THE GAME OF GOVERNMENT

In Neuro-Semantics (as in NLP) one of our governing premises is that where there are problems, the person (or people) is not the problem; if there’s a problem, the frame is the problem. That’s because behind what people do is what they think. And as they think (believe, understand, assume, etc.) so they feel and act. So you are never the problem, what you feel and do are not the problem. Feeling and doing are symptoms of your frames. And because frames govern in this way, that’s why “Winning the Inner Game” is not only an introductory book to this field, it is the basic theme for how to win whatever game you’re playing— whether it is the game of love, of business, of wealth creation, whatever.

All of this holds equally true for the Game of Government. For us—as a group of people—to create a governing system of rules and processes that will enable us all to win, we need to first win the inner game of government. In last week’s post I used Meta-Model questions and wrote about what government is, who it is, what it is for, how it works, etc. In that description, I hope it became clear that when we talk about “government” and “politics,” we are talking human psychology, that is, about how we humans function, operate, interact, and communicate with each other. And all of these symptoms are functions of the frames that we bring to the experience.

So, what do we assume about these semantically loaded terms of government, politics, political parties, etc.? What are the various frames that we hold about these aspects of governance? What are the frames that set the games that we play and those that we want to play? One set of frames about human beings and government creates a Story that goes like this: People are selfish, egotistical, narcissistic, survival and self-protection is their primary concern; they are like animals or little children in being irresponsible, lazy, ego-centric, etc. So you have to control everything that they do; they will not manage it on their own. They need a strong, central government to take care of them. Government should be there to provide all their needs— safety, money, job, house, medicine, insurance, etc.

Another set of frames about human beings and government is very different. These frames describe a completely different Story and it goes like this: People begin life undeveloped and childlike and grow to become disciplined, highly skilled and responsible, they move naturally from dependence to independence to inter-dependence because they are social beings and are made for even higher virtues— as they are all driven by a self-actualization drive to become the best they can become. When this drive is inhibited persons become diminished.

Now in the field of business, Douglas McGregor took Maslow’s psychological paradigm shift to the bright-side of human nature and articulated it in what is now recognized as Theory X and Theory Y of management and leadership. In the fields of business and organization development, this was a radical shift. It moved people from Authoritarian Leaders and Bosses to Facilitative and Visionary Leaders. When we apply this Theory X and Y of government and politics, it invites the same kind of radical paradigm shift from one of believing we need as much government as possible to need as little government as possible.

The old set of frames viewed government as the Organization that will save us from ourselves. And why do we need that? Because we can’t make it on our own: People are too irresponsible, too lazy, too undisciplined. They are like children. So someone who knows better needs to take care of them. Now who can that be? Why “The Government.” So as political children this is actually one of our rights that we are entitled to—we have the right to expect that government will provide everything for us and take care of us as our parents once took care of us. Of course this makes government paternal and controlling. Throughout history this has been the primary Story of politics.

No wonder the opposite set of frames about government is so radical. It is radically positive about human beings in that it views people through the positive psychology of self-actualization: People want to become independent, responsible, and disciplined to make real what is potential within them. People, when healthy and growing, are ethical, caring, and collaborative. This form of government assumes that the best government is the less government and accordingly it gives government a new direction, vision, and purpose: Government is to facilitate self-governance. The best government governs in a way that empowers people to handle the responsibilities of citizenship. It secures the freedom of people so that they can learn how to use freedom of speech, of thinking, of gathering, of uniting, etc. so that they can be an informed and active participants in governing.