How not having a political opinion could become the most powerful political stance.

I am intentionally not going to give this idea a name. Naming an idea is useless in a time when people repeat names of concepts with no understanding of it. I've watched the effective altruist movement struggle with a base of followers that are unable to adjust to new findings of what is effective- it could have dismantled the nonprofit industrial complex but instead supported the capitalistic systems that cause the problems the movement claims to care about.

I moved on to systems thinking. It's an amazing concept on systemic change. Unfortunately, similar to effective altruism I've found the community that surrounds it is not supportive of systemic change as described in the book.

Thinking in Systems was a partially written draft of a concept that was published after genius Donella Meadows passed away. It still had years of development left, but the most beautiful thing about systems thinking is that it's a factual academic concept- it was not created from a philosophical void but rather discovered from real-life observations of the world. It includes clues to mysteries she was seeking to find, and even after her passing these can still be discovered through research- her work can be completed.

This idea is not an effort to complete her work, but my hope is to inspire you to understand some of these concepts and develop your own ideas.

Donella Meadows described 12 ways systems can be changed, and the most effective and most important out of those twelve is through transcending paradigms.

You've probably heard social justice advocates discuss changing paradigms. That's the second most important way to make change. Transcending paradigms goes beyond that- it's about being aware of your own worldview and understanding that it's not superior to others. It is comparable to meditative enlightenment.

This idea I'm going to describe attempts to take the concept of transcending paradigms and turn it into a tangible structure that can be politically implemented.

It is, essentially, doing political work while being apolitical.

Public figures who call themselves apolitical or say they "don't do politics" are often conservative but just don't want to admit it. Everyday people who say they "don't do politics" tend to more simply feel like their own opinion doesn't matter because they don't know enough to have an opinion.

Activists often say that the only way to make change is to have an opinion and be loud about it- but the most powerful stance could be by committing to action while withholding it.

So how is it done?

The first step is to identify both your own opinions and face your uncomfortable biases, especially biases against groups of people. Identifying all the biases you have is really important to make sure the way you do your work doesn't exclude important people or ideas. This is essential to prevent conservative people from pretending they aren't pushing an agenda when they actually are.

You can figure out your biases by identifying the biggest influences of your ideas, and understanding the original source if it was information passed along. You can also identify bias by considering who you would and would not have a conversation with, or who you would not have a conversation with as an equal.

You have to be so comfortable in seeking your own bias that you can get feedback from others on what biases you have, and are okay with being called out.

That's how you know you're ready to do the work.

Here's what that work looks like:

As someone committing to action while withholding your own opinion, the work you do is seeking the opinions of others and organizing to make their vision come to life through tangible implementation.

You want to think about this similar to an entreprenuer, but add a few additional things:

1. Identify a problem.

2. Listen to people for ideas on how the problem can be solved.

3. Listen to people how to execute the idea.

4. Listen to people how to execute the idea in context of the environment

The people you want to ask for feedback are really specific- the people described in the above list are very, very rarely working professionals. Why? Because people don't take them seriously. They don't feel obligated to share their expertise with people that don't value their deep knowledge because of an unwillingness to implement what's learned, seemingly intentional repetition of mistakes, unresolved group dysfunction, and child-like immaturity.

Lived Experience Expert This is the person who has the problem. Ideally they share their experiences anonymously. Anonymity is important for protecting identity, general harm reduction, and to allow people to speak freely without the influence of public opinion or professional consequences.

You can think of lived experience experts as people who investigative journalists would want to interview.

Since we are thinking about this like an entrepreneur: To succeed, entrepreneurs must provide a solution to a problem. It starts with an idea. Is the idea something that needs to be solved, can be solved, or should be solved? Is it a solution for a problem that only exists for the entrepreneur, otherwise known as "scratching an itch"? Scratching-the-itch types solutions, as well as solutions created without input from communities and solutions priviledge disasters is a big reason for societal dysfunction and problems never being solved. Developing a solid idea is what the Lived Experience Expert helps with. Listening to them while taking an apolitical stance, and withholding your own opinion, is an easy way to avoid the negative effects of solutions priviledge even if you aren't ready to radically identify, acknowlege, and seperate yourself from your worldview.

Solutions Expert This is a person who is both extremely knowledgeable, intellectually gifted, and creative as well. Their wide knowledge base includes information about the problem and ideas on how to execute solutions in the most efficient and effective way possible. How do you identify these people? If you are an expert in your field, solutions experts are the ones that know significantly more than you despite never having held the job a day in their life. If you don't understand what they are saying, you can respect them by asking for sources and leads on information and doing the research and intellectual labor yourself.

The next step necessary to succeed as an entrepreneur is how to execute the idea. People often say that ideas are cheap, and the real question is whether you can make it happen. This is what the solution expert helps with. They aren't executing the solution themselves, they give feedback on how to go about making the idea tangibly happen in the most efficient way possible. I've heard often in politics that people often have the same ideas but disagree on how to execute it- this debate doesn't make sense when we have evidence and history to look at what works and what doesn't, and that's why withholding your own political opinion and listening to the solution expert is so important.

Forecaster Expert This is a person who can accurately estimate future events by studying and tracking historical, societal, cultural, economic, and environmental patterns. The forecaster must have a knowledge base that includes information relevant to the problem needing to be solved.

I don't have any good ideas on how to find a forecaster expert; I personally haven't developed a way to identify the difference between people who know whats going to happen and people who are catastrophizing, innaccurate, or misguided, as seen in the phrase "economists have predicted nine out of the last five recessions". Years ago there was a German academic who used fictional literature to accurately predict civil unrest; Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is a perfect example of this. You may need to combine the knowledge of multiple different forecasters as books regarding civil unrest may leave out key forecasts on the environment, astronomical events, and related patterns. The next step to success as an entreprenuer is mitigating external factors and related preventative action. A solid idea executed perfectly can fall to ruin through poor timing and seemingly unpredictable events. Anyone who's lived through a pandemic or similar event knows how quickly plans can go to crap. A Forecaster Expert who knows pandemics happen about every 100 years can give you a range of time to prepare for events and backup plans or alternatives to take into consideration. But that's not all they do- the most important thing they can do is predict whether your solution will succeed or not, why, and what needs to change to stay on course with the goal.

That's how to politically solve the world's problems without being political.