2604: A Real American

What does it really mean to be a "real American"? Beyond politics, flags, and slogans, America's Founders envisioned a nation built on self-government, personal responsibility, virtue, and stewardship. Those timeless ideals connect to the everyday choices that shape not only your life, but the future of our communities and country. Freedom isn't sustained by government alone. It's sustained by citizens who choose responsibility, character, and contribution. Want to say “Thanks!” You can buy us a cup of coffee. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lifeblood George’s newest book is available! Get your copy of You’re Money Isn’t the Problem- You Are here: https://amzn.to/4uDYFRz Feeling busy but unfulfilled? The Meaningful Few helps you identify what truly matters, eliminate distractions, and live with intention and clarity. Learn more here: https://www.mymeaningfulfew.com/ Thanks, as always for listening! If you got some value and enjoyed the show, please leave us a review here: ​​https://ratethispodcast.com/lifebloodpodcast You can learn more about us at LifeBlood. Live http://lifeblood.live/, Twitter https://twitter.com/ourlifeblood, LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/lifebloodlive, Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lifeblood.live/, YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNQ9Gc4mMwCHZKUHjbt0-qA and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lifebloodlive or you’d like to be a guest on the show, contact us at contact@LifeBlood. Live. Stay up to date by getting our monthly updates https://george-grombacher.aweb.page. Copyright LifeBlood 2026.

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• 0:45Speaker 01

  Today, millions and millions of Americans are gathering with family and friends and neighbors to celebrate the 4th of July. Perhaps you're going to be doing some grilling, you're going to be setting off some fireworks or watching some fireworks, you're going to be jumping in the pool, or running through the sprinkler, or enjoying a slip and slide, who knows? Maybe you're going to drink some Budweiser or some seltzer, I don't know. But it's going to be awesome. It's going to be awesome. You're going to think about all the important stuff about what it means to be an American,

• 1:28Speaker 01

  or you're just going to relax with friends and family, who knows? There's going to be music on, you're going to be listening to Guns N' Roses, or, you know, Snoop Dogg, or whatever. Waylon Jennings, you're going to be listening to just music, you're going to be listening to patriotic songs. Somewhere along the way, maybe the coolest guy or gal at your party is going to show up wearing a Hulkamania t-shirt, is going to throw on Hulkster's walkout music, and rest in peace Hulkster, he passed away last July, so it's been almost a full year since we lost one of the greats. But you of course remember his walkout music.

• 2:12Speaker 01

  "I'm a real American, fight for the rights of every man." Love that song. Hits every time.

• 2:21Speaker 01

  And you know what, I think that that is, if you've never, if you don't know what I'm talking about, go ahead and treat yourself, uh, go ahead and throw into your favorite search engine or video search, rumble or YouTube or whatever, Hulk Hogan's walkouts and all that good stuff. You walk, watch him walk into the arena, it's always an epic experience and you know, as kids, it was obviously during my formative years that Hulk Hogan was the biggest name and then it just went on for a really long time and he enjoyed a really long career and he died at 71 years old. Anyway, that's not what this is about because I think that there is a much deeper question that is buried in there somewhere and it's this, what does it really mean?

• 3:05Speaker 01

  What does it actually mean to be a real American? What does that mean? Is it where you were born? Does it have anything to do with your political affiliation or who you voted for? Does it matter what kind of car you drive? Does it matter if you put up, fly the flag every morning and take it down every night? Of course not.

• 3:31Speaker 01

  Maybe that has something to do with it, but that does not, that's just kind of scratching the surface. And if you think all the way back, I think that our founders had something far bigger in mind. And they weren't simply trying to create a nation where people enjoyed freedom. They were trying to create a nation and did, where people were capable of living it, of being good stewards of it, of sustaining freedom and carrying it on and on and on for 250 years and then 300 and then 500 and a thousand years. And they've been successful and freedom is an extraordinary thing. It is a very rare thing.

