Moving Left and Right, Conservative and Liberals, to a Common Purpose
Problem solving is a way of life for an engineer. Now that I am retired from Intel, I still look for problems to solve.
My latest problem to solve is changing the culture of the USA. That is, finding ways to unite left and right, republicans and democrats, to improve the quality of life in the US. This assumes there are problems, if solved, would benefit both sides. It also assumes that both sides can unite on common problems without losing their identity.
Why am I interested in solving this problem? In short, win-lose or lose-lose contests have never led to better. What is going on in much of today’s culture hides the progress possible with win-win collaboration. What are these projects and how can they be promoted to win support from both the left and the right?
First, what are some examples of win-win projects? If you like the American revolution, one example can be found the paper “Common Sense” by Thomas Paine where he describes common cause with an example of settlers who are on a forested but remote island. They want to settle the land but there is no infrastructure, no towns, no labor pool of builders to tap. And to build a home, they have the raw material, an abundance of trees. But building a log house is not very efficient with only one or even two people.
When a half dozen neighbors agree to build a home for one neighbor, the lifting of heavy logs becomes possible and efficient. All of the community homes are built far better and faster than individuals working alone could achieve. This, for Thomas Paine, was an example of government at its best. A society working together for better. But each free to also pursue their own interest.
A modern-day example of win-win is the story of two neighbors, one democrat, one republican. These neighbors shared common boundary lines and their yards were often used for their children to play games. Often the games of tags, hide and seek and later baseball and football spanned the two yards. This was win-win for those early years. As time went on the neighbors became active in politics. Soon there were competing yard signs advocating their positions.
Each father and mother expressed regret at living next to such impossible and misguided neighbors. They talked at the dinner table of putting up a fence and wondering how to finance the project. Their kids were still friends and they talked among themselves and came up with a plan. Each told their parents that their neighbors were thinking about building a fence. If they shared the cost, it would be easier on the budget. The teens final line: “And, Mom and Dad, if the neighbor was foolish enough to fund what we wanted anyway, why not.” Of course, the fence was built, each family saving thousands. The teens found that the family budget now allowed for the purchase of a car for them. This was a win-win-win-win.
A more recent example of win-win is the building of the internet. Did you know that internet traffic is moved around with equipment owned by many companies and developed by many vendors? These companies pay for the infrastructure and their customers enjoy downloading data from anywhere to anywhere. But the customers of each Internet Service Provider are not aware of the expenses nor affected by the millions of other companies on the internet, except that they can all exchange data. How does that all work? This is crazy. How does anyone make any money with such an open system? It only works because all the countries and all the vendors agree to a win-win building of an internet and cost structure. One internet provider company can start up and provide a service that is connected worldwide. It all works. Another company can quit the industry and the service still works for the rest of the internet.
The internet is perhaps the most extreme example of a win-win project between countries, business, cultures, governments. I suspect that both Republicans and Democrats use the internet and are ok sharing resources so they both benefit.
What hidden win-win projects merit support from both the left and the right?
Clean energy projects offer the USA reduced threats from Middle East terror, a sure path to avoid war in the middle east costing trillions of dollars and a deterrent to Russian nuclear arms race.
On the right there are climate change skeptics. On the left there are folks that are climate change apathetic. You can read why both groups should consider supporting clear energy vehicles without any consideration of climate change at the following link:
https://bob-n-martha-roth.medium.com/common-sense-for-usa-citizens-53aab90c7f7b
Investments in clean energy can also lower home heating bills today, without additional investment. It does require a change in public utility policy, but your home heating and cooling bills could be cut in half. This potential win-win project is outlined at the following link:
https://bob-n-martha-roth.medium.com/can-you-make-money-by-digging-holes-in-your-yard-c0689aaf277c
The examples above do not require big government. They do require grass roots support. Citizens and consumers can simply consider the potential win-win and, if it makes sense for their current situation, take steps to support the project. The steps can be a purchase or just spreading the word about the possible benefits.
Supporting the truth, moving from the propaganda of lies leading to lose-lose positions to a common understanding of what is real will benefit both sides. It also makes room in your mind so you can consider win-win projects. Without this, we cannot benefit from win-win projects. This is tricky. Both left and right will shade information to their favor. This can be lies of omission, or simply the belief that they alone know what is right. My view is we all need an honest reflection on what we advocate and why. Is it opinion, belief, or fact? Not saying that belief is not important, but some of the propaganda on both sides makes accusations vilifying and destroying the innocent while suppressing the possible. I would love to see both conservatives and liberals discuss, among their fellow travelers, why improving this issue would be a win-win for both groups. The following link discusses the issue:
https://bob-n-martha-roth.medium.com/a-new-virus-affects-the-brain-561e698c750d
What is the plan to move win-win projects into broad support?
This is a massive problem. How can we reach citizens in the USA, perhaps 100 million folks on each side and gain a critical mass of support? And, you need to have enough exposure of each win-win project to reach a critical mass of both understanding and top of mind awareness, so enough individuals take action.
Today, a government program promoting win-win projects will likely be ignored by one side or the other depending on who holds political power. However, under republican and democratic rule, the government did promote the dangers of smoking. The program countered lies from the tobacco industry. It also resulted in a 40% reduction of smoking in the USA, saving lives and lowering medical costs. Citizens were free to smoke or not, but at least they knew the risks. I would call that a win-win as both republican and democrats benefited, so did their children.
Today, who can delivery any win-win project to obtain support of say 10% of the left and 10% of the right? How would it be funded?
Here is one possible plan. Empower the youth of America to deliver the message. Let them raise money for schools or youth groups from selling coffee cups or tee shirts with logo’s promoting the concepts and experience interactions with their community, learn from the community and perhaps gain an understanding of civics from a grass roots point of view.
Who am I:
When I was young, 15, Hewlett Packard published a magazine bragging about their new products. One of those inventions was a laser interferometer that let engineers and scientists measure dimensions of objects to an accuracy of one wavelength of light. Measurements smaller than any instrument could reveal in a practical way. The measurements made possible the development of new inventions.
That got me to thinking. Instruments give engineers and scientists sight. Often, they are blind to their subject matter without instruments. So that became my calling, delivering instruments that let those folks see, to see electrical signals that are complex and reveal a flaw hidden in trillions of cycles, show exactly what are the actual communications between microprocessors at speeds above 1,000,000,000 cycles per second or show the electrical behavior of individual signals, captured with full details of flaws, interference, shape, and quality. The instruments made it possible to test and develop electronic products like computers and cell phones, medical equipment like MRI and X rays (also instruments), the internet, faster planes and so on. I wanted to be an engineer who empowered the engineering community.
Now I ask myself, what instruments can be used to improve the USA’s selection and support of projects that can benefit all citizens?
