Don’t enter politics unless you like to make sausage. In politics, laws are made from the leftover meat scraps of what might have been a good idea, then adding organs, connective tissue, skin, even bones and other parts not fit for human consumption.
I once lived in this process, both in the nation’s capital and my own state’s. I hated working for elected officials, but not as much as I hated being one. The discussions were rarely about what was right or best, but what advantage could be gained over the opposition.
That was long ago, when sausge making was largely corralled by known truths. As one of my early bosses famously said, “You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.”
Today, truths have disappeared, not because they do not exist, but because the trusted arbiters of what is fact and what is not, are now blended in with opinion to lure larger audience and the advertising dollars that come with it. In time, without trusted sources for the facts, Lincoln’s, “Government of the people, by the people, for the people,” would parish from the earth.
Lincoln’s “by the people” can only lead if they have some means to acquire abundant, accurate, relevant information about those they choose as representatives.
My dream came in a hut (no joke), in a little fishing village without cars, streets or phones.
First, find political enemies who thought as I did, that facts mattered. I found two former presidents and a few dozen Senators and Congressmen each partnered with one of opposing views. Even my own opponent for Goldwater’s seat in the U.S. Senate, a young congressmen named John McCain joined in the effort, along with Barry himself.
Second, use teams of students and volunteers to collect reality: the candidate’s bios, stated issue positions, financial sources, public statements, voting records, even the reviews of every opposing interest that existed. In time thousands joined in the effort.
Third, don’t use tainted money. Nothing from selfish political interests, no corporations, unions, lobbyists of any sort. It had to be funded by the American people or not at all.
Fourth, no mistakes. Every documented fact had to be checked and double checked. Each would be entered and then proofed three times, at least once with known errors to make sure the proofing caught all the known errors and nothing else at all.
Fifth, no interpretation, no opinion of any sort, just the facts.
Over three decades the system slowly gained traction, growing from hundreds of thousands into the millions and then into the tens of millions.
It was a success by everyone’s measure but mine. Artificial Intelligence (AI) was on the horizon, and it forecasted an ability to defend democracy with the truth or an ability to confuse, manipulate and destroy that one requirement of successful self-governance: The people’s need for a trusted source.
In my 70s, I entered discussions with Google about how to protect facts, even increase their numbers and usefulness with AI. But I knew I was out of my element and the political world I had known and was so familiar, was crumbling under my feet.
It was time for me to back away and turn my dream over to younger leaders, who might be better in that new realm, and I did.
Turned out that they had different dreams and what was mine, is no longer.
“WHAT WE LEARN FROM HISTORY,” said Warren Buffett, “IS THAT PEOPLE DON’T LEARN FROM HISTORY.”
Richard Kimball
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