Intelligent Influence in Politics

Let's get "controversial" for a moment and talk politics - from the perspective of our Intelligent Influence model....

I, Dale G. Caldwell, am one of the few Americans that believe that the Democrats and Republicans in Washington are doing the best job they can. Contrary to popular belief, I feel the problem is not the politicians - but rather the structure of politics in America today.  It is amazing to me that a country that prides itself on the “Free-Market System” is run by a risk-averse, two-party "oligopoly" where major  political money forces one of the parties to support “big corporations” and the other “big government.”

The laws of physics dictate that a sturdy three-legged stool must have three legs of equal length and strength. I submit that the same holds true for politics. We are suffering as a country today because we are missing the third leg of the “political stool.”  In terms of our favorite paradigm, we are experiencing an Intelligent Influence imbalance. Three parties of equal influence would force the kind of political compromise the country needs to thrive in a rapidly changing world.  The weak American economy has exposed the failings of our current political design. We are living in a three-dimensional world where the current two-dimensional political system leads to personal attacks and political stalemates.

The only thing that is good about our struggling political system and weak economy is that this dysfunction provides great insight into the composition of the third leg of the political stool. Third party mobilization efforts have failed historically because they were built around a personality instead of a solid sustainable platform. Surprisingly, few people have noticed that the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street protesters are fighting for many of the same overarching ideals. They are both attempting to re-establish an America where the business and social entrepreneurial spirit, that made America great, trumps the big money politics that has led to record deficits and unemployment. In short, they exist because the current two-party system has limited the influence of independent businesses and nonprofits.

The Tea Party is fighting largely for a country that rewards small business entrepreneurship instead of big unions and government agencies. Occupy Wall Street is fighting for the support of nonprofit/social entrepreneurs instead of welfare for big corporations. Because of party politics, driven by big money contributions, Democratic and Republican politicians are prevented from actively supporting either of these two positions. It is clear that these two groups of angry average citizens are really calling for a third “Pioneer Party” founded on a platform supporting small business and nonprofit innovation.

America’s prosperity and culture of inclusivity was created by people like Steve Jobs who took business risk and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who took social risks. Since most people are employed by small business and nonprofits this new party would advocate for a government that would encourage risk-taking by providing loan guarantees for small businesses and encouraging corporate and government support of nonprofit/social entrepreneurs. These reforms would lead to a renewed focus on local innovation that would lower government deficits, increase employment and support the development of more sustainable solutions to social problems.      

As the iPhone 5 is released this week (with record sales) it is important to recognize that the world is not honoring the late Steve Jobs because he was a billionaire or the former CEO of a large business. He is being honored because he was a pioneer who, like the America of old, transformed the world through innovation. The American people are hungry for the re-emergence of the entrepreneurial spirit through a powerful third party that can break the structural log-jam in Washington.

Small businesses and nonprofits are the key to the economic resurgence of both the United States and the world. If a powerful Pioneer Party does not emerge in countries with dominant two-party political systems, local companies and nonprofits will continue to lose influence until they are totally irrelevant to society.