Editorial: Facts matter in a democracy where people rule
A fundamental premise underlying representative democracy is that the citizenry must be informed.
A government by the people trusts that the people exercise sound judgment. It trusts that the people in general are well reasoned and that collectively, we will make decisions for the good of the whole, not for the self-centered benefit of a few. Our nation is based on this belief.
It also is based on the assumption that for that judgment to be sound, it must be based on facts and information, not on impulse and vague intuition.
In other words, facts matter.
The opportunity today to access information - and for that matter, to observe and participate in thoughtful debate that can challenge and constructively reshape our viewpoints - is, well, breathtaking.
We live in a time when centuries of information are available at our fingertips. What used to take months, perhaps even years, to research, we now can find in minutes or even seconds.
We live in a time when, through social media, we can develop relationships with great masses of people from all around the globe, to interact in a way that increases our understanding of people who are not "like us" as well as enriching our connections to people who are.
What an amazing, incredible time.
And yet, it is hard to remember a time when our discourse seemed to be filled with so much misinformation.
Some of it's made of innocent mistakes, but it's also made of opinions masquerading as facts, biases that misconstrue the facts, pranks that disrespect the facts and lies intended to obscure the facts.
Some of it is innocuous or unintended. But much of it is sinister and cynical.
Some of it is downright Orwellian.
Today, we launch a new weekly Facts Matter column by Bob Oswald to try to sort fact from fiction. Obviously, one column can't get to it all, but by taking on some examples, we hope if nothing else to raise awareness.
The point of the column isn't to pick nits. It's not to challenge partisan hyperbole that is subject to nuance, debate and interpretation.
The point is to celebrate truth, to challenge false information presented as facts.
We expect the column will be interesting and even entertaining.
We don't expect it to be political. (Political assertions may be examined, but not to cheer on one side or the other.)
Mainly, we intend for the column to be informative.
Because facts matter.
Our republic depends on a citizenry that engages in critical, not cynical, thinking. It depends on a citizenry that is informed.
That isn't just every citizen's right. It's also every citizen's obligation.