A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon a young conservative blogger from Washington state. Literally, his blog is called “The Young Conservative” and comes complete with proud photographic homage to Reagan and Bush-current. As you might have expected, I quickly found a post that dropped my jaw. So, I decided to leave a comment or two…or twelve. For 4-5 days we went back and forth on everything from Social Security reform (the primary discussion) to Ann Coulter being a nutcase (the only thing we agreed on).
It is really a fun read if you’ve got a few minutes. And if you only have 30 seconds, the comment posted by RightWingRocker is the most awesome comment I’ve ever read. And in my response I managed to nail Sean Hannity and Time magazine covergirl Ann Coulter.
One interesting thing I took away from the exchange is that I am in favor of private accounts in which Americans invest a portion of their earnings in the stock market. Where we fundamentally differed in the argument was the fact that I don’t think you need to carve those accounts out of Social Security and erode the principle of the program, which is security. I think every American should have a private investment account (are there public investment accounts?). It would make a nice add-on to Social Security (add-on, not carve-out). Surely Mr. Bush wouldn’t have a problem providing a tax-free way for Americans who currently pay into the Social Security program to contribute–at their own disgression–to an investment account that they could one day pull money from in addition to their Social Security benefit. Makes sense to me, but remember, I’m just an idiot.
rob
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5 Comments
Rob,
How does one become as well versed in politics as you? I’m not really big into politics or the stats that accompany them. You seem to have a love for them, or at least a love for debating them. I graduate this spring with a Biomedical Engineering major, but I’ld really like to get into some form of patent law or nanotechnology regulations law. If you have any advice or a simple… “you’re out of your league kid” type comment I’ld love to hear it.
Hey Andy,
First of all, thanks for reading. It is really fun to get feedback.
I spend a lot of time reading the news and blogs. I also listen to NPR quite a bit. I took a critical thinking class (usually buried somewhere in the philosophy department) in college that really made a difference in how I see the media and the world. It helped me analyze media better for tone and framing. And it taught me to not take things at face value. That is so important in a world of PR consultants and spin-meisters. And its not that I have a cynical view of the world, actually I’m real passionate about the truth. So I’m always driven to get the truth in an argument.
Without a doubt though–what helps the most is reading good journalism. Just browsing the Washington Post, NYTimes, LATimes, or (gulp) CNN online for articles that interest you will help. One of the most outstanding political blogs out there is TalkingPointsMemo (it’s in my links list). You’ll see I gleam a number of my arguments from there. Josh Marshall is an outstanding writer. Also The Daily Howler is awesome and vicious. If FOX News kept the bluster but told the truth, it would probably sound like The Daily Howler. I have to admit it makes politics more fun, but I wouldn’t read it if it wasn’t truthful.
The emergence of FOX News Channel has brought about a new class of websites that unspin their broadcasts. Media Matters for America is the best of these.
If you are getting a Biomedical Engineering degree, you’re never going to hear “You’re out of your league kid” from me. I was a Conservation Bio major and it was tough. Chances are you’ve had to critique scientific papers, which is good practice (if extremely boring) in critical thinking. One of my favorite teachers in school used to regularly find glaring experimental errors in published papers and tell us about them.
Lastly, I would say, get Al Franken’s last book, “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.” It is a great read that does a good job of critical reporting on conservative spin. No matter your political beliefs, it is a well researched book that was heavily attacked by Bill O’Reilly and company as an “attack.” Which gets into the critical thinking thing I said before. FOX and O’Reilly called it an attack, but they didn’t argue with the facts as stated in the book.
I realize this is a huge respose to a simple question. Sorry about that. I’m no expert by any means on this topic, I can only tell you what I’ve done personally. I hope it helps.
Above all I would say just find out all you can about the things you are passionate about. I’m passionate about public policy as it relates to the middle class, so I spend most of my time there. The other thing that is important to do is to listen to those who disagree with you. It helps to know where they are coming from.
Rob
Google…for sure makes me sound 10x smarter than I am. If I don’t know something I Google it and look for a reputable webpage to learn about it.
thanks again for your comment Andy.
Rob
Sorry to say I’m just now finding your post.
Looks like Geoff purged the comments or something.
In any case, I can’t go there and see what it was i said that was so awesome :(.
Of course, if it’s on Socialist Security reform, I can only imagine :).
RWR
It was something like “you’re basically an idiot.”
I’m bummed Geoff got rid of the comments because that thread was full of great debate.