[Neurons] 2014 "Neurons" Meta Reflections #36

Mon Sep 8 09:03:18 EDT 2014

From: L. Michael Hall

Meta Reflections 2014 #36

September 9, 2014

Self-Actualization Politics #1

**

THE POLITICS OF SELF-ACTUALIZING

PEOPLE

Suppose we start from the premises of Self-Actualization Psychology that
created Theory Y of leadership and management.  Suppose we start from
Maslow's picture of human beings who not only have lower-level needs as do
the animals, but also have the higher-level needs that distinguishes us as
humans (the theme of the books Unleashed!  Self-Actualization Psychology,
and Unleashing Leadership).  If we start from that place, then what would
our politics be?

Maslow would say first and foremost that human beings innately have the
capacity for self-government.  And what explains this capacity?  Several
sub-capacities, namely, the capacity to learn, to understanding, to make
choices, to be a responsible human being, to care about values, to be
courageous, to discipline oneself, to learn self-leadership, etc. 

Until recently I didn't understand why George Washington and Abraham Lincoln
and others described the beginning of the United States as "an experiment in
self-government."  I had read that phrase in their speeches, but I really
didn't comprehend what they were getting at.  Now after a couple of years of
study in their writings and in political science, I am beginning to
understand.  It goes back to what was occurring back in the eighteen
century.  Back then, there were no democratic countries.  None, zero, nadda.
Instead, every country in the world was a Monarchy or a Dictatorship.   They
created that form of government because it was thought "the people" could
not handle a democracy or a republic.  They would argue, fight, debate,
split, and then go to war and divide into smaller countries.  The thought at
that time was that government is best left to those who are educated and
those who have had experience in government.

The colonists of the first thirteen colonies in the new world had a
different idea.  A new one.  One revived from the ancient Greeks and Romans.
They imagined an experiment wherein a republican form of government would be
set up with sufficient checks and balances so that political and
governmental "power" would be distributed and held accountable to the people
they were representing.  That was the original idea behind the new form of
government created by the Founding Fathers of the United States.  The
question before them was a simple question, yet one that they didn't know
what the answer would be:

           Could a people form a union in which the government would be "of
the people, by the people, and for the people?"

           Could a nation operate by the principle of self-government?

Eighty-seven years later Lincoln answered these questions and proposed a new
question. He said that this was the only country founded on the principle
that men would and could govern themselves.

"[T]he central idea pervading this struggle (the Civil War) is the necessity
that is upon us, of proving that popular government is not an absurdity.
If we fail it will go far to prove the incapability of the people to govern
themselves." (Goodwin, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham
Lincoln, p. 585)

The years since the beginning of the country had demonstrated that
self-government is possible.  We have done that.  But the new question is
this:

           Can a constitutional republic or democracy-a government of the
people and by the people maintain itself and its territorial integrity?

           Can self-government last and be sustained?

I write all of this as a preamble for explaining another idea of the
founding fathers of the American experiment.  They sought to create as small
a government as possible.  They wanted the government to take on as few
responsibilities as possible, and none of the individual responsibilities.
They wanted the new government to be as little paternal and/or socialistic
as possible.  And why?

Using Self-Actualization Psychology, because growing, maturing, and
actualizing humans don't want it.  Self-actualizing people do not want or
need to be dependent on others for doing that they can do.  When people
experience the characteristics of self-actualization and begin living a
self-actualizing lives, they are not content with being taken care of,
giving up their responsibilities for making a living, pursuing visionary
goals, conforming to fit in and avoid standing out from everyone else,
putting up with mediocrity, etc.

The more a government thinks of people as children who need to be taken care
of and themselves as the Parents, the more that government needs people to
stay immature, un-developed, under-developed, irresponsible, and needy.  The
more it offers "goodies" to its people (welfare checks, unemployment checks,
"free" food, transportation, etc.), the more people become dependent on
government, the larger government grows, and the more freedoms are taken
away from people.

What a paternalistic or socialistic kind of government does not handle well
are self-actualizing people.  After all, these are the people who want and
need to be independent, hard working, and ethical.  They want to create
businesses and make money (since that's where governments get its money).
And actually, government needs a portion of the population to be like that,
yet not too many.  Certainly not enough to effect elections.  Such people
are dangerous to governments and politicians who want larger government.
Such people think and ask hard questions and do not buy the status quo what
is politically correct simply because it is popular or in vogue.  They are
independent thinkers who by critical thinking cut through propaganda and the
political spin.

As a Self-Actualization Psychologist, I'm for people learning, growing, and
developing their potentials.  I'm for them becoming entrepreneurs or
intrepreneurs and taking personal responsibility for their own financial
well-being, health well-being, etc.  I'm for them asking hard questions and
exploring the assumptions behind the political spin and holding politicians
accountable to a high moral and ethical stance.  There is just something
wrong about "public servants"-people who want to contribute to the overall
well-fare of a society-getting rich in that service.  I'm all for government
functioning in those areas where individuals cannot handle something and
providing freedom in all those areas where individuals are better equipped
than government.

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

                Neuro-Semantics Executive Director 

                Neuro-Semantics International

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO. 81520 USA                             

                1 970-523-7877 

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