Real help for the elections

Election Day is just six weeks away. It's high time to focus on the major issues facing our nation. The presidential debates that start this week will give voters our best chances yet to draw real, side-by-side contrasts between the two major candidates. Yet if history is any guide, the candidates will speak mainly in sound bites and we'll still barely scrape the surface of the most pressing issues our nation faces now and in the future.

Public Agenda - a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to strengthen our capacity to tackle tough issues - has just the information we all need right now in its Voter's Survival Kit, which you can download from Everyday Democracy's Issue Guide Exchange or Public Agenda's own website.

The kit has six parts: climate change; the economy; foreign policy in Iraq and beyond; health care; immigration; and taxes, spending, and debt. Each presents background basics on the issue (under headings of "The Fix We're In" and "How Did We Get Here," then offers several choices on how best to address the problems, along with arguments for and against each idea. And to keep things light, each guide has topical quotes from the likes of Dave Barry, Will Rogers, and even Montgomery Burns from "The Simpsons."

Since there are six weeks (including six weekends) left until Election Day and six parts to the guide, the Voter's Survival Kit could be used by families, book clubs, friends meeting for coffee, or any other group to think and talk about the issues before it's time to cast our ballots. Or download one topic each week and commit yourself to studying the issues on your own. Also, stay tuned for news of opportunities to discuss the guides online.

We've all heard how each election is "the most important of our lives." This year, with so much uncertainty across so many facets of our domestic and foreign policies, it may actually be true. It's up to each of us to focus on the issues and make wise choices based not just on what the candidates and pundits say, but on the best available independent information. Check out the Voter's Survival Kit and the other resources on the Public Agenda website to stay on top of the latest in election news that really matters.

Comments

[Scott]

Thanks for the recommendation, Julie! We're really looking forward to feedback from your readers.