For most of the last ten years have described a number of editorial writers, politicians, clergy and other experts from America as a nation in a kind of crisis. They point to a growing number of people who early in high school who are on probation, parole or in prison, victims of domestic violence or criminals who are addicted to drugs or alcohol to be infected, sexually transmitted disease who have abortions, birth outside of marriage, divorce, or who rely on Ritalin, Prozac or Xanax to get through the day. They claim that these statistics are evidence of something gone wrong with the American way of life.

In practice as a clinical psychologist, I work with individuals in these figures include each day of the week. Monday, I talk to a man on his way to prison for bad checks, struggling middle-aged mother to stop drinking himself into a stupor every night, and a woman of twenty-something simple is diagnosed recently with herpes have been. Tuesday I speak with a teenager from an unwanted pregnancy, the court ordered a father of his house after an attack on his son, and a woman in conflict about whether to end his extramarital affair. On Wednesday, I met a 11 year old boy who was not with the teachers on Thursday with a woman by the news devastated that her husband filed for divorce, he may cooperate will marry his girlfriend, and on Friday with a teenager who recently made a suicide attempt.

In this perspective, rather than numbers in mind, including the people in the statistics are living, breathing human beings. Each has a unique history and set of circumstances and the very personal thoughts, feelings, ideals, regrets, hopes and dreams. But despite their differences, they all have one thing in common: they all are to some extent, unhappy, dissatisfied and unhappy with his life.

Recognizing that all these people are unhappy in a certain sense, it is possible to characterize the number of people in all groups statistics cited by experts as a general measure of poverty in the United States. Since the total number of persons in these groups continues to increase, it is reasonable to conclude that we are in the middle of the disaster in an epidemic. Recognizing that this nation was to optimize the conditions for the exercise of personal happiness designed, can be referred to the epidemic a disaster the current crisis in the American way of life.

Experiments, the crisis

Deal
A group of opinion leaders provides a simple explanation and solution to this crisis. Assuming, illiteracy, probation, imprisonment, assault, drug abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, domestic violence and divorce are the consequences of dysfunctional behavior, argue the conservatives that the growing number of people who are under these conditions is the result of bad decisions. They argue that people can publish the results by avoiding better decisions in managing their personal lives.

Conservatives remember that the basic structure of the American Way of Life is a legal system based on a set of moral principles, ideas about good and evil. They invoked the founding fathers as John Adams, who wrote 1798: “Our Constitution was for a moral and religious people, it is totally inadequate to govern them.” Or they refer to James Madison, who wrote in 1778: “. We do not have the whole future of American civilization is set to the power of government, far from there. We have staked the future of all our political institutions … the capacity of each and every one of us, to govern themselves, to us control, support us through the Ten Commandments of God. “

Conservatives point out that, beginning with the American colonies and up to about forty years, the people of this country in general relates to moral principles of the founding fathers of the Judeo-Christian inherited to take a number of lines of guidelines for the decisions leading to real and lasting happiness in this world and the next lead. They note that since those who have begun to advocate a separation of church and state, delete any reference to religion in public schools, there was an increase in the number of people, their studies do not lead to the end of school, Living on probation, parole or in prison were victims of domestic violence or criminal, are infected addicted to drugs or alcohol, sexually transmitted diseases, abortion, birth outside of marriage, divorce, and antidepressants and other psychotropic drugs on. They argue that each of these undesirable conditions can be mitigated if the Americans once again begun to act on the Ten Commandments and the teachings of Jesus Christ when making decisions in everyday life.

On the other hand, there are liberals there are several problems with the conservative approach. First, the moral position of the Judeo-Christian tradition is far from clear. While all believers are included at the root of morality in the Bible there are large differences in the way sacred texts. While some Christians claim the aid of alcohol is a sin to serve wine in the other church. Similar differences exist with regard to Christian positions on gambling, divorce and homosexuality. The Liberals point out that people of faith are based on both sides of the abortion, capital punishment and assisted suicide on moral grounds religion, show, see the situation is dealing effectively with the great moral controversies of our time.

In addition, the liberals argue that religion-based moral thinking much more outrageous injustices of the past allows. Thousands were slaughtered in the Crusades, the Inquisition tortured and died during the centuries of holy war in Europe. Many, settled in the British colonies in North America have fled persecution in the hands of intolerant religious beliefs. After the American Revolution, the Bible has been used to justify the continued existence of slavery and the subordination of women. Even today, uses the Ku Klux Klan to terrorize a Christian symbol, the American non-whites who are simply exercising their fundamental rights.

