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Are you tired of polarized politics?

Do you feel like politics are getting worse and reaching a tipping point where they may actually result in violent conflict or the fall of governments?

Do you find that you are unable to discuss politics with the opposing side in a productive way?

Please direct your energy toward this project.

Mission

The mission of this politics category is to channel the frantic energy that has been whipped up by politicians, the media, and social media into something productive. The energy is there, this site provides the structure to channel both sides to common solutions using historical context, and constructive debate.

Goal

The specific goal is to produce one 500 word essay per 2 weeks on a current political topic, throughout 2019. The template below is provided as a guideline.

Essay Template

• News story, or link to a news story.
• Historical context for the situation, or link to relevant history.
• The problem, perceived.
• The problem, actual.
• What the main stream media says.
• Author’s opinion.
• The solution to the problem.

Each essay must end with a solution. Other editing guidelines are as follows:

• Full disclosure: this is edited by Nate. The goal is posts that both sides view as productive, even if they disagree.
• Language used must be accurate and free of contentious political bias.
• Some phrasing will be necessarily contentious. I’ll deal with that as it arises and be as transparent as I can.
• Blaming politicians will not be tolerated. They don’t single-handedly cause major problems, and at least they are there participating, trying to contribute.
• Electing a certain party over another is not a solution. You have to describe an actual policy, at least an overview.
• Characterizing large groups of people as stupid, uneducated, or wrong is a waste of time.
• Reference external material with links. This is the internet. You don’t have to rewrite everything and make another copy. Just link to it.
• 500 words is short. The essay should be concise, and positive. It should not take a long time to write.

If an argument lasts more than five minutes then both sides are wrong. -Neil deGrasse Tyson

• This is a debate that is made up of concise, 5 minute arguments. If the solution doesn’t work, we try something else and debate that.
• Comments are allowed but limited to 140 characters. Don’t like that limit? Then write a post in the proper format. Don’t like that? Start your own blog.

The Name

Rage and frenzy will pull down more in half an hour than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years.-Edmund Burke, 1790 in reference to the French Revolution

Prefer Mud-Slinging?

For those who prefer that I just trash the media because it’s more fun, I’ll refer you to these quotes attributed to Thomas Jefferson:

https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/blog/thomas-jefferson-had-some-issues-newspapers/