Article first published as Presidential Status Quo Bashing on Technorati.

Status quo is getting a lot of bad press these days.  Like President Obama four years ago, Mitt Romney has joined in the status quo bashing.  Seems the phrase ‘status quo’ is supposed to rally all us rebels to join a cause.

• The status quo is bad and must be defended. 
• We must evolve from our lizard brains to break the status quo barrier.
• To be free we must challenge the status quo.

There’s a lot of persuasive marketing hype about status quo. 

Why?

The literal meaning of status quo is really just this:  The state in which.

Think about it for a minute . . . the state in which . . .

There’s nothing bad about that.  Perhaps slick marketing has led us to assume a meaning that fits with a marketing agenda.  With all the rebel hype, it seems that status quo should mean the state in which things are bad and unchanging.

I don’t see it that way

I read the meaning of status quo in the literal sense and then apply it to the law of nature:

The state in which . . . things will either grow or die.

You see, nothing in nature remains the same; all living things are either in a state of growth or death.  That makes the causes we’re encouraged to challenge (and vote against and buy books about) doesn’t even exist.  There’s no need to fight or evolve away from anything—just allow the status quo to be exactly what it is and work with it.

Status Quo Requires:

• Innovation:  “Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.”—Steve Jobs
• Challenge:  “Success is determined by those whom prove the impossible, possible.” –James W. Pence
• Creativity:  “Experimentation leads to serendipity.”—Thomas Leonard
• Support:  "Correction does much, but encouragement does more."  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

How will you maintain the status quo now on November 6?  How will you help to grow our nation?

Related Articles:  Delay Gratification? NO WAY!, No More Dangled Carrots,

Related Tip of the Week:  Awareness, Cinnamon Challenge,

Book worth reading:  Much Ado about Nothing: Theories of Space and Vacuum from the Middle Ages to the Scientific Revolution, by Edward Grant

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