The Harmony Way vs. The American Way: A Blueprint for National Healing
We've embraced what Indigenous peoples call "conquest thinking"—the belief that problems are solved by defeating opponents rather than building consensus.
The relationship between traditional Indigenous systems and democracy has been of enduring interest, and both the structure of the U.S. federal government and the centrality of liberty have been attributed to Indigenous rather than European sources. Yet we've forgotten these origins in our rush toward winner-take-all politics that's currently tearing our nation apart.
Having studied both Indigenous governance traditions and contemporary American politics for decades, I've witnessed how far we've strayed from the consensus-building principles that once guided both Indigenous nations and early American democratic experiments. The current political dysfunction is a conscious choice to abandon proven alternatives that could heal our fractured society.
From Consensus to Conquest
Traditional Indigenous governance operated on a principle that seven perspectives blended together create an eighth understanding that's greater than any single viewpoint. This contrasts sharply with contemporary American politics, where opposing sides fight to impose their singular vision on everyone else.
In most Native American traditions, decisions weren't made until all voices were heard and all concerns addressed. This wasn’t what moderns would think of as efficiency but it was wisdom. When everyone has ownership in the solution, implementation becomes sustainable and conflict decreases. The Ancient Cherokee cementation ceremony exemplified this approach: when conflicts arose, both parties would fast and pray, then literally exchange clothes and speak words of forgiveness, vowing never to bring up the issue again. The entire community would feast together, celebrating restored harmony.
Today's American Way operates on fundamentally different principles. We've embraced what Indigenous peoples call "conquest thinking"—the belief that problems are solved by defeating opponents rather than building consensus. We've institutionalized zero-sum politics where one side's victory requires the other's humiliation.
This conquest mentality extends far beyond politics. Our economic system prioritizes individual accumulation over community wellbeing. Our justice system focuses on punishment rather than healing. Our approach to environmental challenges treats nature as something to be conquered rather than co-sustaned.
Indigenous Governance: Lessons in True Democracy
Indigenous governance principles offer concrete alternatives to our current dysfunction. Rather than winner-take-all elections, many Indigenous nations used councils that had to achieve broad agreement before acting. Instead of hierarchical authority imposed from above, leadership emerged through demonstrated wisdom and community trust.
Often when conflicts arose between various individuals, clans or groups, the resolution process involved the entire community. This approach could revolutionize American criminal justice. Instead of mass incarceration that perpetuates cycles of harm, we could implement restorative circles that focus on healing communities. Rather than managing symptoms of injustice, we could address root causes. Instead of permanent marginalization, we could prioritize reintegration and second chances.
Economic Democracy Through Indigenous Principles
The Harmony Way fundamentally challenges capitalism's extractive logic. A regenerative economy based on ecological restoration, community protection, equitable partnerships, and participatory processes stands in stark contrast to systems that extract from both land and people.
Indigenous economic principles offer practical alternatives to our current crisis of inequality:
Reciprocity Over Accumulation: Indigenous economies prioritize sufficiency rather than profit, ensuring resources regenerate for future generations. People take only what they need, leaving enough for others and the future. This principle could reshape everything from executive compensation to environmental policy.
Collective Co-sustaining: Instead of private property extraction, communities manage resources for seven-generation sustainability. Imagine energy policy designed not for quarterly profits but for the wellbeing of children not yet born.
Gift Economics: Wealth circulation systems that build relationships rather than concentrating power. In some Indigenous ceremonies, people give away excess possessions before the celebration begins. "If you have more than one of anything," some traditions teach, "you give it away before the ceremony, preferably to someone who doesn't have that item."
Healing Our Political Divisions
The polarization destroying American democracy stems from conquest thinking that views politics as warfare. Indigenous governance offers relationship-based alternatives rooted in the understanding that we are all related—mitakuye oyasin in Lakota. We just returned from four days of interviewing Lakota elders and other, including young people. I am happy to report, this understanding remains alive and well.
The current immigration crisis could be addressed through Indigenous principles of hospitality rather than border militarization. Traditional protocols require asking permission when entering another people's territory, but they also mandate generous welcome once permission is granted. Indigenous nations had sophisticated systems for integrating newcomers into community responsibility while honoring both host and guest.
Economic inequality could be addressed through gift economies that ensure everyone contributes and everyone receives according to need. Rather than charity that perpetuates dependence or redistribution that breeds resentment, Indigenous models create abundance through circulation rather than accumulation.
Environmental destruction could be confronted through Indigenous law that recognizes nature's rights and humanity's responsibilities as relatives, not owners. Bolivia's "Law of Mother Earth" establishes rights for nature including the right to life, to pure water and clean air, to balance, and to not be polluted. This Indigenous-led legislation offers a practical model for environmental policy based on relationship rather than exploitation.
Structural Changes for National Healing
Indigenous governance principles suggest specific reforms that could heal American democracy:
Consensus-Building Institutions: Replace winner-take-all elections with councils that must achieve broad agreement before acting. This doesn't mean unanimity—it means no major decisions without substantial buy-in from affected communities.
Restorative Justice Systems: Transform courts from punishment venues to healing centers focused on community repair. The goal shifts from determining guilt to restoring balance and preventing future harm.
Seven-Generation Thinking: Require all policy decisions to consider impacts on the seventh generation yet to come. No legislation could pass without demonstrating how it serves not just current voters but their great-great-great-great-great grandchildren.
Local Land-Based Governance: Root political authority in bioregional stewardship rather than abstract territorial control. Decisions about watersheds would be made by watershed residents; decisions about forests by forest communities.
The Choice Before Us
America faces a crossroads: continue the path of conquest politics that's destroying our democracy, or learn from the Indigenous nations whose wisdom shaped our best founding principles. The Harmony Way offers not just political reform, but spiritual healing for a nation built on unresolved trauma.
The blueprint exists in thousands of years of Indigenous governance experience. The question is whether we have the humility to learn from the peoples we've marginalized, and the courage to transform our institutions accordingly.
For Indigenous peoples, consultation, participation, and consensus are of the greatest importance in decision-making, ensuring that community wisdom prevails while recognizing that all human beings are equal with the same rights and obligations. This process acknowledges that no single perspective holds all the truth, but that collective wisdom emerges when all voices are heard and honored.
The current American Way has brought us to the brink of democratic collapse. The Harmony Way offers a tested alternative—not a return to some imagined past, but a way forward that honors both our Indigenous roots and our democratic aspirations. The choice is ours: continue down the path of conquest and division, or choose the harder but more rewarding path of consensus and healing.
Our democracy's survival may depend on remembering what we chose to forget: that governance works best when it serves all the people, honors all perspectives, and plans for all the generations yet to come.
I am a mixed Indigenous writer of books, screenplays, articles. I explore spirituality, theology, Indigeneity, justice, race, farming. Recovering PhD, Distinguished Professor Emeritus. Speaking and living into healing our world.
I love embracing the idea of thinking about how what we do today will impact our children and their children for 7 generations. Rather than the emphasis on extracting everything we can get, the focus shifts to regeneration and ensuring there will be enough for generations to come. Thank you for sharing the wisdom of the harmony way.
Thank you for this perspective. Very important and quite a challenge.