Election 2016: Opening Thoughts

One objective that this blog has developed is to make readers more skeptical and less gullible to the many distractions, misinformation, and outright lies perpetrated by political operatives. Education should be a universal value after all, should it not? You would be surprised how many people are simply not interested in learning more, improving themselves, or challenging information if it agrees with what they already believe. Is this where the dividing line should be drawn in our politics? Between the people who want to know more and improve themselves, versus the people who are content in their limited knowledge and want to force everyone else to freeze intellectually. It is a tragedy that the information superhighway accommodates too easily both of these.

The irony is thick when you consider that the Internet is one of the greatest technological developments of human history and a significant percentage of Americans use it to wall themselves off from anything that would challenge their views. Don't do that. Your computer or smartphone can answer any question you can think of, and most likely direct you to more sources of information where you can figure out new questions to ask. Much of our collected knowledge and wisdom out there waiting to be tapped and harnessed to your command. Sometimes you have to step back from your day to day routine and really consider what a fascinating time it is to be alive. Be curious. Be adventurous. But also, be cautious; and skeptical.

We humans have amazing qualities. We can use tools and remember the past; we can communicate with each other and our offspring, each individual is connected to their neighbors and the future in this way. The internet and all of its myriad portals are new tools that empower us to communicate and remember. But it also amplifies other qualities, such as that of deception, manipulation, domination, intimidation, exclusion, and unthinking obedience that are less useful. 

For example, when the first human tried using a stick to poke holes in the ground and plant food, he (or she) could gather more sustenance than the others who simply gathered nature produce. That person was able to feed themselves better than the others and was consequently able to have more children and live longer. Those children did not have to then spend time figuring out how to use a stick and could instead figure out how to make a better tool. In turn, that knowledge would spread until it was an entire tribe settling down to practice agriculture and take further steps forward in improving their techniques until they produced a surplus of food. When there is a surplus of food, some people can be freed from farming to spend time, energy, thought, and resources on new ways to help the tribe. Once that happens there is a division of labor, society is no longer equal and governing structures arise to regulate the relations of power. This is where politics is born. 

There will always be people who want to keep going, inventing new things, telling new stories, teaching and learning new ways to benefit society. And there will always be others who say "that's far enough," for some people change is just too much to bear. There are many reasons to oppose change or stand in the way of progress, it does not mean the same thing to all people. For another, going back to the idea of "where you sit determines where you stand" from the first post in this series, the division of labor and surplus creates opportunities for privilege, and change often threatens the privileged members of society. Luckily for those elites, many common people fear change out of reflex because of advanced age or lack of sophistication, intellect, curiosity, or imagination. The elite often have little trouble convincing a plurality or even majority of society to keep things the same, or at least change things very slowly and as skewed toward elite interest as possible. In the past the elite often took the form of land-holding warriors or priests and as such their words carried weight with the peasants, who feared for their lives and/or souls. Today, the elite often have power in the form of wealth and control over jobs, development, investment, etc. And especially control over media to sway public opinion towards the interests of that privileged few.

Whenever there is political conflict, it often takes the form described in the previous paragraph. Reformers, also known as Liberals or Progressives, put forward a new idea or invention and the privileged elite minority who happen to like their position in society thank you very much, resist the change with support among the uncurious and fearful commoners. In the past you would often find the peasants supporting the king against some middle-class force trying to change society. Today, things are far more complicated. But the conservative fear of change persists even in the United States of 2016. Subsequent entries to this series will explore these divisions and conflicts in greater detail. For now, take a look at the next politically-themed meme or article that shows up in your news feed with these ideas in mind. And try not to lose composure over the latest attempt by the cynical to make you afraid, because they want you to be afraid but it is very often in your best interest to remain rational. Until next time, good luck and keep exploring!

Election 2016: "Course Objectives"

 If this series were a college class, think of this as the syllabus. I'm not a professor in real life so this post will be loose of necessity and subject to revision. However, there are some goals we should be striving for so I will try to get some down.

