Watching the Vikings win Sunday night made me realize that
our political process has transformed itself into an athletic contest. Our
parties have adopted an attitude of “win at all costs” and “If you’re not with
us on everything, you are against us”. I
am reminded of sailboat racing where the designer will make a boat go one knot
slower because that will make the handicap two knots slower thus winning on
corrected time. It’s called “designing to the rule”, and it’s exactly what our
politicians have become very good at.
It’s common knowledge
that our representatives vote on measures they haven’t read and many couldn’t
understand if they did read. We have
become so obsessed with “winning” and “losing” that we have forgotten that
synergy in interactions can lead to gains for both parties. We are told that business transactions have
winners and losers. In my experience
deals don’t get done when there are losers.
If you are going to lose on a transaction you walk away from it prior to
it being done. Both parties have adopted
divide and conquer strategies, when what we really need is a unite and prosper
strategy.
