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Key political issues

RELATING than DEBATING

DEBATING = How can I convince others to ease my prioritized needs?
RELATING = What is the prioritized need behind each other's stance?

Issue by issue, let's do more

Why debate when you can relate?

Skip guarded debating by appreciating how we experience our needs differently. Both liberals and conservatives experience an opposing priority of needs. Political difference only exist because of a difference in politicized needs no debate can change.

Conflict orientation

We each have a set way to deal or cope with conflicts. Whether with a coworker or with a spouse or with a classmate, or with whomever, you either stay guarded or remain open when confronted by an opposing stance. You either stay guarded to prioritize avoidance of its discomfort or you remain open to addressing underlying needs to resolve the conflict.

 

Unfortunately, popular politics privileges a stay-guarded approach more than enabling a remain-open approach. Such popular politics easily sinks into divisive politics that can keep us trapped in pain of our unresolved politicized needs.

 

Divisive politics

Most of us react to conflict in this conventional remain-guarded way. In the name of debate, we oppose each other. We insist the other side pay attention to our conflict-affected need. We rarely if ever offer to first pay attention to their conflict-affected needs.

 

This selfish approach understandably provokes each other’s defensiveness. Instead of pursuing a solution to the conflict, we easily reinforce it. And perpetuate our political differences. Then typically reinforces the conflict in the name of seeking relief.

 

Such a win-lose approach to political conflict rarely resolves politicized needs. The intent is less to resolve needs and more to relieve discomfort of one’s unresolved needs. The intent is more to ease the winner’s discomfort at the losing side’s expense.

 

Everyone’s level of functioning easily goes down or is kept low. We stay trapped in a grinding pain of our unresolved politicized needs. And prematurely blame each other. This easily benefits elites at the people’s expense.

 

Harmonizing alternative

Need-response may inspire you to respond to conflict in a transconventional selfless way. Instead of demanding respect for your side’s affected needs, you set the higher standard to first respect their conflict-affected needs.

 

By taking this initiative, you take the higher moral ground. You present a model of need-responsiveness for others to take, as the standard for resolving all conflicts.

 

  • Instead of provoking mutual defensiveness that keeps each other closed off from each other, you welcome them to engage you and your needs.

 

  • Instead of seeking relief for the winning side, you pursue whatever it takes for all sides to more freely identify and address their affected needs.

 

  • Instead of habitually avoiding discomfort, you embrace any pain briefly to work through the problem, which more effectively lets you remove the cause of your pain.

 

  • Instead of the usual win-lose approach, you create the foundation for a win-win solution.

  • Instead of shutting down meaningful dialogue, you negotiate how public policies best address each side's affected needs.

 

  • Instead of opposing each other, you oppose anything that gets in the way of each side resolving their needs.

 

  • Instead of evoking anger or rage or hate, you spread more need-respecting love.

 

You will then find everyone’s level of pain rapidly decline. And their level of functioning finally rising. Why debate flexible public policies when you could first relate to each other’s inflexible needs?

 

If you want the other side to understand you, first understand them. Replace debating with relating.

DEBATE - stay divided

Debating imposes a win-lose outcome. It leaves you stuck guarding your vulnerable priority of needs. You can debate how we publicly should respect such needs, but the needs themselves are not open to debate. Needs shall persist whether we disagree with them or not.

RELATE - stay connected

Relating empowers a win-win outcome. It enables you to lower your guard. You connect how well you can respect their priority of needs by how well they respect yours. Not exactly as a quid pro quo, but more as a condition for relating to each other on a general level.

Politics is the art of generalizing how to agreeably address needs in different situations. Liberals and conservatives live largely in different situations, which creates a different priority of needs.

You cannot generalize your solutions to other people's different set of problems. You can win more at politics by relating directly to each other's prioritized needs.

Unify your politics around differing needs. Harmonize your politics to the needs you cannot change. Apply this here to eight key political issues.

Mouse over each issue's Unifying Politics image to find more. Click on each of the next images to go my three LinkedIn Pulse article delving deeper into that political issue. 

Download the free Harmony Politics spreadsheet to personally interact with each of these eight political issues. Contact us to apply this to other political issues. Together, we'll replace anger with love.

IMMIGRATION
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IMMIGRATION

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DEBATE - stay divided
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EASY ENTRY

National boundaries are arbitrary and discriminate mostly against poor people of color.

VETTED ENTRY

Anyone seeking to move here should merit that opportunity in a carefully vetted process.

We rely on borders to protect us from foreign threats.

We fear racial bias fuels most immigra-tion opposition.

RELATE - stay connected
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The more you you appreciate our fear of racial discrimination, the easier we can appreciate your reliance on protective borders.

The more you you appreciate our reliance on protective borders, the easier we can appreciate your fear of racial discrimination.

