There was a time early in my career when I believed that the single most important thing an American citizen could do was vote. But if a career engaging in politics and watching politicians at work has taught me anything, it’s how much our country depends on people rolling up their sleeves and getting involved. […]
There was a time early in my career when I believed that the single most important thing an American citizen could do was vote. But if a career engaging in politics and watching politicians at work has taught me anything, it’s how much our country depends on people rolling up their sleeves and getting involved. And, increasingly, how much work this demands from all of us.
Don’t get me wrong: Voting is still important. So is taking the time to be informed about policy and politics, and telling your representatives what’s important to you. But over the years, what may have impressed me the most has been watching how we make progress — as a community, a state, and even a country — when ordinary people get involved in making this a better place to live.
The thing is, being effective at any of this — from casting a responsible vote, to addressing a neighborhood challenge, to showing up at a town hall in your congressional district to air your concerns — means learning how to inform yourself about issues, explore and evaluate possible solutions, and maybe above all, tell the difference between fact and fiction. Taking responsibility for being informed truly matters.
I wish I could say that this was simple, but it’s not — at least, not any longer. There’s no shortage of information and opinion out there, but finding trustworthy sources of information has gotten harder, and the need to be on guard against misinformation and biased interpretations — and to recognize that in the online world in particular, false or slanted information is rampant — has become part and parcel of modern life.
So, what’s a citizen who wants to be involved do? I would argue that while mainstream news organizations have plenty of faults and sometimes go astray, day in and day out they’re the most reliable source of news and information out there. But it’s not safe to rely on just one — seeking a variety of sources will make you both more knowledgeable and better equipped to weigh in.
In recent years, several efforts to help people get out of their ideological bubbles have gained large national followings. Every day, Isaac Saul’s newsletter, Tangle, comes at a major issue in the news from both the left and the right, with Saul himself — or a member of his staff — adding his own take, which often helpfully puts things in perspective. Straight Arrow News, an independently financed website, tries to “report down the middle with facts. Our reporting is delivered to you without bias, filter, or spin,” they write. And Allsides.com ranks media bias and offers a look every day at top stories “from the left, center, and right” as a way of helping readers parse how the media is approaching them.
There are other similar endeavors, and it’s worth exploring them to find what works best for you. But the key is that being an involved citizen at any level means taking responsibility for being knowledgeable and well-informed. It’s what’s needed if you’re going to engage with an elected representative — whose job, after all, often involves marshaling arguments supporting the position they’ve taken. And it’s what’s needed if you’re getting involved in community life. Key questions to address include: How reliable is the information you’re basing your actions on? Is your involvement helping, or is it actually hurting because it’s based on incorrect information? Taking the time to study an issue and learn it from all sides makes you a more effective citizen, plain and simple.
This seems like a lot of work, and it is. But our democracy was built on the assumption that an engaged, well-informed electorate would participate constructively in driving it forward. Things may have gotten a lot more complicated over the centuries, but that core idea — that all of us have skin in the game and that, no matter how modest the issue, all of us have the ability to improve the quality of life in our community — has been a constant. Or to put it another way: If you want the system to work for you, you’ve got to participate in it.
Lee Hamilton, 94, is a senior advisor for the Indiana University (IU) Center on Representative Government, distinguished scholar at the IU Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, and professor of practice at the IU O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Hamilton, a Democrat, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years (1965-1999), representing a district in south-central Indiana.
Lee Hamilton