Liberals also note that the American Revolution was as much a rebellion against religion, as it was a military campaign. Instead of relying on the British idea that it to obey the duty of a citizen to God for a divine throne, King, the founding fathers of their declaration of independence of the rational philosophy of the other source based moral authority that has shaped and influenced the course of Western civilization since its beginnings in ancient Greece. They went to a government explicitly based on the philosophy rather than religious ideals. Referring to the First Amendment of the Constitution and the fact that America was a nation of many religions, arguing the Liberals that it is now not in the U.S. based public education or any other type of public policy a set of moral principles to a specified religious tradition belong.

Beyond rejecting the conservative solution to the crisis hit the Liberals a different analysis of the crisis itself. While recognizing that the failure of high school, delinquency, crime, drug abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, domestic violence, divorce, complete and affective disorders include some type of dysfunctional human behavior, deny it, that these conditions do with moral reasoning or to do ideas about good and evil have. accepted based on the theory of human nature in general in contemporary social science, they argue that this behavior by instincts, forms of preconditioning, imbalances in brain chemistry, socio-economic is determined, or other factors not yet identified, which otherwise means as a choice. They believe that new scientific research will inevitably discover the causes of dysfunctional behavior and the results of this research to a reduction in the number of people flying be like this.

The need for an approach />
New
Instead of trying together in an effort to find common ground, the conservative and liberal leaders of today to invest their energy trying to win hearts and minds of their positions. Their strategies for influencing public policy through opinion polls and the electoral process. Unfortunately, as engage the leaders of these ideologies in a cultural civil war, the epidemic is to fall and takes the current crisis in the American way of life.

One way to move beyond this mess begins with the realization that the crises events making the structure and dynamics of their own have. Crises occur when people are faced with adverse conditions that are random and unexpected. They arise from the exercise of action plans based on assumptions that are somehow wrong, inadequate or ineffective to achieve a desired result. Crises change as long as the attempt to achieve the desired results continue to do what they do not realize that the assumptions are somehow flawed.

Crisis be solved if three events occur. First, the assumptions of those who may end up with undesirable results. Then these assumptions with regard to the extent that they really judged correctly, effectively and appropriately in relation to the attainment of the goal. Finally, the results of this evaluation will be used to develop a new course with the expected results on assumptions that are more precise, effective and appropriate reach to achieve the desired result basis.

This idea of the structure of a crisis suggests that solving the current crisis in the American Way of Life was able to identify the assumptions in conservative and liberal traditions, the evaluation of their accuracy, efficiency and relevance will be achieved, then the development of a new approach to the fight against the epidemic of evil, which led to the evaluation is based.

Identify existing hypotheses

The conservative approach is based on three assumptions about human nature is deeply rooted in Western civilization. These assumptions were in the writings of the philosophers of the Enlightenment Britons Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, a theory of human nature for those who have led the American Revolution and also provided to write the U.S. Constitution contained USA. Today’s conservatives often refer to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other founding fathers who used these ideas of the philosophers.

The first assumption is a conservative theory of human nature known voluntary. He claims that man’s ability to choose other options for action have. This includes the idea that when faced with a choice, people are motivated by nature to select the potential of evolution, which they consider most likely to make them happy anyway.

The second hypothesis is a conservative legal theory called enlightened self-interest. This theory assumes that moral principles apply to a set of guidelines for decisions that are essential to achieve optimal quality of life. It also assumes that if people act on these principles to make decisions in daily life they do what they can to reach their potential for happiness, emotional well-being, contentment and satisfaction, maximize life.

Finally, take the Conservatives to a question the moral principles of religion. This hypothesis is based on the belief that humans, in their ability to switch between these modes of action to improve the quality of a person’s life and improve those realities differ enrich limited based. Consequently, conservatives argue that the omniscient God of this knowledge, how to be happy and remain disclosed to certain people, may Moses, the prophets, Jesus and the apostles, and the rest of mankind luck finding real and sustainable use of this information in selecting in daily practice.

The liberal approach to tackle illiteracy, probation, imprisonment, assault, drug abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, domestic violence, divorce, and a variety of affective disorders based on a number of assumptions about human nature, the Western world that the been disclosure by a new set of ideas about the nature of human existence began replacing influence. During the Enlightenment faith in God, a vision of heaven and fear is rooted from hell, the concepts of human nature by the Liberals was developed as an atheist, was scientific world view.

