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7 Ways to Become More Politically Savvy


By applying the following tips, you'll clarify many of the ambiguities that obscure political realities.


1. Consult your beliefs

Which parties and candidates best align their values with yours?

If you find that no platform is totally compatible with your views, to which issues do you assign the most weight? This may require you to balance pros and cons.


2. Reconsider long-held beliefs

The best hedge against one's own prejudices is the discipline to follow evidence wherever it leads.

Seek the logical basis of your views. If you find it difficult to rationalize a position, its validity is in question. Remember that an argument can be both plausible and untrue, and pursuant to Occam's Razor, always accept the simplest solution.


3. Draw conclusions from empirical evidence

Which policies have a track record of effectiveness? Think in terms of results, not necessarily ideology. While reverence for our ideals is a positive force in politics, we should strive to be pragmatic.


4. Remain mindful of the subjectivity of every issue

Realize that every argument has a counter-argument, that evidence can be framed in multiple ways, and that every interpretation is rivaled by a view that can prove equally compelling,


5. Don't blindly embrace dogma or conventional wisdom

Though common sense has its place in our national dialogue, one shouldn't understate the importance of divergent thinking. Some of the most promising solutions to our problems haven't been fully explored or, likely, even conceived. We'd be doing ourselves a great disservice by failing to exhaust every avenue to progress before contenting ourselves with the status-quo.


6. Develop your rhetorical skills

"Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster"- Sun Tzu, Chinese military philosophy, author of the Art of War
Empty rhetoric has been a long-standing source of political contention, which makes a working knowledge of various rhetorical devices vital to any serious exploration of political issues.


7. Find common ground with those whose opinions differ from yours

Political views are as diverse as the people who hold them, but most are built on similar mental foundations. Holding a dialogue isn't about eliminating differences, but rather, emphasizing commonalities and advancing the causes that consensus deems worthy of our effort.

These tips can be employed to promote clarity and to bridge gaps between otherwise incompatible systems of thought. Though these adjustments seem minor, they're capable of improving the accuracy of our conclusions as we delve into the turbulence of public discourse.

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