What politics gives us

It is almost foolish to argue directly with culture. To solve a cultural problem within a generation, or even within a lifetime, is a daunting task. Perhaps our challenge, then, is how to use culture to our advantage, to flip a situation.

Perhaps hard, cultural problems can be addressed through our moral foundations, helping us move forward.

An idea must be accepted locally if it is to become a long-term change, but it does not need to begin there. The government can use our moral foundation of authority to help an idea take root. Yet, the path taken by our government is an unsteady, sometimes backwards one.

Out of a frustration with the government, apolitical movements are born. We try to ignore the authority of the government, but we will set up a new authority, as it is our moral nature as people, and nothing has changed.

Being apolitical in itself is not wrong, but it might be helpful to recognize the authority dynamics that are taking place, and what process rules the group. That is, when we form a group, we need to ask ourselves, what is driving the culture? How is the culture defined, and under what authority?

It is important to understand what politics gives us – moral authority – and how it operates, depending on the system of government. I suggest that without a moral authority in place in our groups, nothing can happen.

To explore this idea of authority, think of policies. What do policies do for our companies? They try to communicate what's important to our leaders, what our priorities are. Without them, a smart individual can get by, even flourish, but a group without a policy slowly becomes bogged down with the overhead of getting on the same page, so to speak.

Getting on the same page requires a finding a common authority, whoever or whatever that may be.

To explore this idea further, replace "government" with "religion," above.