Best (Free) Way To Be Politically Informed

Most agree that, as citizens with the right and privilege to vote, we have an obligation to do so. But if we're going to vote, we also have an obligation to make an educated decision - who gets elected and what laws are passed really does have a big impact on the world. For most important decisions, it's clear that we should have an open mind and try to learn something from a variety of people who know a lot about the relevant subject. But unfortunately, when that important decision is "politics", way too many people just operate purely from early instincts to pledge emotional loyalty to one "tribe". Voting for a candidate or law should be less like following your favorite football team and more like buying a house or car.

But it's no secret that most news sucks. You have the cable news and talk radio pundits who are really just performing pep rallies to make their tribe feel superior to rival tribes - details, accuracy, and logic are just obstacles to that goal. And then you have the non-opinion news that is often just focusing on sensationalism (gaffes! celebrities! anything-gate/anything-geddon!), or they just provide equal helpings of BS from political operatives on both sides of the aisle. That doesn't help; the ramblings of someone whose job is to convince people to vote for their political party is not going to help gain a real understanding of an issue. However, I actually think opinion news can be great. It can give you facts plus a look at how to interpret them, but we need opinion that is honest, rational, and well informed. And we need variety so we don't live in an information bubble.

IMO, the best source of fact/evidence/expertise-based viewpoints on politics is the blogs of economists. Many leading economists have blogs, and since most political issues deal with economics, this is a really great educational resource. As Matt Yglesias said: "Of all the academic disciplines (economics is) the one that's online at the greatest volume and in the most accessible way". Blogs are free, and you can scan through entries very quickly to find the pieces that interest you - this is a much quicker way to get the kinds of information you're looking for than sitting through a whole TV show.

So seriously, if you want a free and much better way to be politically informed, get an RSS reader and subscribe to economics blogs run by people who know what they are talking about. RSS readers (or news aggregators) let you subscribe to different blogs and collect them all in one place. I use Google Reader, which I usually read on my phone.

The following are the most popular (AFAIK) economics blogs and are a good starting place with a range of views:

• Marginal Revolution: This is run by 2 moderate-libertarian economics professors from GMU. It covers a wide range of things that I think anyone can find interesting, not just the political or technical side of economics. They have also started free online economics courses at Marginal Revolution University.
• The Conscience Of A Liberal: This is Paul Krugman's blog and is really the main economics blog for understanding the liberal and Keynesian perspective. He also writes for the NYTimes, is an economics professor at Princeton, and won an economics Nobel prize. I think, of the economists who blog, he does the best job of taking complex ideas and writing them in a simple way for ignorant people like me to understand. But he can also be pretty harsh toward people who disagree with him and paint them with broad strokes.
• Greg Mankiw's Blog: Greg Mankiw is a Republican who is the chairman of economics at Harvard and was an economic adviser for Bush and Romney. In a previous survey of other economists' favorite blogs, his ranked #1.

Those blogs will also sometimes debate and reference each other, as well as other books and blogs to consider. You can check out the other blogs they reference over time to add to your RSS subscription list. Every now and then I try adding a new blog and/or removing an old one. Some other blogs I would recommend on the more liberal side are: Wonkblog, Matt Yglesias, and Brad DeLong. And on the more conservative side: Scott Sumner, Steve Landsburg, and John Taylor.

A lot of posts you'll read will be confusing, especially at first. But you can skip those, and over time you'll understand more of them. And it won't be long until you look back at cable news and wonder why you ever spent time on that crap.