Check civics, then facts
A key challenge in assessing the veracity of news today is whether the statements contained therein are factual or not. A Google search of “fact check” produces more than 1.3 billion results. Many go-to, fact-check Web sites claim to be independent or non-partisan, but a little digging reveals that they are sponsored by highly partisan media, political and social organizations. Reporters and fact-checkers seem to channel American author and satirist Mark Twain on a daily basis. He said, “Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.”
It is likely human nature to believe the “facts” and fact-checkers that most consistently align with our political and social perspectives, and little can persuade us to part company with those facts, checkers and perspectives. This leaves any consumer of information in a quandary.
As no single source of truth in politics or the media exists when it comes to facts, perhaps it is a more useful enterprise to focus on principles and on the correctness of policy and politics vis-à-vis those principles. This is where a discussion of civics may be more beneficial than a debate over facts and “fake news.”
Quoted in The School Journal, July 25, 1885, E.E. White described civics “as including not only the science of government, but political economy, and that part of social science which is related to government and citizenship.”
In our time together, gentle reader, we shall consider the civics of policy proposals and political rhetoric. With a deeper understanding of the principles of our social contract and the civics that apply to that contract, we can create for ourselves a sharper lens through which to examine the facts that relate to policy and rhetoric. I believe this is a vitally important undertaking, because we stand on the precipice of totalitarianism. The American idea that political power comes from the citizens and that rights are inherent in our personhood — a key distinction between a citizen and a subject or comrade — has been tragically lost during the course of our nation’s history, particularly during the past 60 to 70 years. We need to rediscover our citizenship soon, lest we risk losing it for all time.
Approximately once a week (sometimes more often, sometimes less), I will submit for your kind consideration an analysis of a political speech, legislative proposal, or the like. My intent will not be to debate the facts, although that may occur from time to time, but to get to the underlying principles at play and their alignment to our social contract. Through comments and email, you are invited to join in the analysis and discussion of these important topics, which affect each of our lives and which have the potential to effect (or not) our pursuit of happiness.
Until next time, I remain…
Tom Field, Citizen
