Revealing Assumed Strategic Intentions —

The most powerfully debilitating design flaw of the new Democracy of the United States involved the assumption by the Founders that the world would mostly stay the same and that their new democracy would work as well as it had been designed. The ratification of the United States Constitution did not say anything about how to adapt to the incredible social, political, and economic changes in the decades and centuries ahead. Now that we understand the effects of this assumption, we can also understand how incapable today’s existent political parties have proven themselves to resolve major problems inherent in social evolution, social progress.

The connection between the values that have sustained our species and the organic necessity for the evolution of democracies begs us to ask an important question about the assumptions the American founders made before the Constitution was ratified in 1789 — a question that must be asked of every existing democratic nation whether it is mature, developing, or emerging. “What were the original intentions of the American Revolutionaries for the democratic representative government they formed?”

Remarkably, of the major documents that founded the democracy of the United States, the word “intention” is mentioned only once, which is in the Declaration of Independence.

“We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare,….” [Emphasis added.]

Though the word “intention” is mentioned, nowhere are those intentions explicitly revealed. They were assumed. Given that the founders of the American democracy did not know what the future would bring, it appears that their intention was to simply create a sovereign democratic nation separate from the

English Crown. That having been accomplished, they then set about to design and implement the rudiments of a functional democracy where citizens had “…certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Those were the criteria of the new democracy. Those rights were later expanded and defined within the first ten amendments, which most people know as the Bill of Rights.

Intentions as a Part of Planning —

Progressives have a remarkable opportunity: Because the US does not have a strategic national intention for its existence, Progressives can create one, one that is includes the common interests of all democracies for the centuries ahead. If all political parties would create an intention for their existence in relationship to the future of their respective democratic nation, all political positions would take on a transparency that would reveal whether they are in alignment with the seven innate values of citizens, … or not.

Historically, political intentions have been short-sighted — to beat down and beat out the opposition, take control of the political process, and push ahead their public agenda. If Progressives are to make a lasting difference, then a unified strategic intention for their existence and their progressive agenda will be necessary for their own progress, one that the public understands and appreciates, one that is applicable to all democratic nations. Doing so, Progressives would be writing an agenda that would have the potential to become sustainable for decades and centuries.

If Progressives remain divided in dozens of efforts, then conservatives will have their way, with the past dictating what occurs in the present, compromising the future of everyone. Doing so will require Progressives to make an existential examination for their presence in democratic politics; and require them to develop a clear intention the public can appreciate and incorporate into their thinking.

If Progressives see this as a competition with conservatives, then they will have already lost the battle. To paraphrase Sun Tzu’s suggestions: “Progressives must set the agenda for the strategic future of democratic societies in which conservatives engage Progressives on the terms of a socially sustainable future.” The tactic of Progressives must be to offer conservatives no other choice but to discuss the Progressive strategy of democratic societies moving toward social, political, and economic sustainability.

What is predictable for Progressives, when they begin using the ideology and morality of the values that have sustained our species, is that they will attract the very large middle of the public, who have remained aloof and unorganized against polarized political positions. The middle is not populated with dullards, but with people who have abandoned the quarrelsome political dialogue in favor of focusing on the peace and stability of their personal and family life. Giving the middle a rational, integrated, and believable strategic vision with a value system that supports their families, communities, and nation will surely bring about a much more rational political dialogue.

Only then will the possibility exist that the polarized political ends that have come to define the politics of the United States become counter-balanced. Lacking clear sustaining intentions and legislation has allowed corporations and powerful families, who have no loyalty to any side but the side that embellishes their wealth and power, to grow in ever greater political power and wealth. In such a politically manipulated environment, the undefined middle has been easy prey for the wealthy to bring more political power into their own orbit of control. Strategically, it is UNsustainable for a nation with the potential of a very long future to allow the continuation of polarized positions and the 1%. Strategically, in the perspective of 50 to 250 years, for example, it is not in the best interest of the 1% to allow such undemocratic behavior to continue.

What “Intentions” Are Not —

“There are those who would say that what counts are the intentions behind our thinking, that thought plays only a serving role, helping us achieve our goals but failing to go to the root of the evils in our world. In our political environment, it would seem, we are surrounded on all sides with good intentions. But the nurturing of good intentions is an utterly undemanding mental exercise, while drafting plans to realize those worthy goals is another matter. Moreover, it is far from clear whether "good intentions plus stupidity" or "evil intentions plus intelligence" have wrought more harm in the world. People with good intentions usually have few qualms about pursuing their goals. As a result, incompetence that would otherwise have remained harmless often becomes dangerous, especially as incompetent people with good intentions rarely suffer the qualms of conscience that sometimes inhibit the doings of competent people with bad intentions. The conviction that our intentions are unquestionably good may satisfy the most questionable means. Good intentions, pursued in the name of goodness, then, are no guarantee." ³²

Stage 3 Democracy — Installing a Functional and Socially Sustainable Democratic Society and Government.

