Ni5: Perspectives

This is where we offer some of our thoughts and perspectives to you. We won't promise they're better than anyone else's. Or even right. But we'll at least provide interesting ways of looking at things.

Combined with the information we provide in the other parts of this site, we hope to encourage interesting and meaningful conversations about things that affect you.

DID YOU JUST LEARN SOMETHING?
Is it worth a dollar?

News in FiVe is free to read, but it takes time and money to publish.

If you find what we do valuable, please help us continue with a small donation every so often. Even a dollar or three makes a difference.

In return, we'll keep providing you the most relevant, understandable, and accessible news and information.

It's secure and takes only about a minute.

Thanks!

Click here to contribute

Why Purple is my Favorite Color

Date: 2012-Nov-08 Author: Barry Shatzman

The election's over. Barack Obama won. And from the looks of this electoral map, everyone in the Northeast and the West are celebrating. And while there may be a lot of campgrounds in the South and middle of the country, it appears that very few of the campers there are happy ones.

But looks, as we know, can be deceiving.

The popular vote was close to even. But more important... just because a state went "red" or "blue" doesn't mean that everyone in that state voted for the same guy. Take a look at some of these states...

Even in Utah - the state in which Romney did best, almost a third of all voters picked Obama.

As a country, we're not nearly as divided as it might be convenient to believe. If we were, we wouldn't have states with governors from one party and senators from another.

You think "Obamacare" is bad for everyone? Your neighbor's sick child has health care because of it. You think raising taxes on the wealthy is the road to prosperity? Your neighbor says lowering their taxes is the right road.

But here's the deal... In spite of our differences of opinion, at the end of the day we can end up with only one policy for an issue. And whether that policy is on tax rates, consumer protection, schools, or road paving - it affects us all the same way.

With such disparate philosophies, how do we decide which one will benefit the overwhelming majority of us?

We can pick one based on whoever shouts the loudest that "the other side" must be either stupid or evil. That'll give us a 50% chance of getting it right, and 100% chance of half the country being pissed off.

Or does it make more sense for all of us to take a look at evidence and facts that can be verified, and base our policies on those facts? Sounds easy enough, right? Except one way or the other, you gotta find a way to break it to half the people that the evidence simply doesn't support what they know in their heart is right. If you think that's easy, tell me why politics will be the discussion topic most likely to drive your family to different rooms at your Thanksgiving get-together.

But find a way we must. I'll tell you why, and i'm gonna do it in italics so you'll read it loud and clear. If it's that hard to convince someone with evidence that the ideas they hold dear aren't likely to help them, how do you expect to do it with divisive and vitriolic rhetoric?

As i hope you've learned by now, evidence shows that sure ain't gonna work.