To my students:

I’m always impressed and inspired by your class conversations, your debates, and your responses to new ideas. I’m also moved by the feelings some of you have expressed at times when our class discussions intersect with national events such as a presidential election.

I hear you and empathize when you say you’re frustrated with politics, or that you feel more like you’re told what to do (get out and vote) without more explanation. I suspect at times this can feel patronizing, like a child told to eat their vegetables and they’ll understand when they’re older.

As an educator, I think we owe you answers to your questions: Why should I have a political conversation when it seems to end negatively? What impact does this really have on me in my daily life?  What’s the point of having a debate? How do I find good news that isn’t biased? How do I even figure out where to start?

These are five questions that I want to answer for you. In each bullet point, I’ve provided links to references for more reading. The purpose of this message is not to sway your own ideas. It is to give you an understanding of the why and the how of politics, with a bit of inspiration and, hopefully, a good place to start. Enjoy…

Q: Why should I have a political conversation when it seems to end negatively?
A: Politics is about process.

• Politics by definition is not about the product or the outcome; it’s about the process and the debate. The OED defines politics as the activities and administration of a state: your nation. The process occurs through the dialogue and the conversations that you have. It takes place by exchanging your different points of view on questions of how to run a society. It can be as local as what food should be served in a high school cafeteria, or as national as how much money should be used to help struggling businesses.
• If we accept the premise that politics is about the process, the conversation, then this also helps to explain our frustration. Politics is informed by your individuality, culture, values, and lived experiences. It is the nexus at which we meet to discuss, compromise, and, yes, sometimes clash. Clashing is what happens in a society where its first amendment allows the freedom of speech and the right to assemble in groups, through media or technology, to share your collective voice with government leadership.
• Democracy thrives when we can exchange ideas back and forth from our different perspectives. It’s a process where we arrive at a middle ground, and aim to evolve beyond the starting point where we first began the conversation. Michael Lynch wrote that in a democracy, we owe it to each other to explain our point of view with reason and rationality in an era of widespread skepticism.

Q: What impact does this really have on me in my daily life?
A: Democracy is about choice.

• We often say we live in a democracy. This is true and yet also imprecise. The United States is a republic, guaranteed by article 4, section 4 of the constitution. This means that we choose the people to make the decisions for us. Democracy is that choice, and it’s represented through the physical act of voting. It is the result, every 2 or 4 years, of the dialogue and conversations that you have with others around you.
• Democracy is an ongoing experiment in the way we make choices. In 1787, one year prior to the U.S. constitution being ratified, a lawyer named Alexander Hamilton called it an experiment in the science of politics: “It seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitution on accident and force.” This means that every election is a test of our capability to determine the composition of government.
• Remember these words: reflection and choice. These are the actions we partake in a republic to ensure that society is left not to accident but to free will and the conscience of the people. John Dewey, educational philosopher, wrote about reflective thought as the “active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which it tends.” In simple terms, reflection is your thinking about ideas and what you believe. Reflection takes place in your own private thoughts as much as in the public domain of your friends, family, and strangers.

Q: What’s the point of having a debate?
A: Good debate results in decisions.

• Debates are a way to improve your skills around having a good discussion and developing an effective argument. Debates about polices and laws rely on three parts: the claim (your position), the warrant (the evidence to support your position), and the impact (the relevance). Debate is conversation about some topic or question that requires coming to a decision. That’s why it’s at the center of a democracy and the structure of government.
• Debate occurs in all three branches of government. In the legislative branch, or U.S. Congress, debate takes place to set the laws of a nation; this is where power is held by and given to the people through representation. In the judicial branch, or U.S. courts, debate takes place to interpret and enforce the law, or in the case of the Supreme Court, to reconcile disputes about the constitution. In the executive branch, or U.S. President, debate takes place to decide how to best to represent the country to other nations, to command the military, and to appoint officers of the nation. We pay most attention to this position perhaps because the president is the nation embodied.
• When you have a good debate or discussion about a topic, you should find yourself experiencing a middling effect, where you find yourself saying, it depends. This is the grey area between the two extremes of an issue. It’s the space that, ideally, we should strive to inhabit following a good debate. It also means that an ideal outcome combines the perspectives and experiences from many people’s points of view. Aristotle called this a moral virtue of courage: we must “drag ourselves” to the intermediate, the middle, the mean between extremes. When you do this, it means you’re seeing the nuances and details of an issue.

Q: How do I find good news that isn’t biased?
A: Read and listen outside of your circle.

• Information and media are occasionally but usually not the same thing. The problem is that we refer to all of this loosely as “the news.” To overcome our frustration, we have to be active not passive about reading and detecting. Begin by separating information from commentary. They’re like a Venn diagram of two circles, where commentary occurs on the outside, and information sits someplace in the middle where the circles overlap. Philosopher John Rawls wrote that a modern democracy is subject to disagreement because it does not attempt to control the flow of information and the minds of its citizens. Therefore, it becomes your responsibility to be mindful of what you read and listen to.
• If you feel distrustful of news because of bias or reliability, try reversing your expectations: look for non-bias (neutral) and high reliability (factual). Bias is not always a bad thing; commentary and opinion are useful for dialogue and debate. Think of bias in this case more as political leaning. The problem that frustrates us is when political leaning is hidden and blended into information, then used as a source of authority. This non-partisan media chart ranks sources and rates them on two scales of political leaning and factual basis. A fun guideline is that the duller it sounds, the more likely the information is neutral. Good sources today are Reuters and Associated Press.
• If you want to feel more knowledgeable, then it’s time to do the hard work and read more information until you can make a decision for yourself. The phrase you’ve heard called an echo chamber occurs on both sides of political leaning. This is also known more formally as an epistemic bubble, meaning that knowledge is contained within a sphere. Another metaphor is that we create a supply chain of trust, where the longer it is, the more difficult it becomes for any one person to break through it. Read more sources outside of your circle. And when you’re done with those, read more different sources. You do this already in your lives: listening to different music to decide on the best songs, or playing different games to decide which experience is the best, or watching different shows or movies to debate about the best actor, writer or director. The same is true in reading and listening to information.

Q: How do I even figure out where to start?
A: A good place to start is patience, issues, and values.

• Exercise patience. Frustration is a common response to politics. It’s because the conversation is often unclear and made difficult by people choosing sides. Remember, politics is about the process, not the end result. Try to begin a conversation with a friend with patience. This is a good place to start.
• Focus on the issues. Challenge yourself to one day of not mentioning a candidate’s name, and only mentioning an issue you care about. Do the same with your friends. Ask them: what do you think about this issue? This is a good place to start.
• Consider your values. Ask yourself, what matters to you? Read about the candidates’ plans on the issues. Look at the candidates’ answers to questions. Imagine you’re the presidential candidate, and answer the questions for yourself. Add up your score and see where you stand on your values. This is a good place to start.

Continue to keep an open mind to new ideas and perspectives. A good place to start always begins with you.

Be well,

Brian Maj
DePaul University