Congress from Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District. Hiscampaign website can be found here. Go. Contribute now. Thank you.

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Government will continue to be about as good as concerned and conscientious citizens make it.  – Gerald Ford

Gerald Ford was the 38^th president of the United States, taking over during one of our most difficult times, following the resignation of Richard Nixon. Ford did his work well, bringing stability and respect back to the presidency at a time it was sorely needed. I think history has borne out that his pardon of Nixon was, on the whole, beneficial for our country.

Let’s be honest, right now the American electorate is neither concerned nor conscientious. Nothing illustrates this better than the 2014 midterm elections, when we reelected 96 percent of incumbents to the United States Congress despite the fact Congress had an approval rating of eleven percent. Eleven percent! The local loan shark has higher numbers than that. Plus he keeps the economy going.

It’s common for us Americans to shrug and blame incumbents, the media and lobbyists – all favorite whipping posts for dissatisfied Americans. But we can pass the buck only so much. When push comes to shove, when the time comes for us to fill out our ballots, there isn’t an incumbent or a lobbyist or a reporter in the voting booth or at our kitchen table with us. It’s only us and if we are not happy with our government we have no one to blame because there is no barrier between us and the candidate we want to vote for.

…as concerned and conscientious citizens make it. 

The good news is the government we want is never farther away the next election. Citizen that are as concerned and conscientious as they are participating and demanding are all we need to make our country great again.

There comes a time when we must take responsibility for our own liberty and that time is now. The government we want is there for the taking. All we have to do is go get it.

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What is man but his passion? – Robert Penn Warren

Robert Penn Warren (1905-89) was an American poet and writer and was the poet laureate for the Library of Congress in 1944 and earned three Pulitzer Prizes, one for fiction and two for poetry.

Penn’s thought cuts right to the heart of our human experience. We harp on this seemingly every hour on the hour here at the Thought for the Day: all of us were born with certain talents and ambitions. Individual lives and our collective human experience go infinitely smoother when we are getting the most out of those talents and ambitions.

That we all have talents is one of the earliest lessons we can remember learning. We grew up near Los Angeles and we were taught this both at Emmaus Lutheran School and at the Boys Christian League where we played ball:

Everyone can do something well.

In school there those who were good at science and those who excelled at math and those who where good at English. A disgusting few were good at everything. Personally, we always had a knack for writing and memory work and we were the civics geeks who always knew who their elected leaders were. I was, and still am, one of the worst singers anyone has ever heard.

In sports it was no different. Some could hit a baseball and some could hit a jumper and some could throw the discus. An annoying few, as in the classroom, could do everything well.

The key to a good life is putting what we do well to work for us. If we were meant to fix cars we aren’t going to do anybody any good by trying to design skyscrapers. If we take over the family business because we feel obliged to even if we’d rather do something else, life will be unsatisfactory. If we spend our life mindlessly pursuing money and position when we should really be teaching third graders, the money and position won’t lead to a contended life.

Men’s passions are as numerous as men themselves. What interests others might not interest us. That’s OK. Many spokes lead to the hub of a contented life. The primary aim of our life must be to find the path leads to our hub.

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Thus Dantes who, three months previously, had desired nothing more than liberty, was no longer satisfied with that alone and aspired after riches. – Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

Alexander Dumas and The Count of Monte Cristo certainly need no introduction from me. Dumas, even 140 years after his death, remains a distinguished man of letters and The Count of Monte Cristo remains a brilliant and sometimes profound book. It includes one of the most audacious, simple and brilliant prison escapes in fiction.

Dantes is the main character. At the beginning of the book he is an up-and-coming mariner, however some intrigue amongst some he thought were his friends lands him in jail for a long time. Eventually he escapes and begins to get his revenge on those who conspired against him. He assumes the identity of the Count of Monte Cristo and musters up no small measure of charm, guile and brilliance to pull his mission off.

The above quote explains human nature perfectly. We are seldom content. Dantes was not content with mere liberty after his escape and us humans are good at presuming the grass is greener somewhere else, even if we have a perfectly green lawn in our yard.

If we happen to find ourselves content one day, we aren’t for very long because sooner or later we will be itching for something more. It’s the way the world is built. It’s why early explorers tried to cross the ocean, why we went to the moon and why smartphones allow us to carry the sum of human knowledge in the palm of our hands: it’s human nature to advance, both collectively and individually.

Thus Dantes, who, three months previously, had desired nothing more than liberty, was no longer satisfied…

We must be careful, though. To yield to impulse and chase after something simply because it appears to be bigger and better is folly. There comes a time when we must be content with the effort we’ve put into something and the results we’ve achieved. We must have the wisdom to know the difference between when further effort will yield results and when we are banging our head against the wall.

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