If history is a guide to what works and does not work, then Stage 3 of the Development of Democracy must continue to provide several features that were successful to our Stage 2 Democracy, plus those that were not considered in the formation of our Stage 2 Democracy:

Installation of Type II, Learning Organization processes that would include:

• 24/7 Availability for citizen preference-sharing for the development of option development, choice-making, decision-making, and action-implementation strategies;

• A “wisdom library” that contains unbiased, non-partisan, non-position oriented educational materials on social, political, and economic topics of current interest, plus collateral and historic references for these issues and topics concerning past failures and successes;

• Educational and training offered to citizens that socializes and enculturates citizens with the “best practices” of citizenship, plus training to citizens that supports their responsible use of the rights and privileges of living, working, and participating in a democratic society;

• Teaches and trains citizens how to research and prepare responsible legislative bills and proposals that are consistent with the seven values of our species, and the associated morality;

• Teaches and trains citizens how to participate in local community Design and Validation Teams;

• Teaches and trains citizens how to use the Internet to join with other responsible citizens concerning particular social, political, and economic issues; and how to form blocs of informed public opinion;

• Teaches and trains citizens how to prepare a political campaign that supports the social sustainability (best interests) of the nation and its societies;

Characteristics of a Stage 3 Democracy. Where a Stage 2 Democracy provided for equal representation of each citizen, the 3rd Stage increases the quality-value of each citizen’s representation by improving the quality of their participation in their representation.

• Because these suggestions constitute circular systems, they have built-in feedback processes to help users adjust to changing conditions. They are in reality two learning systems. We learn from using them and adjust our social and political decisions by using them. Because they begin at the local level, citizens are able to stay in touch with developments as they occur.

• These systems are ongoing and continual, operating 24/7. One develops and validates designs for social sustainability, publishes its findings, and feeds those findings into the Library’s database of validated findings for social sustainability. On the political side, citizens are able to examine the issues, self-educate themselves about the issues and the consequences of the options, and choose the option they think is best.

• The 3rd Stage offers the potential of collective leadership of citizens as they move toward a sustainable future using their collective intelligence. No leader has the answers for our difficult future, but answers will emerge from citizen’s collective participation.

• These two systems support the old linear public representative form of democracy and offer a “holistic democracy,” meaning that they give equal access to every citizen who wishes to participate from wherever they are at any moment, and engage any topic in the spectrum of public topics and issues.

• The 3rd Stage will be very familiar to Latin citizens, who are strongly oriented to the maintenance and sustainability of family culture, la familia! This is an essential aspect for preparing new generations to participate in the larger family of sustainable communities, and society as a whole.

• It will feel comfortable and empowering to women because it is highly inclusive, nurturing, and seeks to share power. Inclusiveness allows and accepts the exceptions, without succumbing to them, and seeks acceptance of diversity to provide social congruence. It seeks to bring out the best in individuals, and asks them to provide the same for the good of themselves as well as their community. Sustainability is intrinsic to the nurturing, mothering spirit of women, and offers the best of the feminine capacity for empathy, compassion, tolerance, and understanding with the masculine predisposition to take action.

• It is non-traditional. It balances the “left-brained” culture of mainstream American society with the best that “right-brained” Cultural Creatives³³ and women in general have to offer. The values and creative processes should feel very familiar and comfortable to Millennials.
    
• The 3rd Stage provides a cultural gestalt for making contributions to society that are far greater than the sum of individual contributions. It provides for a new phase of social organization for accessing social rewards that are not achievable by any traditional political or social process.

Fortunately, the Internet has made it possible for millions of citizens in technologically developed nations to participate in these innovative democratic processes that provide for ongoing dialogue between themselves and their public executives. Applying these technologies would provide for the same quality of participation for citizens as the king, or today as elected representatives. If a democracy pursues the development of qualitative citizen participation as powerfully as it pursued the quantitative interpretation, that development would create a democratic representative process that has depth, breadth, and longevity.

Conclusions —

Because equality, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are almost identical to the four irreducible primary values of social sustainability — life, the quality of life, growth, and equality — that coincidence provides for the possibility that the United States democracy could last for many more centuries. Yet, that possibility that will not come into existence until the coincidence of those values are recognized and consciously assimilated into the societal-social, political-governmental, and economic-financial organizations of democracies. In this context, a democratic society will not become socially sustainable until the values that have sustained our species are embedded into the decision-making processes of government and other organizations.

Looking back to the era from the 1950s to the present time, it is clearly evident to me that as our Stage 2 Democracy had fulfilled its design parameters by the late 1960s, it was already showing signs of being obsolete. The linear processes that had worked fairly well for over two centuries had become almost fully incapable for addressing the volume and dimension of social, political, and economic issues that needed to be addressed so the country and its society could continue smoothly into the future. As our State 2 democratic linear processes have become less capable of managing the duties of governance, its obsolescence has become more and more evident, signaling the necessity to initiate the 3rd Stage of Democracy.

What is needed, particularly for Progressives in every democratic nation, in order to sustain the greatness of their nation into the future, are the quality-value based interpretations of the words “equal” and “life” in the Declaration. To initiate that evolutionary step in the culture of democracies, those words must be applied just as pragmatically as the first interpretation has been applied. What is needed is a national and international Progressive organizational system that facilitates citizen participation in each democratic nation and among those nations. Doing so will provide many positive developments to sustain democratic nations.

“In a 2nd Stage Democratic Society —
      Responsibility to society is indoctrinated
      by authority, obedience, and discipline.
 

In a 3rd Stage Democratic Society —
     Responsibility to society is enculturated
     by teaching personal power,
     self-discipline, and personal responsibility.”

³²  Dörner, Dietrich 1996. THE LOGIC OF FAILURE, Recognizing and Avoiding Error in Complex Situations, Metropolitan Books, ISBN: 0-201-47948-6. p. 8.
³³  Ray, Paul H. Ph.D., 2000. The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World.