CLIMATE CHANGE
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CLIMATE CHANGE

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DEBATE - stay divided
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REGULATION

We must protect the earth from our greenhouse gasses before this climate crisis destroys lives.

NATURAL FIX

Nature can correct itself better than our arrogant meddling that risks making things worse.

We need to trust the invisible hand of the economy.

We fear our habitat is being destroyed by selfish interests.

RELATE - stay connected
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The more you appreciate our need to protect fragile habitats, the easier we can understand your need to protect jobs.

The more you understand our need to protect jobs, the easier we can appreciate your need to protect fragile habitats.

GUN SAFETY
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GUN SAFETY

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DEBATE - stay divided
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GUN CONTROL

We must pass stricter gun control to protect our kids from deranged shooters.

GUN RIGHTS

We must not react to violent shooters by punishing all responsible gun owners.

We need our arms to faithfully provide for our own.

We fear our kids could be the next ones shot.

RELATE - stay connected
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The more you see how school shootings traumatize us, the easier we can see your need to protect yourselves with arms.

The more you see our need to protect ourselves with arms, the easier we can see how school shootings traumatize you.

ABORTION
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ABORTION

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DEBATE - stay divided
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PRO-CHOICE

A woman’s body is her right and responsibility, not to be dictated by government interference.

PRO-LIFE

We must give a voice to the voiceless unborn, which could once have been you or me.

We need to protect women’s access to reproductive health.

We fear our own daughters regretting this irreversible act.

RELATE - stay connected
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The more you respect women’s autonomy from social pressures, the easier we can respect your daughters’ pressured decisions.

The more you respect our daughters’ pressured decisions, the easier we can respect women’s autonomy from social pressures.

HEALTHCARE
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HEALTHCARE

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DEBATE - stay divided
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GUARANTEED

Healthcare is a universal right, not a privilege only available to those who can afford it.

MARKETPLACE

Healthcare quality is best when market competition forces each provider to perform their best.

We rely on market competition to create quality healthcare.

We need healthcare first, to contribute economically.

RELATE - stay connected
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The more you respect our need to first improve our poor health, the easier we can respect your need for quality healthcare.

The more you respect our need for quality healthcare, the easier we can respect your need to first improve your poor health.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE
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CRIMINAL JUSTICE

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DEBATE - stay divided
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TRANSFORM

Replace our current biased adversarial process with more accountable outcomes.

REFORM

Support our first responders and court workers tasked to serve and protect us from threats.

We’re tired of being targeted by biased police and courts.

We rely on the criminal justice system to protect us.

RELATE - stay connected
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The more you respect our need to be safe from a biased system, the easier we can respect your need to be kept safe from threats.

The more you respect our need to be kept safe from threats, the easier to respect your need to be safe from a biased system.

ECONOMY
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ECONOMY

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DEBATE - stay divided
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MORE REGULATED

Capitalism brings out our worst selfish elements, denying re-sources to the less competitive.

LESS REGULATED

Socialism brings out our worst collectivist tendencies, making us all equally poor.

We rely on govern-ment to force busi-nesses to play fair.

We rely on a free market to produce what we use.

RELATE - stay connected
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The more you see our need to be free from market exploitation, the easier we can see your need for a productive economy.

The more you see our need for a productive economy, the easier we can see your need to be free from market exploitation.

RACISM
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RACISM

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DEBATE - stay divided
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COMMON SYSTEMIC

Racial bias is baked into our institutions, affecting us in ways not easy to peg down.

RARE PERSONAL

Judging people by skin color is mostly a thing of the past, and could cost one their career.

We daily endure less visible forms or racial discrimination.

We risk your bias of accusing our careless slights as racist.

RELATE - stay connected
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The more you recognize how systems racially exclude us, the easier we can recognize how claiming racism enflames bias.

The more you recognize how claiming racism enflames bias, the easier we can recognize how systems racially exclude you.

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HP download

Unifying Politics to Harmony Politics

Harmony Politics puts Unifying Politics into action. Download the free Harmony Politics spreadsheet tool to see how our different priority of needs shapes our politics. See how this creates an inward psychosocial orientation we express outwardly as politics.

See how Harmony Politics demonstrates we each experience a psychosocial orientation.

  • See how left leaning liberals express a WIDE orientation.

  • See how right leaning conservatives express a DEEP orientation.

Discover a range or orientations from the far-left to the far-right. Let go of the debunked idea that politics stems from carefully reasoned arguments for what is best for all. Let each other be vulnerably honest about our range of differing needs.

See how this plays out in these eight key political issue. For each of these issues,

  • turn arguing into listening,

  • turn rejecting into affirming, and

  • turn demanding into offering.

In short, turn hate into love, one issue at a time. If you don’t, who will?

other issues

Value Politics 

Value Relating Consulting can help you apply Unifying Politics or apply Harmony Politics to any political issue of your choosing. We offer Value Politics to help you turn any divisive political issue into opportunities to connect better with one another.

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