“Lean” is a well known concept in business. The core idea is to maximize customer value while minimising waste. Simply, lean means creating more value for customers with fewer resources.

Let’s apply this to a government…

 

Introduction

We could observe different attempts at reforming a country, and different ideas of the “free country” concept, throughout the history. Democrats, Liberals, Socialists, Conservatives, Republicans, etc. etc. you name it, gave it a go, but somehow there is something confusing about this whole subject that even politicians couldn’t untangle.

Instead of coming up with a new “-ism” I started to strip the subjects of Politics, Economy and Government and tried to understand them in their simplicity. 

 

Purpose

The purpose of a government is probably the main area of confusion. Understanding its simplicity opens the door to a more streamlined, more efficient government. We could call it a Lean Government.

To understand the purpose of a government, why it exists at all, you have to forget everything you know about these subjects. Simply empty your head and start from scratch. 

A country consists of the nation, of its people. If a government acts in the best interest of the country, that is its people, then what does it do? To be able to answer that question let’s see what makes a happy citizen? 

• When they can work and make enough money to support themselves and their families, and they have time and money for their individual goals and hobbies.
• Safety – from invaders, criminals, troublemakers.

And that’s it! People are happy if they have some financial freedom and can live their lives undisturbed. 

So what should a government work on?

• A strong and sustainable economy where people can work and make enough money to support themselves and their families, and reach their goals and fulfil their dreams.
• Provide safety – from invaders, criminals, troublemakers.

And that’s it!

I would like to highlight the concept of sustainability or long term success in this picture, because the above has to be able to continue for centuries. A country will not be shut down or disappear if things don’t work out. When things go wrong, such as during 40 years of communism or a decade of war, life continues but it becomes miserable. We don’t want that, so we have to add the concept of sustainability.

So the purpose of a government could be defined as: Providing a safe and free country, with a sustainable economy (long-term economic success and stability), where citizens can live in peace and accomplish their goals.  

 

Sustainable Economy – Long-Term Success

When we are looking at the big picture of economy we can see that it is financial stability and predictable peace and safety that make an economy successful long-term. Funnily enough the exact same things make people happy.

People and companies do not like sudden changes. They like to be able to predict, plan and make money accordingly. Sudden changes or uncertainties in the future of the country make people stop and wait until they feel the stability again.

So again, the main task of the government is to keep the economy sustainably successful and the country safe for its citizens.

 

Money is Made by Motivated People

You might say providing a strong and stable economy where people make enough money is difficult.

I have been working with people throughout my life and I have observed that they all have certain goals in their lives. I have also observed that as soon as they can see a way of realistically achieve their goals, they miraculously “wake up” and go for it! 

People with a purpose are happy to take on more work, higher responsibilities, they become more creative, build businesses and make the money they need. 

Motivated people do work hard and make money!

Motivated people are the driving force of a good economy!

Propaganda and other ways of manipulating people can not give them a goal. It is their own on a very personal level. But a good government can provide space and freedom, a free country, where they can prosper the way they like. And they will!

A country where people do prosper is a successful country with a sustainably strong and stable economy!

 

Free Country

The concept of a free country is not new. But it needs to be defined, because we don’t want it to develop into an anarchy either.

Unfortunately, a certain amount of people will always become motivated along destructive purposes, if they are allowed to. 

Therefore, a free country will have to be governed and regulated along clearly outlined boundaries, to make it safe from invaders, criminals and troublemakers, and taking action against invaders, criminals and troublemakers, who do cross these boundaries.

But it should be free for everyone else, outlining a simple framework of rules only, where the main course of life is determined by the individual citizen. 

In a free country:

• One can enjoy one’s income without being punished by unreal taxes
• The government does not influence life and business, but where it is necessary it is giving pointers by grants, tax reliefs and initiatives  (as opposed to fines, penalties, high taxes, expensive/impossible licenses)
• Doing an activity requires skill, competence and good results (as opposed to expensive permits, licenses and impossible prerequisites)
• The basic framework of rules is simple, easy to understand and readily available (as opposed to complicated, impossible to understand, contradicting and requiring a lawyer to interpret them)
• Media is informative and entertaining (as opposed to depressing and manipulative)

In such a country trends are determined by healthy competition and the nature of free market. Things evolve naturally, like a game that is fun to play.

