Axioms for Voters

So here it is: an eminently practical axiom for anyone suffering through the election season:

If Candidate A says X about Candidate B, do not simply believe X.

Coming up with this wasn't hard; its wisdom has been amply demonstrated in the presidential campaign. I've written about lies from the McCain camp, but as Ruth Marcus (among various others) points out, Obama has managed to close the mendacity gap. Given the way Obama sold himself, what his campaign has been up to lately counts as a full match for the whoppers about the Bridge to Nowhere, &ct.

Some of us react to this sort of bald-faced balderdash by losing our enthusiasm for our favored candidate. That's probably not a bad thing: actual enthusiasm for anyone who's willing to do what it takes to run a successful presidential campaign is probably misplaced. Better to hold your nose, make your best calculation about how the candidate is likely to act if elected, and decide which choice offers the least evil; vote with your aching head, not your breaking heart. But the trouble is that too many people will simply believe what their own candidate says about the other scoundrel. True: they'll discount the junk the other side is pumping out, but typically from political tribalism rather than intellectual virtue.

And so here's a Second Practical Axiom:

Read what's on nonpartisan sites like http://www.factcheck.org or http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/ before you settle your mind.

Factcheck is my favorite. It does what its name says: checks to see whether what candidates, politicians, administration officials and the like are actually telling the truth when they say things. Politicians have a vested interest in getting you to believe what they say, whether it's true or not. Sites like Factcheck have a vested interest in getting it right. One sign: they regularly publish corrections when they've made mistakes.

And while we're at it, a third Axiom:

Don't believe everything you think about your candidate's virtues and the other side's vices.

That's a variation on my favorite bumper sticker, which simply says: Don't Believe Everything You Think. Remember: all of us are inclined to be uncritical about what suits our preconceptions and to be eager to believe overly-quick dismissals of views we already don't like. Your best friend in thinking about things is the imaginary skeptic on your shoulder

So I propose a new political elite: the elite of people who try to follow something like the three axioms above. The best thing about this particular elite is that it's egalitarian: anyone can join, no matter which party they belong to, no matter how much or little they earn, no matter how many or few degrees they have, and no matter what color their collar. And you don't even need to write a check to sign up.