Civicwiki:Just the Facts Maam

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Welcome to Civicwiki!

CW is a project that seeks to bring objective thought to civic issues. It is a reaction to the political process as it has slowly evolved from our country's beginnings to today - a process filled with rhetoric aimed at emotional reaction, unsupported assertion, fact presented out of context, one-sided half truths, fabrication presented as fact, all to serve political agendas. Too often the desire for political power trumps truth. Full disclosure is rare. We find this to be the case even on the part of so-called fact checkers. CW would prefer political advocacy that places objective information above political goal. We are not being Pollyannaish. We know that one web site won't cure these ills. We just want to push back by promoting honest discussion and presentation of civic issues. We have much to gain by such an endeavor. Only those who seek political power and influence for power's sake alone can be threatened by the facts.

CW has an agenda that we hope is acceptable to all - to help CW readers become immune to misinformation. CW intends to approach this agenda by making fact based discussion preeminent. I.e., let's ground ourselves in reality. Let's first recognize and agree on the facts. Then we can either agree or disagree on what they mean. In doing so, we will be better informed voters and political activists. It's a tall order. The sponsors of this site cannot do this alone. We need an ever expanding group of contributors who agree with our mission. Hopefully, that will include you. Please visit CW often and, when you have something to contribute, give us the benefit of your thoughts - either by starting a new article, or by editing an existing article. We have provided instructions and tutorials for doing so.

There are rules for contributors and editors:

  • This site is for fact based discussion of civic issues that should inform political activity.
  • Articles must start from factual information supported by reference to verifiable and credible sources.
  • This site is not for political advocacy or attack. Mention of a current elected official or of a candidate for elected office should be avoided and will likely be removed. (More on this in instructions for editing and submitting content.)
  • The same goes for political parties and commonly recognized political groups, labels, and categories such as 'liberal', 'conservative', 'progressive', and 'Tea Party'.

Civicwiki starts from a simple premise:

That there is a core set of inalienable rights that apply to us all. That we are all equal in our enjoyment of these rights. And that this set of rights should not be violated or abridged by any person or group.

Keep in mind that none of us are Dr. Spock. Let me digress briefly and explain. I (the writer of this paragraph) had a friend, now gone, who was the smartest person I could claim as friend. When we were undergraduates in Austin he told me that he would go to medical school, become a psychiatrist, move to San Francisco, and help people deal with reality. And he did those things. He and I held in common a philosophy of life that we believed could be traced to fundamental factual premises and we discussed and debated it frequently - proud of our logic. One day he told me something that bothered me a little, but struck me as true - that, in spite of our devotion to logic, we were fundamentally emotion based creatures. It will be difficult to rid ourselves of positions that are driven by emotion. CW does not require that we try. We only require that the content of this site seeks truth by starting from a set of facts that we can agree on.


Come and help us pursue this mission.