The first hypothesis is called liberal determinism. It is the theory of human nature by Sigmund Freud, William James and John Watson, who advanced down the foundations for contemporary social scientific thinkers. Determinism is the conviction that human behavior by instincts, forms of preconditioning, genetics,
changes in brain chemistry, socio-economic or other procedure which causes nothing to do with the election of the other action.
Secondly, the Liberals, that moral principles are not relevant to deal with dysfunctional behaviors. This hypothesis is based on the belief that instead of religion are the great minds of Western philosophy good source of moral authority and conviction that should the French philosopher Auguste Comte, the great spirit of the American authorities in turn is based on morality. His theory, altruism, holds what is right is one that improves the welfare of others, society and humanity in general. Since altruism is that moral activity to serve others, acting on principle is altruistic as an obstacle or restriction on the personal pursuit of happiness is considered.

Third, the Liberals take that religion is not a reliable source of knowledge about the life or lifestyle. This hypothesis is rooted in their opinion that the quality of life of people in almost all areas of human existence, has replaced pre-scientific thinking in which scientific knowledge improves. The liberals argue that it is better to rely on science as a way to try to understand how people who live in dysfunctional behavior, the religious texts refer to engage the help of their opinion, outdated relics of a bygone era. Br

Assumptions evaluation

It is clear, traditional approaches to the current crisis in the American way of life address includes a number of questionable assumptions about whether people are able to make decisions, and the purpose and source of ideas on good and evil. While the Conservatives assume that the people is the ability to choose other options for action have, that religion is the source of good ideas about good and evil, and the moral to the principle important to always stay happy, take over the Liberals that human behavior has nothing to do with the election, that morality is irrelevant to the pursuit of personal happiness, and that doing science rather than religion is the source of knowledge is appropriate to deal with dysfunctional behaviors that contribute to the epidemic of unhappiness. Now that these questionable assumptions have been identified, each is evaluated on the basis of the extent to which even the available evidence that it accurately, efficiently and appropriately in terms of trying to solve the current crisis in the way of life; is his U.S..

While the Western civilization and the creation of social science, over 100 years old, all educated and thoughtful spiritual leader acknowledged that people have the ability to choose. From the earliest philosophers of ancient Greece, every great philosopher in the Western tradition has argued that to choose compared to many behaviors that people in a position between the other approaches. In addition, all of a legal system are the known to the idea that people make decisions in day to day basis.

These historical facts and sociological observations are with the people who have done themselves and each other since time immemorial. In the descriptions of everyday human behavior, people still regularly on the intentions, wishes and choices of the description of the activities of friends, family members and those who deal in business and community. In addition, we have direct access to the process of choosing between alternative courses of action possible if we decide what to breakfast, to buy what color the skin, and eat what program to watch TV.

Although the results of some studies in animals, a deterministic theory to support the human nature, there is no evidence to conclude that this is an accurate way to describe many types of human behavior. During the twentieth century, scientists have tried to commit a series of procedures such as voluntary non-readers identify instinctive types of treatment, the genetic changes in brain chemistry and socioeconomic why fail people acquire appropriate professional qualifications, crime, addicted to drugs alcohol or engage in risky sexual behavior, family abuse or divorce. At best, these studies have revealed only low correlations. The results of these studies on thousands of nearly 100 years show that while non-volunteers can play a role in these processes, dysfunctional behavior, they do not actually cause people behave in it. Based on all of these scientific findings, it is reasonable to conclude that scientists have never been able to prove that people lack the ability to choose.

One way to determine whether moral principles, that is for the personal pursuit of happiness, to which research on the relationship between gambling in principle and the subsequent quality of life was to look like. Statistics show that there is a correlation between reports of personal happiness, emotional well-being, contentment and satisfaction with people who live on a regular basis to tell the truth to keep their agreements, and to refrain from theft. The research also shows a correlation between people who are unhappy, dissatisfied and unhappy with his life and often a tendency to lie, cheat, and steal to say. In addition, virtually all psychological research on why people act to describe, on the principle that the overwhelming majority of people who do what the Copyright Act, basically because they believe they will benefit personally afterwards.

Under the assumption that people is the ability to have to choose other options for action and that moral principles can a person increase the potential to become and remain happy, the following hypothesis is to assess whether it is appropriate to acceptance by the religion, a good source of moral principles or the philosophy of ideas about what to do right and wrong. In this regard, take two conservatives and liberals, that there are only two sources of moral principles. Neither the view that in the last ten years a new source of moral principles has emerged. This source is science and what scientific method is about the relationship between human decisions and how these decisions influence reveals itself in the quality of their lives. Since these principles were explicitly mentioned as a way to determine which options for action, the probability that a person or stay in a happy, scientifically formulated principles to face the moral maximize a more efficient fight against the epidemic of evil based on assumptions about the origin of moral knowledge contained either work to continue the conservative or liberal.

