Real American Solutions?

What are the real American solutions; what is real about them, and what are they solving?

First, what needs solving? The problem is that Americans are not satisfied with the direction of the country. This link leads to a graph of weekly Gallup Polls (with the data points below) showing “satisfaction with the way things are going in the U.S.” from 1979 to the present. Unfortunately the graph is split into quintiles and has no 50% line making it hard to see a majority. But it would be reasonable to expect that if at least half the people are satisfied, we are doing OK.

The last time the number on the satisfied column reached even 40% was July 2005. We are going on 15 consecutive years with 60% or more dissatisfied. Herein lies the problem.

Furthermore, what are people dissatisfied with? The list is a familiar one and never seems to change: the obesity epidemic, retirement insecurity, drug and alcohol addiction, teen smoking and vaping, declining educational system and student performance, sleep deprivation, consumer fraud, smartphone addiction, science illiteracy, spiraling healthcare costs, deceptive advertising, media-driven fears and hype, health and financial scams, income inequality, frivolous lawsuits, gun violence, the demonization of big business and many more.

Life continues to grow more complex. Our children must be protected from Internet predators, school shooters, violent videogames, drugs, too much screen time, tobacco, faulty highchairs and car seats, laundry soap and other household chemicals, dangerous toys and insufficiently padded playgrounds. Adults must to be warned about the dangers of ladders, power tools, tobacco, alcohol and texting while driving (or walking). Students’ science and math scores are declining. Americans are eating too much, spending more screen time amusing and competing for attention on social media causing them to become angrier and more isolated and spending more money than they earn. Advertisers seem to invent new problems as quickly as they try to con us into buying their miracle products to cure the old ones.

It’s not just President Trump’s fault. The Gallup graph spans the administrations of eight presidents and 20 congressional elections. We seem to keep asking government to fix it; but if government could fix it, we should see some evidence of at least some progress over the past 40 years. In fact, government has been fighting a “war “on poverty and another on drugs for longer than that with nothing to show for it but a stable poverty level and an opioid epidemic. Government got involved in student loans and mortgages to what end? Government is the wrong American solution!

A careful review of the problems shows that most of them are caused by individual behaviors resulting in poor individual problems. The only reason they become national problems is that they spread and accumulate across society. People eat too much, spend too much and fall for advertising tactics, not because of the government or any other outside agent. They make choices. Make the opposite choice and get the opposite outcome, a favorable outcome.

As evidence of this, twice a week for almost 450 weeks, I have been giving examples of how unwise behavior in one or more of the five key behavioral dimensions leads to unhappy consequences, many of which are listed above. Wiser behavior in those dimensions may not solve everything, but it’s an excellent place to start. We can think and act our way out of most of those bad consequences, which is far superior to sitting back and waiting for someone else to bail us out, especially after seeing few positive results over the last 40 years.

Back to the Basics - A Review

A few days back I learned that the public’s opinion about the direction of the country was very negative.  I wasn't surprised, but my lack of surprise was not politically motivated.  I was not surprised because I recall seeing these numbers for the last 25 years and rarely do a majority of Americans think we are headed in the right direction.  The chart on this page shows that it never happened over the last 5 years – and these polls come out about monthly.  A chart of New York Times polls shows less than half a dozen instances between 1995 and 2008 where more than 50% had a favorable opinion.  Despite changes in Presidents and Congress, Americans consistently believe the country is headed the wrong way.  So why don’t they do something about it?

That’s a good question.  Usually if something hurts, you try to fix it.  Minor irritations may heal on their own, but serious problems get attention.  If it hurts for 25 years or more, I doubt that any sane person would apply the same solution over and over.  But that’s exactly what Americans have done; expecting results from the government or thinking that changing parties will fix things.  It hasn’t worked because the problems are ours to fix.

Is the solution to the obesity epidemic governmental action, as Mayor Bloomberg and others seem to think, or is it eating less and exercising more?  Do we solve education failings with edicts from Washington or when parents take appropriate responsibility, working with teachers not against them to make sure the children learn both academics and respect?  Do we solve poor saving habits and retirement insecurity with bank regulations, consumer protection and AARP-backed legislation or when ordinary Americans begin distinguishing between wants and needs, passing up tempting offers and spending more wisely and frugally?  Our behavior has consequences.  Sometimes the consequences are unpleasant.  As long as we wait for others to solve our problems, the pain will not go away.

