Our country has been into this. The situations or issues were not resolved because of the mentality of other rulers in our country. When you hear a public official say that the reason this or that desirable thing cannot be done is because of a lack of political will, what you actually hear is that the person blaming other people's moral failings. This is born of a lack of insight and analysis. The Oxford English Dictionary defines political will as "the firm intention or commitment of a government to carry through a policy, especially one that is not immediately successful or popular." Political will is not some kind of immutable and innate personal quality. It is not the same as political courage or conviction. It is a deliberate social construct, and every positive advance of public policy rests upon its successful creation.

As the Oxford definition suggests, issues that require political will are ones that are not easily resolved. What is required for success is the creation of ever-broader coalitions. There will be opposition and conflict. The status quo is what it is because of powerful interests, and, as Frederick Douglass said, change always requires struggle because "power concedes nothing without a demand." The best way to manage that conflict is, paradoxically, to stop fighting. That is, to stop responding to and vilifying the intransigents on the other side. Instead, build a narrative that embraces the values ​​of the majority of folks who are not unalterably committed to either side. What is needed is not moderation or even necessarily compromise, but effective stories that appeal to widely held beliefs about ourselves.