If I asked you to Google the phrase “you don’t deserve success”, what do you think the results would be?

It’s okay if you don’t actually Google it because I already did it.  Guess what I got for results?  

Things like this:

“Do You Feel As If You Don’t Deserve Your Success?”  Journal of Accountancy.

“Why You Don’t Deserve Any Of Your Success.  At All.”  Medium.  

“10 Ways To Stop Feeling Like You Don’t Deserve Success”. Insider.com.

A lot of bloggers are writing about “imposter syndrome” and the hustle culture.  They preach that you deserve success, and don’t let the imposter inside you tell you that’s not true.

I’m all about the mindset of working hard for your success.  I’m all about pushing yourself to the edge, believing that you can do it if you work hard enough, and pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps.

But do we deserve that success?  Do we deserve the glorious view we see when we finally pull ourselves up over that ledge with our own sweat and blood, or is that glorious view something that was given to us as a gift?

My generation has an issue with entitlement.  We think we deserve everything- our education (both high school and college), our brand-name clothes, our vehicles, our job, our money, our spouse or boy/girlfriend.  We deserve it all. 

Let’s serve it up on a gold platter, shall we?

This mindset, however, is what is killing the American way.  The Founding Fathers understood that natural rights are God-given rights.  But just because God granted us those rights doesn’t mean the Founding Fathers didn’t fight for it and die for those natural rights.

As Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying, “The U.S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it.  You have to catch up with it yourself.”

Want to learn about Benjamin Franklin?  Read more here!

God blesses us with material blessings and happiness and comfort, but we never deserved it in the first place.  We have to work to earn those material gifts, and we should thank Him for blessing us with what we have.

The Importance of Owning Assets

I was talking with a friend earlier this week, and we discussed the number of people who do not own a house or property.  This is especially true of young people.  Most rent an apartment or condo.  While that is not a bad option, especially for a young person or couple starting out in life, renting is not a sustainable option.  Eventually, the renter has put an entire down payment for a house into a rental that won’t improve your life in the long run.

But more than that, when people don’t own anything, they lose their sense of responsibility and begin to think they simply deserve things.

Read More!  Taking Responsibility For Problems… And Fixing Them

Think about it.  A husband and wife who own a modest home in a town with a nice backyard, some maple trees, and manicured landscaping are going to care what happens to that home.  After all, they paid for it, worked on the landscaping, watered the new maple trees, and watched their children play in the yard.

What about the grocer who owns the local grocery store a few blocks down from the happy couple?  This business owner will care what happens in that town.

The guy who owns the lawn mower sales business right outside of town will care what happens to those people in the town and the overall economy.  He needs people to keep buying lawn mowers.

The more assets you own, the more you care.  Why?  Because you have more to lose if a bad situation happens (floods, tornadoes, gas prices, and even wind mills being installed in your field).  

Socialism & Abolishment of Private Property Is Difficult When People Own Assets

This is where socialism and the abolishment of private property becomes a real problem.  Why is it that people protested and stormed the streets of America last year and throughout 2021 without a second thought about the businesses and homes they were destroying? 

Could it be that they didn’t understand the responsibility that comes when you own a business?  If they never owned anything and received benefits from the government, the responsibility of ownership would never even cross their minds.

I’m not saying that everyone who rents an apartment or condo has zero care for other people’s property and businesses.  But you do care more when you own your property.  When people own nothing, it makes it much easier for socialism to make promises of fairness and “equality”.

When people don’t own anything, the idea of property redistribution seems like a better idea.  Hey, I could have a little property, and everyone can have equal amounts of property!  That farmer with 10,000 acres can share a little bit, right?

But it doesn’t work that way. The people who have more property likely worked harder to get that property and work harder to take care of it.  They spread manure on the pastures, they plant and harvest the properties, they plant corn mazes to make money from visitors in the fall.  And that’s just rural people.  Business owners in the cities and investors have a lot to lose if the town’s economy crashes, a factory leaves town, or a riot takes place.

The concept of ownership makes you care about everything, including your entire country.  You care about the economy because it affects your paycheck.   

The person with no skin in the game and no job is likely to care less than the property owner because the government takes care of him.

If you work hard and take care of yourself, you have less trust in the government because you’re not dependent on them.

Wallstreet & Private Property

As of right now, investors are buying up single-family homes across America at an alarming rate.  For instance, in May 2021, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. provided $300 million in credit to a real estate company based out of Washington D.C.  that allows small investors to invest in single-famiy homes (SWFInstitute).

This would seem like a normal occurrence in a capitalistic economy, but this is not good since it creates even higher housing prices than the current price.  This means young couples and families starting out cannot afford a house as easily without a large down payment.  

What does that mean?  It means that more people will be renting, not owning, because they can afford the rent payments easier than they could afford the downpayment on a house.

This is not a good thing for America.  One of Karl Marx’s ten steps to communism (what he called utopia) was to abolish private property.  Private property is actually a biblical concept, with many commandments not to steal, not to covet, and to respect your neighbor’s property lines.  It is natural for people to own, not rent, their dwelling places.  And it creates responsibility both in people’s private lives and in the political arena.

You have to earn respect and earn the things that you wish you had.  The new job, the new car, or the new house.  You have to work to earn those things.  Socialism makes that very hard to do and takes the personal responsibility out of life.