Watchdog Groups

"In a political debate the man who is forming a judgment is making a decision about his own vital interests. There is no need, therefore, to prove anything except that the facts are what the supporter of a measure maintains they are."

-Aristotle's Rhetoric

The sheer immediacy of the internet means that bad ideas are likely to spread quickly, but the vast amount of information and resources available online also make it much easier to look for good ideas and information. But where to begin?

In addition to looking for your news from multiple sources, you can use the resources of Watchdog Groups to help you find the facts related to an issue. Watchdog organizations exist to hold politicians and political rhetoric accountable to their claims. They also provide resources for you to do your own fact checking for issues you're interested in. (FactCheckED.org has some good tips on how to approach new information skeptically.)

As Americans, our interests extend beyond our jobs and our families, because our tax dollars and our elected representatives continue to keep our military involved in actions around the world. The least we can do is be informed about the relevant facts and hold our politicians accountable for their votes.

Keep in mind that political campaign ads frequently resort to blatant falsehoods right before elections because they are proven to change the minds of people who are uninformed and don't know the relevant facts. Will that be you?

Suggested watchdog groups online:

Opensecrets.org - Non-partisan watchdog tracking the influence of money on politics.
Factcheck.org - Non-partisan site looks at the claims behind political ads.
FAIR: Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting - A watchdog group for national media.

Sources, Part 1

The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him. - Proverbs 18:17

If you want to become informed about politics on any level in the United States, you have a lot working against you. Human nature already has a number of built-in biases--like distorted fun-house mirrors of the mind--that allow us to be satisfied with half-truths and even total fictions if they make us feel more comfortable about ourselves or our understanding of the world.

Confirmation bias, for example, is when we seek out and interpret only the information that will confirm what we think we already know. (In a courtroom, asking questions with a confirmation bias would be disqualified as "leading the witness").  In fact, courtrooms have quite a few rules designed to reduce bias and eliminate prejudice in order to get at the truth of a matter. Many of these rules have been in use for thousands of years, and we'll look at how these principles can help us in our reading of the news.

The quickest way to challenge your biases and come to your own understanding of an issue is to look at multiple sources, especially ones with which you expect to disagree. On the internet, a good way to start doing this is by visiting Google News, as stories are grouped by topic from multiple sources and it's easy to search for issues that interest you. 

Remember to look at the sources inside the story:  If different newspapers or TV networks are citing the same source, that only counts as one source, or one side of the story. Even if you disagree with a specific characterization of an issue, it is important to look for valid points that the opposition is making, and looking at an issue from another perspective can often add shades of depth to your own understanding.

Beware of anonymous sources! Sometimes anonymity is required to protect a source--i.e. Deep Throat in the Watergate story--, but today anonymity is granted frequently to those who doesn't want to be held accountable for their position or their information (we'll look at this more in depth later).

Accountability is going to be a big theme of this blog, namely politicians being held accountable to their stated positions, journalists being held accountable to the citizenry they are responsible to inform and most of all, holding ourselves accountable to our ideas, opinions, beliefs and the consequences they manifest.

For now, I'd recommend taking Google News out for a spin and seeing what you can learn about a controversial topic that you didn't already know. For the comments, I'd love to hear Where you get most of your news from, and what do you like about that particular source?

Next up: Watchdog groups.

Ideas for controversial topics: ACORN and its recent federal de-funding, U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, America's position on Iran's Nuclear Facilities, Obama's nobel prize.

The Reason

Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. -Proverbs 4:7

Politics can be an awkward thing to discuss when we disagree, yet it is absolutely necessary that we get awkward with one another and work to find common points of view. Even if we have complicated disagreements about what we think government is and what it should do.

To that end, I want to provide resources that will be useful to you no matter where you stand politically or ideologically.

If we remain uninformed about the critical issues of our day, we are asking our politicians to tell us simple lies because we don't have time for complicated truths.

Take the time to inform yourself and make up your own mind about issues that matter to you. Learn to exercise influence on your elected representatives and ennoble better candidates to run for office.

Or, just have better, more substantial political discussions with less shouting.

- John Hastie

remedial. Dictionary.com. Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/remedial (accessed: October 08, 2009).

politics. Dictionary.com. Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/politics (accessed: October 08, 2009).