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Inspiring Peak Performance

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Shared Sacrifice

Heroes running into burning buildings, swimming upstream against the surge of humanity seeking to escape the conflagration—such scenes were common as we relived the horror of 9-1-1 over the weekend. It was difficult to view the pictures of the cops and firemen who sacrificed themselves during the attack. Snapshots of ordinary dads and husbands and brothers and sons who displayed extraordinary courage and then paid with the ultimate sacrifice.

A lot can happen in ten years, but interviews of the heroes' families shows the pain remains and I am glad we continue to show respect. It is easy to name heroes when real people step up to confront a sudden, cataclysmic, highly visible crisis that could destroy us. Is that how we name a national crisis—something that can destroy us? If so we'd better wake up because we are faced with a problem that could make 9-1-1 look like a tempest in a teapot.

Out of control government spending, foreign debt, and deficit budgets are going to destroy our beloved country if not checked hard and now! This is a burning building heroes are going to have run into, swimming upstream against the political system that panders for votes by telling people what they want to hear, not the hard truth.

One problem with this emergency is many citizens choose to ignore it. Unlike the burning twin towers—their smoky silhouettes stark against the New York skyline—the national economic catastrophe can be disguised. Not that the tea party and others haven't raised awareness and expanded the national conversation about our collective money problems—they have. But is it enough? There is still huge, influential, controlling portion of our electorate and elected who believe government is the answer. More government, more spending, more control, more rules to assure "fairness."

At the heart of this matter is a battle for our national soul. Who are we? This nation was built on the backs of strong men and women, gathered from around the world, who braved the unknown, lived in hardship, worked, invented, created, worked some more, and sacrificed each day to build something better for their children. All they wanted was the freedom to make dreams come true by the sweat of their brow.

Today some want to change who we are. They believe if someone is born here or manages to get here the country owes them a certain minimum standard of living, a baseline measure of success whether they work a lick—a gift from those who feel guilty about America's success, wealth and power. At the rate we're going they won't feel guilty for long—just a smug satisfaction that they have reduced America to a third-rate, irrelevant nation; an aging star who gets polite applause from the audience, but has no real role on the world stage. If American exceptionalism dies, the whole world will suffer!

The real solution to our economic crisis is not to print or borrow more money. The real solution is to cut government spending and get out of the way of "Yankee Ingenuity" (which applies to all Americans of all races and colors). If you and I have to cut our spending at home, what does it mean? It usually means we have to find ways to reduce our standard of living.

We need to reduce our national standard of living until we get spending under control. This means everyone pays a fair share of taxes, not just half the populace. This means those who need a hand up may not be able to afford two cars and five TVs until they work their way out of a jam. This means we all look for ways to conserve and the wealthy continue to support effective charities (not enablers). It means we secure our borders, enforce our sovereign laws and hire Americans of all nationalities who got here the legal way. It means some of us might have to dig ditches for a time to put bread on the table.

It means we have to hire (vote for) representatives who work for us in Washington who understand America's heart and will battle for her old, noble soul and lead us out of this crisis by telling us, "We can do this if we strive together, but it's going to take shared sacrifice!"

Steve McNeely, CPA, M.B.A. is the partner in charge of HR Consulting at McNeely and McNeely, CPAs. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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