• 4:16Speaker 01

  And when something is rare, we need to value it. When it's scarce, we need to value it. Place a higher value on what it takes to hold on to it. And not just to protect it, but to grow it. And to see it flourish. Because if we're playing some kind of a prevent defense, then we are bound to lose. So we can't just protect it. We must think about what it takes to be a real American and what's required to not only preserve what we have, but to continue growing it. And we, our way of life, gives us opportunities that previous generations could only dream about.

• 4:59Speaker 01

  And people from all over the world, as they are coming to the United States for the World Cup, they're getting to experience firsthand what we sometimes take for granted. If you see something every day, you're bound to start taking it for granted. If you live in Southern California, you're going to take perfect weather for granted. Versus if you're living in a cold weather climate, you really cherish those perfect summer weekend days. So if we are to be good stewards of our democracy, of the freedoms that were given to us and that we're now responsible for,

• 5:44Speaker 01

  that's really what it is. We are all responsible. We are all carrying responsibility and enormous responsibility for the preservation, the proliferation, and the growth of our freedom. Because our founders understood something that we have started to forget. That the Constitution itself, while a visionary and beautiful document, it doesn't magically create free people. What it does is it protects the freedom of people who are capable of governing themselves. It protects the freedom of the people who are capable of governing themselves. And I really want that to sink in because self-government happens.

• 6:31Speaker 01

  Long before, long before any form of government or self-government takes place in Washington, it's gotta take place within me, and it's gotta take place within you. We have to be capable of self-governing ourselves, otherwise, we start to look around and, and we start to hope that somebody else, or something, or someone is gonna come and help us and to save us. We become disenfranchised, we become frustrated, we feel hopeless, and when we get to that point, then we say, "Okay, yeah, it's okay. I'll start to give away

• 7:16Speaker 01

  some of my freedoms if I'm getting something in return, or the promise of something in return." And then you get what's going on in the world today, the United States today, with people looking, kind of flirting with and giving the side-eye to more collectivist approaches. And that is, that very, very, very, very literally slippery slope, where we start to hand away, give away our freedoms and hand them to somebody else. And, over time, what that's gonna result in is a loss of all of our freedoms, and the sad loss

• 7:56Speaker 01

  or destruction of the freest country that's ever existed. And as technology and other things begin and continue to march along, it's gonna be really hard to get those back. So it's incumbent upon us, if you are in fact a freedom-loving person, and that you believe in the promise of the United States, the United States of America, you have to be able to govern yourself. So can you do that? Are you currently successfully and being a good self-governor? Are you somebody who can keep your word? Can you tell the truth when lying would be easier? Can you control your temper? Are you able to delay gratification

• 8:41Speaker 01

  and preference the future over today? Can you get to work even when you're tired and you don't feel like it? Can you contribute more than you are consuming?

• 8:56Speaker 01

  I guess it's a big question of choosing principle over convenience because we are awash with convenience right now. We're being satiated by it. The seduction is, is strong. So can you choose principle over just convenience?

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• 10:12Speaker 01

  John Adams famously warned that our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people and was wholly inadequate for any other. Hmm. That's interesting, isn't it? So whether you agree with every part of that statement or not, the principle is in fact, a principle which makes it timeless. Freedom requires citizens who are willing to govern themselves. So today, we spend an awful lot of time talking about what government should do. The founders probably ask a far different question, which is, what are you doing? Nations are built from the bottom up, not the top down.

• 10:58Speaker 01

  Not the top down, bottom up. One person, one family, one neighborhood, one community at a time. That's why I wholeheartedly believe the deepest social contract isn't between citizens and the government. It's between each of us and our own conscience. Because every day, we're given, we're entrusted with four incredible gifts. Time, attention, energy, money. These are your most valuable resources. How we allocate, how we steward them, that's going to determine the quality of our lives, the strength of our families, the health of our communities, and ultimately, the future of our nation. Every hour you're voting with that.

• 11:41Speaker 01

  Every dollar is casting a ballot. Every decision is a vote. Not just for the future of America, but the future version of you. And that is profoundly important. And that's why, this Fourth of July, I want to make a different kind of invitation, a different kind of plea to you. Not any kind of a political revolution, but a personal revolution. Because the Declaration of Independence wasn't simply a complaint that we made. It was a declaration of a different way. A new path, a new way of living.

