"Vigorous civic engagement is the foundation for a strong democracy. Broader participation from people and local communities, especially communities of color and/or low-income groups, will lead to more just decision-making and a stronger social fabric. Too many individuals are discouraged from voting or civic engagement due to a lack of information or barriers..."
Most of us learn about political and election issues in an often superficial, haphazard way: from scattered talk shows, short news stories, editorials, blogs, and occasional candidate debates. Sometimes we read books on certain issues and problems or view an in-depth TV program or documentary. We get impressions of issues and form judgments and usually make voting decisions on spotty and incomplete information, at best.
Certainly, all the aforementioned sources have their place and value and, taken together, can provide a fair amount of information--especially if sought out in a systematic way, which, with the Internet, is relatively easy to do. Simply by taking some time googling an issue or using library databases you can, with varying levels of success, find information on a wide range of issues.
The resources of the Colorado Issues Digest are organized in such a way to provide a convenient portal to issues information and to help self-directed efforts of learning about issues and becoming politically literate.
The Walter Lippmann challenge: Even “if there were a prospect” that people could become sufficiently well-informed to govern themselves wisely, “it is extremely doubtful whether many of us would wish to be bothered.”
Journalism and democracy: “As the basis for self-government is an informed citizenry, and as the Fourth Estate is the institution with primary responsibility for making an informed citizenry possible, the existential crisis for news media is in fact, an existential crisis for self-government.” -- from Will the Last Reporter Please Turn Out the Lights: The Collapse of Journalism and What Can Be Done About It
