Informing voters in Duval-Jax
Educated voters can do somersaults over political machines
In
our age there is no such thing as 'keeping out of politics'. All issues are
political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly,
hatred, and schizophrenia. When the general atmosphere is bad, language must
suffer." George Orwell, All Art is Propaganda
When the process of determining whether the facts of a situation have been intentionally corrupted by people in power ... there often is no corrective mechanism at hand, as there is in cases of the intentional corruption of language. Intellectual honesty about the gathering and use of facts and data is a riskier and more precious part of a free society than is intellectual honesty in language. We ought to guard it with the same zeal that animates Orwell's work on political speech. Nicholas Lemann, The Limits of Clear Language
Coping with Too Much Information
The Internet radically shifted what communications experts call the signal-noise ratio. Particularly on political issues, we are left like kids of old: we get the equivalent of a crystal radio to scan a maze of powerful signals that step all over each other. To help separate noise from signal, this website provides brief notes (here) on issues of special importance to Duval/Jax; with hyperlinks to sources, for those wishing to dig deeper.
There are important differences within our County, as well. Many can be seen easily by skimming the kind of maps available from the Census Bureau--until recently. Examples are given here.
Engaging 'stakeholders'
Contrary to much noise in our media, big business isn't fixated on 'the bottom line' of book profits. All stock-issuers know most shareholders are looking for what economists call 'real holding gains' or equity prices rising by more than the cost of living. Most understand this involves 'intangibles' a business can't own, like employees who are also voters and local taxpayers; local leaders who set policies affecting business opportunities; and investors who decide whether to buy bonds issued by local governments to fund pro-business services. Smart businesses collaborate as well as compete--with each other and other 'stakeholders'.
My goal is to promote the collaborative side. For more on why and how, see About Me and My View of the Stakes.