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Democracy is not dead. But you're hundred percent right about Billionaires. Think Tanks are all 100% biased depending on who is funding what. Whether it's a com

Democracy is not dead. But you're hundred percent right about Billionaires. Think Tanks are all 100% biased depending on who is funding what. Whether it's a company or a billionaire. Economists, professors, public figures, Historians, everyone is being paid. The one tool we can wield in this information or rather misinformation age is critical thinking. I no longer follow any pundit. I have nowhere near their knowledge in their respective fields, but I can think and ponder whether their views make sense. Robert Reich, Krugman, Brooks, Shields, Shapiro or whomever. See what slant they are coming from, try to understand if they make sense. Immediately afterwards, read about the same topic from someone on the opposite side of the spectrum. Don't get lost in the doomsday world is ending, other side is evil BS. Then hold an opinion, but don't stick to it. Allow it to be malleable and change and try arguing from the other side constantly. I feel like our own ego is partly what let's us join each tribe of thought and we further reinforce it from reading similar viewpoints because we want to be good and right. Sounds simple, but it's so easy to get caught up in it without taking a step back and just thinking about that thought process. So, that's how you keep democracy alive. Not through simple education where you reiterate facts, memorize or follow directions, but through improving critical thinking which is slowly worsening in college and high schools. In a conversation with a classmate, we reminisced how in 3rd grade we learned how to spot bias in news articles, practicing for months. I feel like that's disappeared too.

enraged_camel 9y ago
A good way of validating an idea is to look at empirical evidence, or the results of the application of that idea in other places. A good example of this is the current tax debate. Republicans claim lowering taxes is a great way to "jump-start" the economy. But if you look at Kansas, a state that has been running that experiment for half a decade, you realize that it's a terrible idea. https://www.npr.org/2017/10/25/560040131/as-trump-proposes-tax-cuts-kansas-deals-with-aftermath-of-experiment https://www.npr.org/2017/10/25/560040131/as-trump-proposes-t...
- zeveb 9y ago
  > But if you look at Kansas, a state that has been running that experiment for half a decade But then there are other states, like Florida IIRC, who have also been running that experiment and succeeding. So then the key is to see why one works and the other doesn't.
  - enraged_camel 9y ago
    >>But then there are other states, like Florida IIRC, who have also been running that experiment and succeeding. Succeeding by what measure?
  - mcafeeryan92 9y ago
    I'm from Florida. Born and raised. I'm not sure what they have been succeeding at. Opioid crisis is rampant, inequality is insane, the education system got worse and worse throughout my education and seems to have gotten worse since I graduated high school and left. Miami is partially underwater every king tide because of rising sea levels and yet under Rick Scott's government the phrase "climate change" is forbidden in emails and correspondence, so people are hamstringed into doing nothing about it. Charter schools have been given tons of leeway and there are tons of accounts of them discriminating against students who are less likely to be academic achievers on the one end of the spectrum (so that their stats look better), and on the other end of the spectrum they neglect and abuse the children in the classrooms. As an individual it seems great to go work there as opposed to here in CA because there is no state income tax, yet I still make way more money here in CA because there is practically no industry in FL unless you're a lawyer or a doctor.
  - zeveb 9y ago
    I was wrong: I was thinking of North Carolina[0]. [0] http://www.nationalreview.com/article/454640/north-carolina-tax-cuts-model-other-states-should-follow http://www.nationalreview.com/article/454640/north-carolina-...

enraged_camel 9y ago

A good way of validating an idea is to look at empirical evidence, or the results of the application of that idea in other places. A good example of this is the current tax debate. Republicans claim lowering taxes is a great way to "jump-start" the economy. But if you look at Kansas, a state that has been running that experiment for half a decade, you realize that it's a terrible idea. https://www.npr.org/2017/10/25/560040131/as-trump-proposes-tax-cuts-kansas-deals-with-aftermath-of-experiment https://www.npr.org/2017/10/25/560040131/as-trump-proposes-t...

zeveb 9y ago
> But if you look at Kansas, a state that has been running that experiment for half a decade But then there are other states, like Florida IIRC, who have also been running that experiment and succeeding. So then the key is to see why one works and the other doesn't.
- enraged_camel 9y ago
  >>But then there are other states, like Florida IIRC, who have also been running that experiment and succeeding. Succeeding by what measure?
- mcafeeryan92 9y ago
  I'm from Florida. Born and raised. I'm not sure what they have been succeeding at. Opioid crisis is rampant, inequality is insane, the education system got worse and worse throughout my education and seems to have gotten worse since I graduated high school and left. Miami is partially underwater every king tide because of rising sea levels and yet under Rick Scott's government the phrase "climate change" is forbidden in emails and correspondence, so people are hamstringed into doing nothing about it. Charter schools have been given tons of leeway and there are tons of accounts of them discriminating against students who are less likely to be academic achievers on the one end of the spectrum (so that their stats look better), and on the other end of the spectrum they neglect and abuse the children in the classrooms. As an individual it seems great to go work there as opposed to here in CA because there is no state income tax, yet I still make way more money here in CA because there is practically no industry in FL unless you're a lawyer or a doctor.
- zeveb 9y ago
  I was wrong: I was thinking of North Carolina[0]. [0] http://www.nationalreview.com/article/454640/north-carolina-tax-cuts-model-other-states-should-follow http://www.nationalreview.com/article/454640/north-carolina-...