Scientifically formulated principles of morality

scientifically formulated principles of morality have been developed to be used with the same scientific logic to find principles for ensuring the health and well-being. The researchers were able to formulate the principles of animal welfare by the observation of a correlation between certain types of voluntary human behavior and a number of serious diseases. Studies have shown that people who regularly smoke tobacco are often left with cancer, emphysema or heart disease. He also discovered a lack of exercise correlated with diabetes, obesity and stroke. On the basis of correlations and other scientists were alternatives to unhealthy behavior patterns, they were then promoted as guidance for making healthy choices in everyday life to formulate. These principles of healthy living show that if we tobacco, to avoid illegal drugs and excessive alcohol intake, get adequate amounts of rest and exercise, and low fat food high in fiber, food, we do what we can to our potential are and maximize good health.

Similarly, the research began on scientifically formulated principles of morality by determining what types of voluntary human behavior with a loss of happiness, emotional well-being, contentment and satisfaction in life correlates. Once these correlations have been identified, alternatives have been identified on these behaviors. Designed to meet these principles as guidelines for decisions in daily life to the potential of a person and to stay to maximize happiness.

Research, the development of scientifically formulated principles of morality out showed that there fundamental similarities between the behavior of the majority of the volunteers who in one way or another, unfortunate, because what they did. These behaviors are seen as doomed to failure because of the efforts of a person they become and remain happy to undermine. Research has shown that these are the seven types of self-destructive behavior in a loss of happiness, contentment and satisfaction in life.

reckless behavior is to follow an action plan, knowing that it is important a threat to something or someone, the satisfaction of the person and life satisfaction. Examples include smoking, consumption of illegal drugs, driving under the influence of substances to change the consciousness and unprotected sex. Behavior of self-extinction should be monitored regularly to plot ways to share the happiness of others, while failing in what is essentially to improve his attendance. Examples include a teenager who agrees to unprotected sex as a way to her friend, a man who moves constantly, the wishes of his wife on the decisions that adversely affect their own quality of life and parents who continue to pray for working age adults children to ensure negligible while, what they should do in order to prepare for retirement. Unproductive behavior includes a lot of time and energy on activities that have little or no connection with the acquisition or retention of what is necessary for contentment and satisfaction have to do in life. Examples of these are young people who spend their time watching television, listening to music or talk on the phone instead of homework or studying for tests, staff, a lot of money to spend their time surfing the Internet instead of completion assigned tasks and spouses, almost all of their time to spend on activities that have nothing to do with caring for their partner in life. Unfaithful behavior is not freely come to the agreement earlier. Examples of these are young people breaking the curfew, sellers who married on guarantees and people who cheat on their spouses refuse to honor. Disrespectful behavior is an action plan that violated the basic rights of others to follow. Examples include physical or sexual violence, theft or disclosure of certain types of personal information. fraudulent behavior is the attempt to create in the mind of another person a picture of reality which does not correspond with reality. It includes creating misleading audio or video recordings, filing false reports, or simply lies. Rash of interaction occurs when people watch includes an action plan, the other persons whose conduct is reckless, counterproductive, disrespectful, unfaithful and / or misleading. Examples of this are a passenger in a car with a drunk driver to continue on to someone who does not pay to day to a day to provide personal information to a person who has shown no respect for the disclosure of your deal to stay in a marriage with a spouse who has a series of extramarital affairs, and trust someone who lies frequently.

Once it was determined that these seven models, those that are correlated with unhappiness, dissatisfaction and / or dissatisfaction in life, a number of alternatives have been identified. The alternative to reckless behavior and social interaction is modest and unreflective self-respect. Self-esteem is an act which is clearly a threat to what is necessary for contentment and satisfaction in life to avoid. The industry is the alternative to a non-productive behavior. The industry consists of investing time and energy to maintain and preserve what is essential to satisfaction and contentment in life. The alternative to an unfaithful and disrespectful behavior is called the equity. Fairness is for agreements and respect the rights of others to honor. Honesty, the alternative to fraudulent behavior, is to make an accurate description of reality. The principles of well-being to meet the guidelines for the decisions that achieve the maximization of the potential emotional well-being when they are combined and act in the course of everyday life.