This behavioral model takes a personal approach.  By emphasizing behavior, we eliminate name-calling, instead specifying the error without blaming or demeaning.  Our behavioral errors have led to poor outcomes. Americans must take responsibility for the crises of the day and adjust individual behavior, so that the accumulation of consequences doesn’t overwhelm everyone, as it did a few years ago when too many people bought houses they couldn’t afford.  (Blaming greedy bankers won’t keep a similar problem from arising again.  Changing individual choices, actions and expectations will.)

Real solutions come from better actions and decisions in five dimensions.  With discipline we get control of our weight, our finances and correct poor consequences of other bad habits.  With responsibility we are motivated to do what is required of us, not looking for someone else to blame or to pay for our errors.  Using economic understanding, we realize that governments spend tax money taken from us, that corporations spend the money we pay for their products, and that there is no magic money tree, no free lunch – it all gets back to us.  When we use critical thinking, we are not lured by unsubstantiated claims or tricky advertising designed to play on our hopes and emotions.  Critical thinkers hold the media, politicians and advertisers to a higher standard.  Perspective helps us appreciate what we have instead of forever longing for more.  With perspective we practice moderation and learn to lead calmer and more focused lives.  Together these five dimensions outline behavioral changes that can make us better and happier as individuals and as a nation.

Each week in the news, there are dozens of stories about how people miss opportunities to make their lives better, and by extension to start moving the nation in the right direction.  I choose a couple of these examples to illustrate where we are going wrong.  My hope is that readers will develop the skills, the instinct, to recognize these examples and find more on their own.  Politics is not a factor.  If we can slowly change the mindset of America from one of looking to someone else for an answer to one where Americans take responsibility for how their individual choices determine the direction of the country, we can turn it around.  Otherwise, the conclusion must be that it really doesn’t hurt; it’s just people wanting to complain.

What's This Blog All About?

Americans hold the answer to most of today's problems - not government or big business or any other convenient enabler.  Behavior has consequences.  Our behavior is the source of our crises.  Changing our behavior is the way out.  It's good news if you don't mind putting in a little work, but most people don't want to hear it.

One thing has remained constant over the past 30 years, our dissatisfaction with the direction of the country.  You've seen the polls, the statistics and complaints about education, poverty, obesity, retirement insecurity and a long list of woes.  Politicians promote solutions, but things don’t get better.  Meanwhile, political discourse and media reports degenerate into personal attacks and accusations.

Viewing problems from a behavioral standpoint changes the focus.  It's not about the person; it's about the behavior.  If something is going wrong, is it a consequence of what I am doing?  Can I get better results by changing my actions or decisions?  The answer is yes.

Most of the problems that media and politicians anguished over for that past 30 years are situations we have gotten ourselves into by poor choices.  Suddenly we discover that we are not victims!  Things are not beyond our control!  There is no reason to sit around acting helpless, waiting for the government to step in and fix things.  Quite the opposite, many government solutions defy common sense and severely restrict our freedoms.

To fix it, we must change the behavior that keeps digging us in deeper.  Behavior has consequences.  Our errors catch up to us when we are lax in the areas of discipline (knowing when to say “no”), responsibility (admitting when we own a problem), critical thinking (being skeptical about ads and promises), perspective (practicing moderation and distinguishing between wants and needs) and economic understanding (knowing that money spent by governments and corporations comes from us).  I am convinced from decades of observation that our salvation lies in improvement in these five categories.  In short, America is headed in the wrong direction because we, the people, are headed in the wrong direction.

This seems pretty theoretical until you learn to recognize and classify behavior.  Then it’s surprising how much of our misery is self-inflicted.  Every week I'll give a couple of examples of our poor choices, classify them and show how they link to bad outcomes.  I have been doing it for 35 weeks and find new examples all the time.  (Check out a few of my earlier posts.)  Everyone will not agree with all examples or may argue that these failures are simply “human nature.”  It’s true we can’t change human nature, but as our lives become more complex and interconnected and information flow keeps accelerating, the payback for these failings becomes quicker and more serious.  None of us is perfect, but some behavior change is the only real solution, not more laws or promises.  We alone hold the key to better outcomes, to turning the country around, but we must accept it and work together.