Been kind of thinking about politics these days and more specifically the way we discuss and think about politics.
Each of us in our daily lives as citizens dome across political issues. And as our obligation to be a good citizen we look to be "informed" on a subject. However what I sometimes take issue with and think about is how informed or knowledgeable does one have to be to have a substantiated opinion? Sure we all feel a certain obligation and sometimes a bit of pride in the opinions we have take, yet how would one know to accept the claims/opinions of others?
How I see it sometimes is that the world is far more complex and often beyond the capacity of the average citizen to understand. We like to take a complex issue and try and boil it down and reduce it to the fundamental "facts" so as to make ourselves feel in control and informed and this invariably leaves much be desired as this overspimlifies and generalizes factors that should need to be taken into accunt.
So where does this leave us? Should we just give up trying to understand things and accept that things are beyond our understanding? No I do not think that will help things.
Instead, what if we changed the way we ask certain things? For example: what if instead of asking, "should abortion be legal?" we asked "what is more important, liberty or virtue?" or perhaps "should the bailout have happened" we ask"what values do markets hold and are those the kinds of values we seek?"
I think by wording these questions differently helps us better get to the core of the issue without allowing ourselves to be clouded by petty political divisions. Doing so I think will bring us one step closer to helping us form opinions that are based on values we hold instead of the political affiliations we hold.
But what do I know? I am here spouting off opinions left and right just like everybody else.
