The principle of least possible aggression and international and domestic policy-making

My writing has begun to center around a few principles that have applications in a whole host of different social settings...they sound kind of technical in this post, which really isn't my intent...I'm just trying to flesh them out in generalities...

The principle of least possible aggression builds on the work of notable authors like Abraham Maslow and his principles of freedom as the basis for more ideal psychological health, Joseph Nye and his most recent and better focus on soft power to resolve serious issues in international policy-making, freedom and development as principles of sustainable economic growth in the writings of economist Amartya Sen, and the principle of least restrictive environment which are the mainstay of contemporary special education...they are psychological principles based around relationships that promote more ideal functioning to support better relationships and choices between people...

They are based on principles of freedom and equity in relationships...close interpersonal relationships and even more distant relationships between peoples...these principles don't preclude any final outcome for those relationship except as free and equitable people determine for themselves...but it does provide both a value base and a long-term consequential base for governance in nation-states and in organizations...equitable participatory policy-making in all areas of life are both practical ways to promote greater responsiveness in areas of critical and not-so-critical needs in peoples' lives, they are the only way to work through serious problems of responsiveness, like violence, corruption, ethnic and religious tensions, greed, and a whole host of serious social issues that are and will continue to prove intractable without more attention to general issues of freedom and equity, as well as issues of equity, participatory engagement, and least possible aggression...

And when aggression is needed -- for clear self-defense and any other temporary resolution of immediate threat -- the least possible aggression possible is preferred...both as a matter of justice for the sake of free and democratic peoples...but also as a matter of attention to the long term consequences of ignoring the peoples' expressed and unexpressed needs in more free and democratic and less free and democratic societies...

The principles are not idealizations of relationships...

Noone should imagine that principles of least possible aggression will, themselves, resolve serious problems like terrorism and gruesome violence like that at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado...

But they do create the space for those kinds of solutions to be developed, shared, and engaged...

The evidence to warrant their adoption is really too overwhelming to consider really serious alternatives, at this point, I think, except those that build on these and similar principles...which is the basis for my confidence in these ideas...

And the best evidence for these principles is not just the clear failures of alternative means of resolving some the retractable issues that they are meant to help resolve...it is the demonstrated need for adaptation that these kinds of failures create and the demonstrated success of methods that are developed out of the ashes of those failures that validate the general idea...

The commitment to peace amongst parties in Northern Ireland, the quiet and not-so-quiet reforms and adaptations of bureacratic and unresponsive organizations to the needs of public and private consumers, and overall comparisons of social, economic, political, cultural, and overall and individual psychological health in more free and democratic societies with the same indicators in less free and less democratic societies demonstrates the robustness of these principles...

Freedom and democracy are not only values to that make sense...they have aggregate consequences that free and democratic peoples all too often take for granted, creating strife that serves to only revalidate their purpose and centrality in our lives...

And this blog is dedicated both to my exploration of these principles and to share of my life in the spirit of openness and freedom and democracy -- my commitment to show my humanity to the world...

Sound boring?:):):)...I hope not:):):)...There's a lot more to come:):):)...

I gotta go pick up Melissa:):):)...Have a good day everyone:):):)...

Love,
Ben