An Ideology of Common Sense is a new way of thinking and a new way of talking to one another, a new framework for rational discourse, based on the proposition that even in our fractured world there exists a core set of principles which are universal in their scope, and which have universal appeal. Common sense may be the only gift we were given to bring order to our lives. In our fractured world, common sense is the common denominator!

If the world is beginning to come together technologically and economically, shouldn't we at least try to bring the world together ideologically? Try to imagine what could happen for the betterment of man if Common Sense could somehow become Ideology. Since the dawn of human civilization, there have been scores of religious, political, social, and economic ideologies which ended up on the ash heap of bad ideas. The trouble is that the bloody conflicts over bad ideas have left behind millions of corpses in their wake.

As a species, can we afford to continue believing in what we want to believe, or should we begin to believe in what makes sense? Instead of jumping to false belief and then rationalizing why we're right, why not use rationality in the first place, to arrive at what is worth believing in? It could well be argued that Common Sense must be conferred ideological status because doing so may well be the only sensible way of bringing a semblance of order to this fragile and often volatile world.

We find ourselves trapped in a room that is so full of B.S. that we only have about two inches of air left near the ceiling. Isn't it high time to cut through all the nonsense, to get back to core truths, to find common ground, and to bridge the ideological divide? By the way, just for the heck of it, try defining "common sense" in one sentence. Not that easy is it? What if our survival as a species depended on it?

For me, common sense is the intuitive wisdom to conform our thoughts and actions to universally shared truths and values. Don't blow a circuit; it's not all that complicated. The intuitive wisdom is the wisdom that comes from within. Thoughts and actions; because it's not enough to think straight, you have to act on what you know to be true. The intuitive wisdom to conform our thoughts and actions to universally shared truths and values. Truths are the realities we perceive. Values are the realities we aspire to. And why are these truths and values universal? Certain truths and values are so logical, so rational, and so self-evident, that they are universally perceived as true, and therefore, universally accepted.

Let me suggest three such universal truths, the big three, so to speak: The Golden Rule, The Golden Mean, and The Greatest Good. I call these the 3-G's for short. The Golden Rule: treat others as you would have them treat you, is found in every religion on earth. Why? Because it makes sense, that's why. The Golden Mean: Aristotle's idea that the truth is usually to be found somewhere in the middle between two extremes. The Greatest Good: Jeremy Bentham's prescription to do what brings the greatest happiness to the greatest number.

Now bear with me one moment. What if The Golden Rule would have us treat each other well by Investing in one another? What if The Golden Mean would have us think straight by using common sense as our Ideology? And what if The Greatest Good would have us maximize justice by organizing ourselves around a vision of Hope? Put it all together and the formula for world peace is not all that complicated. As Thomas Jefferson might have said: We find this truth to be self-evident; Ideology plus Investment equals Hope, and with hope, all things are possible, even the impossible dream of peace.

When the President of the United States speaks, he usually stands at a podium that has the Presidential Seal affixed to it. The Seal of the President of the United States features the American Eagle holding two things with her talons: a cluster of arrows and an olive branch. The message is clear - while America is prepared to wage war whenever necessary, she remains eager to make peace whenever possible.

As a nation, we have plenty of arrows out there, but not much of an olive branch, and yet we may well need both to win the war against ideological extremism. In today's globalized world, an olive branch means nothing less than Selling a Vision of Hope. Give the man on the street a sense of hope, and you will have turned the corner on world peace. Nothing more is needed, and nothing less will suffice.

Our dream is to start a grass roots movement to sell a Vision of Hope in our time. Stranger things have happened. Granted, all this may seem a bit naive at first glance. But don't you think that not doing anything, and hoping things will work out, may be even more naive? Everything of great import begins with a vision. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, and suddenly the dream of civil rights was no longer just a dream. Start with a big vision, give it some substance on the ground, and soon enough the reality will become as big as the vision itself.

Such is the dynamic of change in the world, and such is the prescription for change in the Middle East. It is high time to think out of the box that is us - to get over ourselves and beyond our differences. This may well be the time, before time runs out, to dream the impossible and to make the impossible come true.

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