First, there will be no assigned reading or papers. Though I might suggest some texts for further investigation and some applications or exercises you may want to try. There won't be any grades or credits awarded obviously, by the "end" of this series you should have a better understanding of our government and politics. 

Second, there will probably be a lot of history. I want this series to give you a very large perspective and that will require an understanding of where we came from. I especially want to discuss the intellectual history of the republic. 

Third, ideology. While I stated in the introduction that people have nearly infinite experiences and varied outlooks or expectations for issues and government, we can generally group them under common ideas. This will make parties and elections easier to understand.

Fourth, American government. Checks and balances, divided branches, and staggered elections. The organization of our Federal Government can be challenging but once you understand how and why this is so politics becomes easier to understand.

Fifth, reliable and unreliable sources. For good or ill, media has become very broad in the age of the internet. We will go over examples and guidelines for how to judge the veracity and relevance of a source of information.

Sixth, rhetoric. Politicians and political writers use what can seem like another language at times. We will discuss what certain common words and phrases actually mean.

This list will probably take a good amount of time to cover. It is my sincere hope that when this project is complete it will be of some use to you. 

Election 2016: The Beginning

You may have heard somewhere that there will be an election in the United States to choose a new president. You also may know that you can cast a vote for a candidate for president, in addition you can vote for all sorts of other offices and there may even be issues called initiatives and referendums where you can directly vote for or against the passage of certain laws. No really, I am totally serious.

Now, before you click away because it sounds like I'm insulting your intelligence, hear me out. I'm writing it this way because there are a lot of people out there who have not voted before, or do not understand the extremely daunting system and issues that come with it. You may be considering participating this time and not know where to start. It is nothing to worry about, though they may not admit it, everyone starts from zero when it comes to voting and civic participation. The problem it seems, is who is available when you do want to take that first step? Sure, we are taught in K-12 but it often is not reinforced or taught in a way that actually makes you want to get involved with politics, or even feel that the abstract lessons are applicable to real life. Maybe it wasn't cool enough or you were too focused on preparing for college or other post-high school plans. It is never too late to get involved, to learn, to vote, to reach out to others. Doing something is better than doing nothing, and if you are reading this then it is likely that you want to do something. I can try to help, and I want to help, but in the end it is up to you.

The first thing to try and keep in mind is that this is a very big country with over three hundred million people living in it. Each one has a past and a future, comes from different areas of life, and therefore has different ideas about how this country should be run. "Where you sit goes a long way towards where you stand" as one person I met put it. He meant that if you are in management you should always vote against any measure or candidate who proposes to raise standards of living for working people. In that case it was the battle over the right of government workers in the state of Wisconsin to organize in unions. Does that sound fair to you? Would you support someone who said they were going to make your life harder and your job less secure? Lots of people who stood to gain nothing from it did in fact vote for Scott Walker. And lots of them now are indeed less secure. They were not all in management, so why did they vote against their own interest? Well, this is why American politics is so hard to understand.

If you turn on the news or pick up a newspaper, or more likely see an article shared by a friend or coworker on social media you are likely to be catching a story in the middle of it. And just like catching a movie in the middle, it can be really confusing. Also unfortunate is that most political writers, whether bloggers like me up to the often grossly overpaid elites on TV or in print, are writing for an audience "in the know." There is very little space dedicated to helping people understand politics and government. Lots of words get thrown around that are unfamiliar to someone just starting out. It can be a huge turn off, and I totally understand. I was there too once and grew awfully frustrated on several occasions, but I can be really stubborn when I want to figure something out so I kept at it. By the time I went to college I could at least say I knew what questions I wanted to ask.

I am a lot more interested in building better citizens than simply persuading you to vote a certain way. You could just google up a government website telling you how to register to vote. Or visit your local Democratic or Republican Party office. The volunteers or workers there will probably be happy to help you vote, but voting is not all there is to good citizenship. We live in crazy times, dangerous and exciting. We have more than eight months to figure things out. Let's get started!