Article Series: Achieving Progressive Goals
with Root Cause Analysis
On January 15, 2024 Thwink.org published the first of a series of six articles. The last was published on Feburary 17.
The goal of these articles is to answer the question: Is it possible to take a more effective problem-solving approach to achieving progressive goals?
That was the title of the first article. But one article alone can’t answer a question as deep as that. The rest of the articles answer the question by presenting, in some detail, how a more effective problem-solving approach can be taken by introducing appropriate tools and showing how they can be applied, complete with examples of tangible solutions.
The articles were published on Daily Kos, the largest progressive news and blog site in the US. Daily Kos also engages in political organizing and polling data. The article series was an experiment to see if a large well-established grassroot activist organization would be interested in adopting an analytical approach.
While the articles were written for Daily Kos readers, they apply to all who are sincerely interested in the progress of humanity toward a unifying inspirational vision: the long-term optimization of quality of life for all. The vision is worldwide:
Progressivism is a political philosophy that holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political reform or through government mandates. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, technology, and social organization.
Adherents hold that progressivism has universal application and endeavor to spread this idea to human societies everywhere. Progressivism arose during the Age of Enlightenment [aka the Age of Reason] out of the belief that civility in Europe was improving due to the application of new empirical knowledge to the governance of society. (Source)
Below is the series of articles. They should ideally be read in sequence:
1. Is it possible to take a more effective problem-solving approach to achieving progressive goals? - This presents the main approach, which is root cause analysis using social force diagrams.
2. Understanding causal diagrams: A tool for achieving progressive goals - This lays the groundwork for understanding complex social system behavior by explaining how causal diagrams and feedback loops work.
3. Understanding social force diagrams: A tool for achieving progressive goals - This describes social force diagrams, a form of root cause analysis designed to solve difficult large-scale social problems.
4. Money Drives Politics: Defining progressivism's top problem as the first step of root cause analysis - The top problem is shown to be the Money Drives Politics Problem. This causes a host of other problems, including climate change, poverty, war, and high inequality of wealth.
5. Solving the hardest problem in democracy by finding the right high leverage points - Using a social force diagram, this long article completes the analysis by summarizing analysis steps. Two main root causes and their high leverage points were found. Potential fundamental solutions are summarized.
6. Saving democracy by reengineering Corporation 1.0 into Corporation 2.0 - This describes the Corporation 2.0 solution in detail. How to overcome anticipated high change resistance is discussed, complete with a tangible solution project.