Review and Refresher

Consensus in America continues to be that the country is heading in the wrong direction.  For six months I have been posting behavioral examples of why I think this is and categorizing that behavior to the five key dimensions.  This is a good point to review the basis of the argument.

Behavior has consequences.  We all know that from experience.  One problem is that the link between the two is not always immediate or clear.  A benefit of knowing this is that behavior can be changed to yield more favorable consequences.  Another is that when you deal with behavior, you preclude personal attacks; the behavior, not the person, is the problem.  Finally, thousands of possible actions and decisions can be reduced to a manageable number of categories or dimensions, making it possible to generalize conclusions.  This applies to both the individual and to a society like ours.

Each week I show how the larger problems Americans face today are mostly behavior-based, the accumulated consequences of faulty choices and actions.  By design this behavioral approach bans name-calling and accusing and the other unproductive speech we see from our politicians and interest groups.  This model takes the solution out of the hands of the government and put it back into the hands of the people.  Thus, I am taking no political sides – most attempts by government fail because they lack the understanding this new model provides.

What we have in America today is not a food safety problem or a childhood obesity epidemic or a healthcare crisis or financial meltdown or retirement security crisis or run-away litigation or a failed educational system or a drug problem or too many guns or not enough guns, etc.  What we have are faulty behaviors that can be divided into 5 key dimensions.  Changing our behavior would take us a long way toward solving or beginning to solve nearly all these issues.

Economic Understanding:  We are all connected economically.  As the economy expands everyone benefits to some extent.  When there is waste everyone pays.  There is no magic money tree to provide benefits without future payments due.  Eventually we are all on the hook, and the burden is usually greater on those who can least afford it.

Discipline:  Many things in life are simple to understand but not easy to do.  Dieting is the prime example – eat less, exercise more – but how many keep looking for the easy answer, one that promise big results for little effort?

Responsibility:  Admit failures, pay debts and meet obligations.  It’s about doing the job I signed up for.  Sometimes life in America seems like a buffet line where people fill their own plates and then sit down at the table to complain about the meal.  They claim to be victims and look for someone else to blame – and someone else to bail them out.

Critical Thinking:  Use logic, not feelings to solve problems.  There is difference between facts/evidence on one hand and endorsements /stories on the other.  We waste a lot of time and money on unproven remedies, by following our gut reactions and by trusting celebrity  heros.

Perspective:  When I have perspective, I separate the important from the trivial, the substantial from the artificial.  I don’t profess one set of values then live my life differently.  I put proper emphasis on possessions,  and I practice moderation.

Positive behavior (words, actions, choices) in these categories leads to positive outcomes.  Weak performance will cause the problems and crises to continue to pile up.  Not recognizing the underlying behavioral factors has led us to ineffective solutions, more controversy, larger crises and increasingly uncivil discourse.  I will continue in this blog to present simple, everyday examples from the news and advertising that show symptoms of problems in these dimensions that build into major failures within our society.