A national problem remains a problem even if it is national. Consequently, it has the characteristics that Pólya highlighted, at a theoretical context. Very often because the adjective of the problem becomes almost unsolvable, while no one has proven that is not solvable. The national problem is often called that, so that nobody would dare to touch it. Later, habitually, the society that never tried to solve it, assumes that it can not be solved practically, even though it hears politicians explain that they struggle for its solution. The point is, that slowly, the rhetoric of politics does not talk about the problem anymore, but only about a solution. And the more it talks about the solution, the less it deals with the problem.
At this point it is good to also remember the words of Leonardo da Vinci, who explained that for the genius, what’s most difficult, is not to solve the problem, but to convince society that he solved it, because of course it rejects all the experts who insisted all these years that this problem had no solution. Another example is the use of lateral thinking as by Alexander the Great, in order to solve the Gordian knot. Because he was a king, he managed to persuaded his subjects, otherwise he would have faced Archimedes problem. What’s important is that the national problem is primarily a problem which should be put into practical action. It may initially seem that its solution is unthinkable, but there are people who will transform it, first to an utopia and then in to a vision, which, with others actions would finally become a reality.
If we only concentrate on the solution, then we have another problem than the original one. While, if we focus on the problem, we can find the solution. Also we should not be traped into a single context, and if it is a national one, that does not mean that it can be solved only internally. For example for Greece and Cyprus, the field of the solution is not necessarily the country, it could also be the Hellenism which obtains endless dynamic and value.
When, therefore, the problem is characterized as rational, then we can search methodologically for its strategic solution, which, if it has an holistic approach, it would be more durable, especially when the problem is in actual fact a national one and has an affect on the people and the country. In this case it needs to avoid some local solutions and should focus on the overall solution. And if that exists, what’s proper is that its implemented as quickly as possible, so as to effect the other local problems also . With this methodology, the core of the problem simplifies the problems in all of their extensions. There’s no longer a need to opt for local measures, because the phase change has already altered them.