{"id":274430,"date":"2024-09-23T12:00:58","date_gmt":"2024-09-23T11:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=274430"},"modified":"2024-09-21T04:09:45","modified_gmt":"2024-09-21T03:09:45","slug":"a-political-maturity-scale-off-the-right-left-axis-and-outside-the-boxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/09\/a-political-maturity-scale-off-the-right-left-axis-and-outside-the-boxes\/","title":{"rendered":"A Political Maturity Scale: Off the Right\/Left Axis and Outside the Boxes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is Going to War Politically Immature?<\/em><\/p>\n

“The world we have made, as a result of the level of thinking we have done thus far, creates problems we cannot solve at the same level of thinking at which we created them.”\u00a0 –<\/em>– Albert Einstein<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Our \u201cMalignant Spiral of Hostile Interaction<\/a>\u201d<\/strong>(Mort Deutsch)<\/p>\n

20 Sep 2024 <\/em>– We are being dragged into simultaneous national and international spirals of escalating hostility. Right\/left polarized US political dynamics fuel a frenzy that provokes mass hysteria domestically which drive momentum in foreign policies that begin, deepen and expand wars that obscenely enrich few although unwanted by most.<\/p>\n

Relentless mutual provocation generates what is known in systems theory as\u00a0positive feedback loops<\/a>. Family therapist Lynn Hoffman called these \u201cdeviation amplifying mutual causal processes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cDeviation amplifying mutual causal processes<\/a>\u00a0reinforce change in either direction, as \u201cwhen a child\u2019s behavior steadily improves with praise or deteriorates with blame\u201d (p. 203).\u00a0Davidson<\/a>\u00a0(1983) also describes how a viable system can be destroyed by feeding back inaccurate and misinformation, as in biased journalism. The nuclear arms race and the escalation of terrorism are examples of destructive positive feedback spirals. Perlman, Diane,\u201d\u00a0Intersubjective Dimensions of Terrorism and Its Transcendence\u201d<\/a>(2002)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I wish to reframe these dualistic destructive dynamics to a dimension of political maturity<\/em> as a way off the right\/left axis and out of the Republican and Democratic boxes.[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Post Partisan \u2013 Not Bipartisan, Trans-partisan or Nonpartisan<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I wrote in\u00a0Imagine There\u2019s No Parties<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The US two-party system fuels simplistic, black-and-white, us\/them, right\/left, dualistic thinking. You agree to live in one of two boxes which automatically pits you against people in the other box. You adopt attitudes, beliefs and policy positions that the party has assigned to your box, with no need to think each one through. You feel you know all there is to know about what people in the other box believe – and you may be right – so there is no need for dialogue.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Although the right\/left axis is very compelling and seems to be a self-evident reality, I find living life within one category opposed to another to be destructive and self-limiting. It produces inevitable, endless conflict with no endgame except destruction. It encourages mindlessness and artificial psychological boundaries that shape and constrain identity and beliefs in ways that influence relationships inside and outside one\u2019s box and can hinder authentic connections and spontaneity.<\/p>\n

Note: Although I do not support Trump, I find RFK, Jr.\u2019s concept of a Unity Party in which people with different political orientations can work together for goals they agree upon. No need for black-and-white, all-or-nothing thinking. I don\u2019t like MAGA but I love MAHA, Make America Healthy Again, and even more I love MAHAHA, Make America Happy and Healthy Again, suggested by none other than my friend, Steve Bhaerman, AKA the Cosmic Comic Swami Beyondananda.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Reframing as Political Maturity<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2003 I was struggling to reframe these categories in a way that was descriptive and operational. I arrived at\u00a0Political Maturity.<\/em>\u00a0I chose it\u00a0over political intelligence<\/em> as more accurate and useful. Intelligent people can be immature. Also, it is possible for people to evolve to become more mature, conscious, and wiser.<\/p>\n

Here is my attempt at a post partisan political maturity scale as it relates to addressing conflict. Hence, PMACS \u2013 The Political Maturity in Addressing Conflict Scale.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I just revised it again and welcome input for changes and additions and ideas for use in research or rating politicians or other applications beyond my skill set.<\/p>\n

Following the scale is my exploration about going to war as politically immature.<\/p>\n

THE POLITICAL MATURITY SCALE: BEYOND RIGHT-LEFT POLITICS\u00a0<\/strong>by Diane Perlman, Ph.D.\u00a0\u00a9\u00a0<\/strong>2003, written around the predictably cataclysmic US led invasion of Iraq, revised 2024<\/p>\n

POLITICAL MATURITY IN ADDRESSING CONFLICT SCALE (PMACS)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Items for<\/strong><\/p>\n