• 12:24Speaker 01

  That was backed up by sacrifice. It's backed up by discipline, commitment, courage, and bravery. The signers, they pledged their lives and their fortunes and their sacred honor. They were not asking for an easier life, not by a stretch. They were committing themselves to building a better one. So what if we did the same? Not by fighting another revolution, but by beginning one within ourselves.

• 12:56Speaker 01

  A revolution against convenience, a revolution against drifting through life, a revolution against procrastination, revolution against apathy, against excuses, against distraction, against wasting all the gifts that we've been given, against living somebody else's definition of success. What if this Independence Day became your own declaration of independence? Independence from fear, from procrastination, from resentment, from comparison, from the habits that have been stealing your life a little bit at a time?

• 13:35Speaker 01

  Because no one else can become the person that you are capable of becoming. You are uniquely you and created by God in His image. But there's no, never been, and never will be anybody like you. And that's your responsibility. So here's my challenge. Ask yourself four questions. First, who do I want to become? Not what do I want to own, not the title that I want. Who do I want to be? What kind of spouse? What kind of dad? What kind of friend? What kind of neighbor? What kind of leader? What kind of citizen do you want to be?

• 14:17Speaker 01

  The second, what matters most to that version of you? What are the meaningful few things that must be done in service of becoming that person? Not the BS hundreds of things trying to extract your attention, just the handful of things that are worthy of and deserving of your attention. The priorities that if you consistently honored would absolutely change your life.

• 14:50Speaker 01

  Think about that. For your wellbeing, for your physical health, your mental health, your emotional health. What are three things, the most important three things that you could do, start doing, that would get you to that place? For your family, what are the three biggest, most impactful things that you could do? That's going to get you the family life that you want? For your community, for your work, for your finances? Just pick one to three things. Those are the critical, meaningful few things. And then the third is, what must be done in service of those things that matter the most? What habits do you need to develop and build and put into place? What conversations do you need to have or stop having? What work must be done?

• 15:35Speaker 01

  What sacrifices, what sacrifices must be made? What standards must be put in place and upheld? What commitments do you have to make? And what actions do you need to take? Not someday, today. The fourth, are you actually going to do them? Day after day, week after week, quarter after quarter? That's the challenge. That's what sustainability really is. I think sustainability's been kind of co-opted and beat up as a word, but it needs to be sustainable, which is why it's only need, which is why it should only be a couple of things. Maybe just one thing in each of those areas.

• 16:17Speaker 01

  Being judicious, understanding what matters, what must be done in service of what matters, and then doing it and making sure you can keep doing it. Not by becoming some busy frantic person, but by becoming intentional about how you're allocating those resources based on what you decide matters. And then reviewing on a quarterly basis, every three months, every 90 days, are these still the most important things? Maybe you accomplish them, so we can add new ones then. Evaluate, realign.

• 16:52Speaker 01

  And make sure that your calendar reflects those values to ensure that your most valuable resources are going to the places that actually matter. Little by little, one decision at a time, one day at a time until you wake up. And it's not just something you're doing, it's the person that you've become. And that's how real change happens. That's how families become stronger and communities become healthier. Our nations, our nation, the United States of America, becomes an even freer place. Not because someone else changed, because you changed.

• 17:33Speaker 01

  So this 4th of July, celebrate the freedoms that you have inherited, that you are the beneficiary of. Be grateful for those who came before you. Honor the sacrifices that made this country what it is. But don't stop there. When you wake up on July 5th, begin your own personal revolution. Choose who you want to become, identify what matters most. Align your time, your attention, your energy and your money with those priorities and do what must be done. Then the next day you do it again, and then you do it again. Freedom isn't something that we celebrate once a year. It's something that we steward every single day.

• 18:16Speaker 01

  Maybe that's what it really means to be a real American. Not simply enjoying the blessings of liberty, but becoming the kind of person capable of preserving and proliferating and growing them so that your kids and my kids and their kids can enjoy the same and better. What we're really talking about is honoring the people who came before us. We're standing on the shoulders of giants. We owe them. We owe our future generations. We owe ourselves. We do that, doing your part by doing your best.

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