The party switching positions is interesting i'm just thinking about Russia you know that was it was always conservatives against Russia against communism and the dams who were a little too friendly. Then all of a sudden not just with Trump i think it just it switched it what's the explanation for that that's just Trump right probably no other reasonYeah he came out said had nice things to say about Putin and then you know democrats then believed that Russia was trying to help Putin get our help Trump get elected, she says. She also talks about how abortion issue became an issue for republicans in pre-1980s before Jerry Falwell got involved.
The democratic ideal demands that the citizenry think critically about matters of public import. Yet many Democrats and Republicans in the United States have fallen short of that standard because political tribalism motivates them to acquire, perceive and evaluate political information in a biased manner. The result is an electorate that is more extreme, hostile and willing to reject unfavorable democratic outcomes.
Shermer and Redmond discuss: why we have political duopoly (Duverger’s law) • parties vs. policies • Are we living in a post-truth, fake-news, alternative facts world? • How do we know political polarization is worse now than in the past? • acquiring, perceiving, and evaluating political information • evaluating: false political information, political numbers and arguments, claims of rigged election • whataboutism • cognitive responsibilities of citizenship • cognitive biases • political polarization • myside bias • numeracy vs. innumeracy • solutions to the polarization problem.
Timothy J. Redmond received his PhD in political science from the University at Buffalo. He is an award-winning educator and author of over one hundred articles on critical thinking and politics. He is a professor at Daemen University where he teaches a political science and history course for education students.