Ask Auntie Pinko
January 9, 2003

Dear Auntie Pinko,

I have been trying to learn more about politics and major political issues, as I have grown weary of not really knowing what's going on in my country and would like to be able to use my vote as effectively as possible. I have two large problems with this. First, 'politics and major political issues' seems to mean 'almost everything about everything,' and my things-to-read stack is becoming taller much faster than I can make it shorter.

The second problem has to do with the stuff in the pile. It seems that every author has an agenda, and would rather tell me about that than present all the facts. While I can certainly sympathize ­ it may actually be impossible to care enough about an issue to write about it while not actually favoring one side of that issue -- I find it rather overwhelming. How does an undereducated fellow like me gain an initial understanding of any issue?

Adam,
Vermont

Dear Adam,

Congratulations, you're more than halfway there, already! Auntie Pinko can deduce this based on two clues: First, you've made the connection between "politics and major political issues" and "everything about everything." You'd be surprised how many people don't see that. But it's a big step toward being able to grasp an issue thoroughly and well. That's going to sound like a contradiction, but I'll get to it in a minute. Bear with me.

The second clue is that you've figured out the thing about agendas. Again, you'd be surprised at how many people don't get that one. We all have agendas, even Auntie Pinko (as you can probably tell.) We all have many of them, in fact! The unvarnished truth is that with the exception of a very narrow range of matters that can be fully and accurately assessed, described, and verified by the rigorous use of scientific method, every single thing humans do, think, observe, and/or interact with is viewed through a "filter" of human agenda.

Okay, let me get back to that first wild statement about understanding the existence of links between everything being crucial to understanding an issue thoroughly and well. Do you remember the old rhyme about cascading consequences? "For want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for want of the shoe, the horse was lost; for want of the horse, the rider was lost; for want of the rider, the message was lost; for want of the message, the battle was lost- all for the loss of a horseshoe nail." Here the issues of metallurgical quality and professional standards for blacksmiths, not to mention the issue of road maintenance, are connected with the issue of military effectiveness.

So the trick is not to look for issues that can be viewed in isolation, or even to try to isolate issues in order to understand them. There aren't any, and you can't. And since agendas are inseparable from human beings, you'll never be able to separate human agendas from issues. To understand politics and political issues, you have to know not only the agenda, but the why of the agenda. The "why" gives you a reference point from which to judge how much and from which direction the agenda's influence operates.

Now, with all these agendas circulating, how can you do an effective reality check? This is where the "everything is related to everything else" becomes useful, Adam. Because if you know what the connections are, you can "triangulate" by examining those relationships. So if, (just as an example,) you read that the President of the Chamber of Commerce wants the city council to change zoning somewhere, you can first look for the motivation behind that agenda (there's probably more than one,) and then look at all the things that affect, or are affected by, zoning.

Sound like a lot of work? Of course it is. In a nutshell, here's the rule: The quality and reliability of the conclusions you draw from information is going to be in direct proportion to the amount of work you put into gathering and analyzing it. If you read one book on a subject (assuming it's reasonably good,) you'll know a little about it. If you read two books, especially by authors with different agendas and different viewpoints, you'll know more. If you read six books and five articles about it, by a whole range of people, you might know quite a bit. If you take the time to think about what you read, the agendas of who wrote it, and how it relates to everything else.

So it will never be possible for anyone to know "all about" all of the political issues, or even all the major ones. But remember how everything is related to everything else? If you know quite a lot about just a few issues, the fact that those issues relate to many other issues will mean you'll know at least something about a lot of other issues, too. So don't get discouraged, Adam, and thanks for writing Auntie Pinko!