You are not subject to a remote and unsympathetic sovereign, nor to an unrepresentative legislative body (unless you live in the District of Columbia). Neither should you be subject in the formation of your political opinions — indeed, your view of reality — to the half-truths and outright falsehoods with which you are bombarded daily. It is your job as a citizen not to be gulled by the self-serving misrepresentations of elected officials or the distortions and fantasies retailed by charlatans on the air, in print, and over the Internet.
Mr. Madison and Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Hamilton, however vigorously they disagreed on other matters, were united on this point: They wanted you to be an informed and independent thinker, because on your ability to make informed and responsible choices rests the fate of the republic they created. As Mr. Franklin said at the close of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, you have a republic — if you can keep it. ~ John McIntyre
A point I wish was stressed more in civics classes in high school -- the responsibility of the individual to gather and synthesize their own information. It would filter out 75 percent or more of what passes these days as "news coverage." And people would stop that infernal path of thinking, "I am a (insert name of political party here) and, therefore, this is what I think."
ReplyDeleteAmen, sister!
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