Just the Facts

Those of you who are of an age (or who get TV Land) will be familiar with Sgt. Joe Friday of the television series "Dragnet". His famous one liner was, "Just the facts..." He always wanted to cut through the bull and get away from opinion and hyperbole. I was reminded of this over the weekend as I was bombarded with political campaign ads which protrayed both presidential candidates in unflattering ways. I'm fed up with the campaign, even though the process in choosing candidates was less onerous that usual this year. I am wondering, however, where can I go to get "just the facts"? I did what most people do in this age of Google, I did a search and here's what I found. Knowing a bit about healthcare as I do, I knew that the attacks on the ACA (aka "ObamaCare") were spurious, but I wanted to know what else was amiss on both sides. I went to www.factcheck.org which runs out of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. This is a well respected, non-partisan group dedicated to sorting myth and hyperbole from fact. Turns out that both sides (as usual) are playing fast and loose with everything from political records to tax burdens. The Obama camp has increased the negative rhetoric in the last few weeks against Mr. Romney, and both have used surrogates on "talking head" shows to move their agendas. The bottom line is that the facts and the truth are what's taken a beating. Making truly informed decisions is key to moving our nation forward. Groups like FactCheck.org are helping us to make those types of decisions. In order to have a democracy and to truly make the best decision we can in November's election, I urge you to get the facts. It is our moral, ethical and responsible mandate - and one that we need to take seriously. Peace for the journey, Dan