Letter from the Editor: November 2017

Take a step into the political boxing ring.

If we learned anything from last year’s presidential election, it’s that the current way we approach political discussion and analysis leaves a lot to be desired. Clearly, the way we consume news and talk about ideas does not adequately open the door to the reality that other people live different lives, have different worldviews, and think different (valid) thoughts.

Due primarily to the fact that we staff of the Political Review have a lot of strong thoughts about a lot of topics, we often have lively discussions that carry on well past the end of our weekly staff meetings.

A few weeks ago, one of these discussions continued past the end of class, almost all the way to our respective houses south of campus. As we talked, the discussion moved from policy itself to the idea that we as a political review staff sometimes operate under the assumption that everyone in the room agrees with our worldview. Arguments between the Political Review staff are often predicated on base principles we take for granted as true or untrue, and it often leaves our discussions sounding more like an echo chamber and less like a debate.

As I thought about this phenomenon in my own classroom, I realized that this is also a problem with the political climate of our country, and the world at large. Human beings are naturally inclined to stick in circles that make them comfortable and inform their already-established beliefs, which leads to a severe lack of understanding between sides of many of today’s hot-button political and social issues. Thus, as election season approaches, fades, and we’re left with the consequences of our political environments and assumptions, we’ve put together a face-off issue. We paired up our staffers to tackle two sides of 5 different arguments, in an attempt to get out of our own bubbles and look at the world and its issues more broadly.

As always, we welcome feedback and submissions from readers. Feel free to email your thoughts to byupoliticalreview@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter @byupolitics, like us on Facebook @BYUPR, and view our articles on the web at politicalreview.byu.edu.

Have a happy, multifaceted election season,

Sage Smiley

Editor-in-Chief