William_T._Bianco,_David_T._Canon]_American_Polit

2424 Chapter 1 | Understanding American Politics

How to Be a Critical Consumer of Politics

One of the biggest problems in understanding American politics today is deciding

whom you should believe. If you want to justify a particular policy solution or point of

view on any political issue, you can find a source that will help you do just that. Would

free college tuition for all create a well-informed American citizenry? There are people

who think so—and who have spent a great deal of time making this argument on free

and paid media. On the other hand, would making college free do nothing except

increase enrollments? There are plenty of easily accessible arguments for this position

as well.

In one sense, the mountain of available information is an amazing asset. If you want

to learn about politics, there are many more sources and much more content available

now compared to generations ago. But if sources disagree, who should you believe? One

source may be as objective as possible, offering information without trying to shape the

conclusions its audience might draw. But another may be providing information that

is clearly trying to push you in one direction. In such a case, it is better to trust the more

objective source. But if you can’t be sure about the motivations of a source’s creator,

what should you do?

One answer is to focus on sources that provide evidence to back up their claims.

Anyone can say that free tuition will create a well-informed citizenry. However, this

argument is more credible if it comes with supporting data, such as a study showing

that college graduates are better informed than people who never attended. As

engineer David Akin once put it, “Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.”

It also helps to gather information from multiple sources, especially if the sources

have different ideological or other biases. For example, on June 16, 2017, Trump

tweeted about a Rasmussen Reports poll that showed his approval at 50 percent.

However, the Rasmussen poll was an outlier; all the other polls taken at the same time

showed Trump’s approval rating to be significantly lower. In fact, FiveThirtyEight’s

UNDERSTAND HOW

TO INTERPRET, EVALUATE,

AND USE POLITICAL

INFORMATION

The further a society drifts from

the truth, the more it will hate

those who speak it.

—George Orwell

American politics is over which aspect of political culture should carry the day. The

fact that issues such as health care have been central in recent elections is a reminder

of the importance of elections in a democracy, and our belief that elections are one

venue where conflicts are debated and resolved.

“Why

Should

I Care?”

To truly understand American politics, you must understand America’s core values:

democracy, liberty, and equality. These values set broad limits on how political

conflicts will be resolved. Democracy implies that the people are the ultimate

authority over political outcomes. Liberty implies that people are able to express

whatever demands they want and to choose among a wide range of strategies

in trying to shape the outcomes of political decisions. And equality means that

everyone has an equal share of decision-making power. Despite conflicts over

their interpretations, most Americans believe in these core values, and reminding

ourselves of this can help us work toward resolving political conflicts.

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