 

Some Thoughts about Education

It takes a certain level of skill for a game to be fun. 

Basic education in nearly every country is lacking those skills and basic data that teach kids how to make their own finances work – which is key for any successful life. 

Kids inherently dream big, so let’s teach them “how to fish”. 

Basic education, beyond what it is now, should include:

• Basics of making money (working and producing things that is adding value to something for whoever is going to buy it.) Thinking in terms of creating more value.
• Social skills, professional communication skills and manners. (To get paid people have to get along with those around them, especially those who pay them.)
• Basics of ethics and business ethics. (When agreed to do something then actually doing it. When something changes for some reason making a new agreement that is acceptable to both sides. When causing damage making up for it. Simple things like these.)
• Basics of project management. (Figuring out what smaller steps lead to a larger goal and doing them one by one. Larger projects tend to pay better than small ones.)
• Basics of financial management (Making sure more money is coming in than being spent. The way to have something is planning for it and making the money for it, etc.)

If a country wants strong economy, education should teach kids how to reach their goals and how to make enough money.

As a reminder: A country where people do prosper is a successful country with a sustainably strong and stable economy!

 

Some Thoughts about Taxes

When people are motivated and do know how to make money, do not discourage them by imprudent taxing.

Taking part of one’s income gives one some sort of a frustrated feeling. It doesn’t feel good and it is one of those things that citizens don’t like. Taxes on earnings, such as income taxes and corporate taxes, should be kept low or nonexistent. 

Taxes on expenditures are, interestingly enough, better tolerated. Especially when it is clearly defined what that money buys for the citizen (such as National Insurance pays for hospitals and free health care; council tax pays for free schools, roads, street lighting; etc.) 

The government needs income and the rule of “income has to be higher than the expenses” applies to governments too. But prudent taxing can actually encourage making more money, which results in more income for the government too. 

Taxes can be lowered two ways:

• Encouraging, motivating, teaching individuals and businesses to make more money – and a lower tax percentage will result in the same amount of income for the government
• Lowering percentages because a Lean Government can operate more efficiently from a much smaller budget. 

The more the government sticks to its purpose of “Providing a safe and free country, with a sustainable economy (long-term economic success and stability), where citizens can live in peace and accomplish their goals” the simpler government operations become.  Subsequently, the simpler it operates the less it costs, and the more tax money stays in the citizen’s pockets.

A government is not a business: it’s a public service and as such I am happy to pay for it. But profits should stay with the individual citizen who made it.

 

Lean Government – a Simple Operation

“Lean” is a well known concept in business. The core idea is to maximize customer value while minimizing waste. Simply, lean means creating more value for customers with fewer resources.

A government is a complicated and expensive operation because it does significantly more than what it should, with all kinds of “other purposes” beyond the one below. And it tends to operate in a complicated way with quite a lot of wasted funds.

If we start striping those government activities, services and expenses that do not contribute to “a safe and free country, with a sustainable economy (long-term economic success and stability), where citizens can live in peace and accomplish their goals” we are working towards a Lean Government.

Every government is different but there are certain unnecessary things that you tend to find in almost every country:

• Armed forces. Man kind has been involved in warfare way too much. A country needs some defence against those few who’ve got too much to prove too high up. But that’s about it. What a country really needs is more good diplomats, rather than more aircraft carriers.
• Campaigning, propaganda and all forms of manipulation of public opinion. Politics of most countries do depend on a sort of “media brainwashing”, which by itself contradicts the concept of a free country, not speaking about the huge ongoing expenditure that it takes to make a country believe what the current politics want them to believe. History is full with having wasted public funds for manipulating the country into something only a few wanted and benefited from. 
• Secret services – hell knows how much they spend and for what.

The above are very obvious examples.

Careful examination of any government, and evaluating its activities, resources, procedures, expenditures, sourcing lines etc. against the actual purpose of its existence will probably reveal many more. 

The best, most efficient and most reliable things are SIMPLE!

A Lean Government is a SIMPLE, EFFICIENT and RELIABLE government.

Creating a Lean Government should be done smoothly, carefully, but systematically. Remember, citizens do not like sudden and radical changes. They do like, however, smooth and constant improvements that they can actually feel.

I believe, as we are progressing along and removing everything that does not belong there, the whole country will experience several stages of relief and as an end result a Free Country will be born.