180-Degree Vision, as developed with the author’s book Leadership: Where Business Ethics Begin, suggests there is a thin line of truth that runs through all the world’s religions.

In order to see that thin line. it is important to develop 180-Degree Vision by building upon our awareness and vision that spontaneously flows into our mental and physical presence.

Every time we open our mouth or respond to our environment, we reveal what is in our heart that takes on positive or negative tendencies that our feeling nature controls or leads as our response .

America principled education within the founding fathers’ formal documents is based in our trust in God and is derived from the Judaeo-Christian tradition.

In particular, God’s development of His initial directives to us within the Old Testament of the bible concerned the delivery of the Ten Commandments.

It is within that summary that we are given the directives as to how to structure and live among each other. The intent within those directives are meant to be learned, nurtured and applied.

The different religions, for example, have a hierarchical relationship focused on awareness at the moment of conception. They are not competitive as man has developed in history.

What is the main cause for this will be covered in the next blog.

It is education taught at home and within our schools that nurtures in our children the knowledge and information needed to demonstrate positive behavior as adults.

It is education that is then reinforced among all adults that should influence the behavior that our founding fathers intended to communicate within our country’s constitution. It is a constitution focused with trust in God and in the perpetration of God’s directives. Those directives were meant for each of us to know and understand, and in turn would influence our behavior.

That is what “American Principled Education” is. It should be taught and communicated within our thoughts, words, and deeds on a daily basis.

An evolution in curriculums began in the following collegiate environments turning programming focus 180 degrees. These five disciplines included education, law, journalism, political science, and philosophy. Most other social science curriculums began to evolve in both content and focus.

An example of this is within the legal tradition where the objective of maintaining balance within law (remember the scales of justice the blindfolded lady holding it?) gave way to the “ends justify the means” as a moral perspective when dealing with truth and justice.

We are now dealing with those generations that have been schooled within these new traditions and are now nurturing the next generations to be taught likewise.

The above is truly a root cause of behavior today in that so many theaters of expression, including the recent November 2024 election and the emotion shown at the presidential presentation to the joint session of congress.

The above has led to the end of American Principled Education. So, what should be done at this point?

So, what is the primary root cause (defined within the book Leadership: Where Business Ethics Begin) of who, what, and when did the current negative political and social begin that has resulted in a very irate and negative Democratic Party as observed at and following the recent presidential join congressional session?

It is due to the lifelong growth, educating, and political development of the Silent Generation (people born between 1925 and 1945), and the Baby Boomer generation (people born between 1946 and 1964). These two groups experienced three major wars during their formative years, as well as the Great Depression by many of the Silent Generation. These individuals were also schooled in an environment lacking in “American Principled Education.”

This resulted in many people wanting something different, and led to a formalization of what became social and political demonstrations.

An issue that developed due to a lack of 180-degree vision by so many is a fear among the demonstrators themselves of being excluded or ostracized from the group. This anxiety was largely caused by enormous personal pressure exerted by higher ups in poorly or unethically run organizations.

This is part of the political groups’ negative impact on personal freedom. Also, the more pressure exerted over an extended period of time results in more stress on an individual overall.

Fear is a powerful negative tendency of the heart, and a great motivator to act, at odds with 180-vision from a leadership perspective.

Based on my most recent blog, just as a corporation can become a very negative and fear-filled environment for people to work in, it has been my experience that the situation can be turned around.

It takes an understanding of the root causes of those components and processes that are responsible for creating and nurturing negativity.

The author covered some of these components in pasts blogs, and in the book Leadership: Where Business Ethics Begin. In most cases, it can usually be tracked to one individual possessing a very unique set of skills and position.

The behavior demonstrated at the recent national joint session of Congress by the minority party indicated that the negative behavior was nurtured by the party’s historical past dogma, and intensity.

Party individuals historically have been personally ostracized by the party, ending individual careers and livelihoods if a direction was not followed in lockstep fashion. That included falsehoods in some cases, as the current legal focus has developed.

It is now believed that the “end justifies the means,” rather than “balance and justice” being the ultimate objective and goal This perspective dates back sixty-plus years within legal training and education at all levels.

That is what was responsible for the behaviors of the party, even its honorable patriots.

So let’s begin with the root causes of this very terrible turn around situation.

Let the author again point out that any negative environment is due to its participants’ lack of 180-degree vision. Additional discussion will follow in the next blog.

As shameful as the behavior of the Democratic members was as they reacted in unison at the president’s very fine report –they cannot be blamed.

They had been threatened by their “powers that be” to protest in such an inappropriate way, or be subjected to being ostracized by their organization’s leadership. They knew that it had become the party’s protocol as they had experienced the treatment of others who had spoken up concerning President Biden’s mental deterioration.

They had been told that not one word should be shared or discussed and that they should confront members who did not follow the party’s direction.

Why that has become the norm will be be covered in the next blog.

With our highly competitive mindset, the need to be right equates to winning. It is also a very positive feeling of accomplishment.

But without 180-degree vision, we will stick to our decisions intensely even though they are wrong.

And when we refuse to budge in our opinions and beliefs, dislike and hatred follow.

Bill Ayers, the former president of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) — once considered a violent socialist/communist influenced organization — and founder of the Weather Underground, has all but eliminated America’s principled education. Through his lifelong commitment to evolving student curriculum focused on students in elementary school (K-12) at the University of Chicago as a tenured PhD (now retired), reaching national prominence in re-designing the school’s curriculum, his influence has been far-reaching. His training as a social activist was colored by Sal Alinsky, beginning in the late 1960s.

Bill Ayers’ impact is a root cause of why we are experiencing current political and social issues. And it was Nikita Khrushchev who ranted about “burying the United States from within.”
 

A root cause of the ability to feel offense and to be offended begins within the negative tendencies of the heart — the ability to define the situations in a narrow definition of appropriateness.

Again, one of the eight negative tendencies of the heart is the ability to define a narrow range of appropriateness, as well as hatred, shame, fear, grief, condemnation, pride of pedigree, racial prejudice. The last one is a narrow definition of appropriateness.

But to be offended, you have to have a standard that you have set that is outside 180-degree vision. Whatever you’re offended by is what your definition has defined it to be. And, consequently, you have shame that manifests out of that.

Out of the development of 180-degree vision comes the ability to ask important “what-if” questions, especially as they relate to what if something happens over time — such as what if you have a perfect wind storm in Southern California that only happens every 20 or 30 years. What-if as it relates to the fire and damage it can do to houses and lives. Which is one of the reasons why objectivity and 180-degree vision is so critical to develop in leadership. In this case, it’s the public sector that probably should have looked a little bit closer at the what-if, and to respond accordingly with the long-term policies and procedures as they relate to the practical and not-so practical activities.