No science here; just observation. This writer sees three general mindsets in America: The Warring Mind and the Pure Process Mind  and the Peace Maker Mind. The first two minds are weak and the last is a power mind. Starting with the first two weaklings, the Warring Mind person lives in a complex world that they have divided up into what could be call self-stabilizing binaries.  Because life is fluid rather than binary their binaries have a short relationship to truth before they become sclerotic hinderances. I am talking the “this or that”, “us or them”, “yes or no”, “friend or enemy”, “winner or loser” sort of binary.  The Warring Mind rests on the self-certainty of their binaries and consequently soon must lie to live.  Hence they arbitrarily assign winning and losing values to all their choices.  They keep score and sink their intellects into a swamp of useless timed out binaries.  They need war to force their false binaries into some kind of recognizable shape.  Absent of war and winning, their lives seem to them mostly meaningless. In politics their identity is hinged almost entirely on friends and enemies, winning and losing and any power they can pocket.  Never give these people power when you vote unless you want a war and even then you may not get the war you wanted.

The other weak mind is the Pure Process Mind where, recognizing the fluid nature of reality, the pure tone processors refuse to decide.  They can’t say yes or no.  Why commit when life is always changing?  In meeting rooms these two kinds of mind  (Warring and Process) divide up on the first agenda item and hate each other with great articulation for the rest of the day.  If you are happy with a lot of talk, drama, and pretty much nothing getting done, vote for the processors.  They will never effectively use what ever power they have.

Good as the Powerful Peace Maker Mind

The third mind is the power mind.  Peace is often falsely associated with passiveness.  Peace is built through the good decisions that also recognize the need for the risks of the short term yes or no commitment binary and take those risks. They avoid the warring trap because Peace Makers have an open flexible relationship with life’s feedback loop. The Peace Maker maintains a commitment not to condemn or disrespect the stranger’s agency.  The Peace Maker owns the responsibility for bad decisions and is not dependent on the praise for the good decisions.  The Peace Maker recognizes the fluidity of reality and at the same time the universal needs of community for structured forms of stability. They seem to intuit the necessary structures required to nurture community, express vocation, and for all individuals to become better human beings.  The minimal stable structures necessary to support these critical developmental activities are built and maintained through good decisions. Peace Makers are strong and powerful and their solutions last.  They recognize the importance of power but know to keep their identities separate from their judicious use of significant personal power.  Be powerful.  Be a Peace Maker. That would be good.