The Center Strikes Back - Kindred Minds Enterprises

WELCOME TO THE CENTER STRIKES BACK!
This is a place for people who want to know why America’s politics are as screwed up as they are and what they can do about it. We’re glad you’re here.

Why do we call this web site, “The Center Strikes Back?”

There are several reasons, but here is an explanation of a prime one.

In Season One of HBO’s hit drama, The Newsroom, there is a scene that goes something like this. The character of Charlie Skinner (played by Sam Waterston) is in one of his frequent debates. Someone is challenging Charlie as to whether the content his fictional news broadcast presents is left leaning or right leaning. Charlie responds that it is neither. “We are after the truth. The Center is the truth and the truth is neither left nor right.”

Like the character of Charlie, we are after the truth, the actual reality of the situations that confront us and how to deal with them in the best way possible. And in that pursuit, we are striking back at the untruths that seem to flow so easily in political discussions today. So, perhaps another way of interpreting the title of our web site and organization is this.

The Truth Strikes Back---against untruth, misinformation and propaganda, as well as the stupidity of how we run our elections. (See the cover page of our Blog.)

Organizational effectiveness and efficiency is neither liberal nor conservative
This whole project started when I took a job selling to several branches of the Federal Government. I was appalled by what I saw. The effectiveness and efficiency of an organization (including government) is not dependent on whether that organization is “liberal” or “conservative”. Effectiveness and efficiency is a function of adherence to watch words like pragmatism, prudence, predictability and the proper application of policy in light of the laws of probability, proportion and percentages. I was only a little over 10 years out of the Army, but I was seeing organizations being run in violation of the watchwords.

So, in response, I wrote a book about how to evaluate government and political issues from a professional management perspective rather than a liberal or a conservative viewpoint.

We think there are two prime reasons for the dysfunction of today’s politics.
The first is too many Americans individually and collectively are operating without a thoughtful, consistent political philosophy towards how our government should operate. Lacking a consistent philosophy is like operating a sailboat without knowing how to set the sail. If you know how to set the sail, then you can make the boat go the direction you want it to go--regardless of which way the wind is blowing. If you don’t know how to set the sail, then you are at the mercy of the wind.

That’s why we published our book Neither Liberal Nor Conservative Be. We provide you a universal non-partisan approach to looking at political issues. You’ll learn timeless and easy to understand concepts like The Monkey Head Approach and the Four Quadrant Analysis and how to use them to analyze an issue to determine the best solution. We will, in short, provide you with a consistent political philosophy.

The second prime reason is the structural and procedural defects in America’s electoral process.

The message this site carries constantly is we voters must understand the true source of our discontent is the way we run our elections. The solution to our discontent is changing the way we do our elections. Check out the fight that's been going on in Maine since 2016 to bring Ranked Choice Voting to the state’s elections. Those opposed to reform at the time strove desperately to defeat Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) because they knew if RCV took root then their ability to dominate as a minority would be forever lost. That fight, while largely won by election results in 2018, continues today as supporters attempt to expand the use of RCV.

We have the behavior and outcomes we have from elected officials because of the system we use to elect them. We will continue to have the same behavior and outcomes so long as we have the current system. If Americans want to change elected officials’ behavior and outcomes, then Americans must change the system first. Maine showed us the way. It’s up to us in the other 49 states to copy what they have achieved.

Our DVD program, Why the Two Party System Isn’t Working Anymore (And What to Do About It) gives you new insights into what the problems are with America’s system and what needs to be done to fix them. Our DVD will teach about things like Third Circle Issues and The Spoiler Scenario. You can see the DVD’s introduction on YouTube.

To keep you up to date, we publish a free Ezine occasionally. The Ezine relates current events to the philosophies and ideas found in our book and DVD. We prepare you to not only be able to have a clearer perspective about the events you’re reading about in the news, but to know what to do to solve these problems in the future.

To be clear, we don’t claim to have the solution to each and every problem this country has. We simply believe the political system we’re using now will not allow us to put the people in place with the freedom to find and implement those solutions. We want to put in place a system that will do those things. We want to show you what we think that system is and how it would work. As Stephen R. Covey once said, “For our form of government to function properly, the people we elect must be able to make deals. To make deals, they must have trust.” Our problem is the system we use to elect our representatives destroys trust before they’re even sworn in. Our system will enable there to be trust.

For a short summary of our three proposals, click here.

The Easy Things You Can Do to Make Things Better
In order to make the changes needed to overcome polarized politics, we need your help. We need you to be able to understand and talk about our ideas and concepts with your friends, neighbors and elected representatives. You’ll be better able to do these things if:

• You’ve read our book and seen our DVD
• You’re familiar with the resources on our web site and Blog and
• You’re a regular reader of our Ezine.

We also need to be able to contact you when we have an initiative underway in your area. That’s one more reason you need to be subscribed to our Ezine and why we ask for your zip code. When you subscribe, your privacy is 100% protected. We do not sell or share the data you give us.

So please join us. Subscribe to our Ezine by Clicking Here.

Order our book or DVD by clicking by clicking the links on the page.

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Together we can restore effective and efficient government to America. A government for all the people, not just a few. A government dedicated to protecting the people from the powerful, not the powerful from the people.