How can it be that with over 400 members of the house of representatives and 100 senators that so few good ideas come out of Congress?  The answer lies in one of the most important elements of the mastermind principle, which is “harmony”.  One of the reasons the mastermind concept,principle, as explained by Napoleon Hill in “Law of Success”, works so well is that the minds that are coming together to create the mastermind are in harmony with each other.  Contrast that with the typical motivation of our elected officials, and you’ll have to key to understanding why nothing meaningful gets done on Capitol Hill.

As I listened to the President yesterday suggest that Republicans could not expect Democrats to embrace all their ideas if it meant Democrats would get none of the things they “wanted”, I knew we were in for a lot of nothing, because both parties had already set into motion an atmosphere which would assure the typical lack of progress that occurs when politicians assemble.

Here are three principles that would allow our elected officials to refocus on making progress and truly serving the people they were elected to represent:

1.  “Let’s not do it my way or your way, but instead let’s do it the best way”.  The fallacy that lies in the President’s statement above, a fallacy that is shared by virtually all of our elected officials, is that creating legislation is a contest to score points, rather than a cooperative exercise.  They get balled up in getting what they want, rather than getting what is best.  If our politicians could come to the table truly interested in coming up with the best solution for the people we would never need to have a discussion about whether something could be done in a bi-partisan way.

2.  “It’s amazing how much progress can be made when it doesn’t matter who gets the credit”.  Principle #2 is closely related to the first, but also underpins the reason why so little progress can be made where politicians are concerned.  If these servants of the people could put aside their egos and bring themselves to support an idea that they did not themselves come up with, we could truly be proud of our political process and enjoy the benefits of sending our elected officials to Washington to serve us.

3.  The importance of the “servant’s heart”.  I probably should have made this principle first, because truly it would eliminate the need to discuss the other two.  The main reason our political system is troubled is that our elected officials forget why they are in Washington, D.C.  They were elected to serve people, not feed their egos, not pursue power, not get their way on things, but to serve the best interests of the people who send them there.  It seems no one remembers this after election day, and that truly hurts the effort to make progress on matters of importance to the people.

Progress for the people isn’t about meeting the other side half way.  It’s about both sides coming to the table with an open mind and being willing to embrace what makes sense for the people as opposed to what builds egos.  Adopting the spirit of cooperation is what creates harmony and harmony is what creates the correct environment for the mastermind to exist.