jplarson

It's 4th of July and as I write this it looks like Lessig's MayDay PAC[0] is going to fly. This is an exciting time that has me hopeful for the future of political participation by broader masses, and has me thinking even I could be more engaged than my usual generally voting along party lines for lack of familiarity with candidates (who can be bothered to research them all, right?).

Like I imagine for other regulars here, HN has done wonders for connecting me to so much of what's going on in the world, at least in the topics carried. I'm wondering if some take on the model of crowd-sourced consensus of what's true/interesting/important plus community discussion could cause a genuinely informed (and even engaged) citizenry in politics, just like HN does for tech.

A thorough understanding of politics (including a wide range issues, back stories, pro-and-con arguments, voting records, who's funded by who, and so on) requires so much sifting and winnowing, and it seems like the views you have are so largely determined by which sources you draw from (for example, I as a Daily Show fan see things way differently from the Fox News watching members of my family). This makes giving a shit hard, reduces it for many (myself included) to "too much work, can't be bothered".

In an age where well-funded PR campaigns can obscure, distort or outright bury the truth, I get excited to think of a source in which truth, thoughtful essays, and important stories bubble up to prominence in the very democratized[1] manner in which they do here on HN. Doubly so as we enter a mid-term election cycle: to tune into what matters as crowd-chosen by a mindful community who dukes it out in the comment section seems like a much better way to keep informed and play a part.

Does anyone feel the same? Does such a thing exist? Anyone wanna build it if not? :)

[0] https://mayday.us/ [1] Read: hard to hijack.