Dear Reader,

I recently flew to Wisconsin to visit some old friends, and brought along our Colorado Election Guide, generally known as the “Blue Book.” This is compiled by a nonpartisan legislative committee tasked with presenting a neutral summary, and the pro/con arguments for each ballot measure. I knew that Colorado had 14 amendments and referenda and I wanted to bone up a bit. When I pulled it out, the man next to me on the plane said that he had just moved from Ohio to Colorado and got one in the mail. He said that Ohio doesn’t have a Blue Book. Later, I showed it to my Wisconsin friends, and they said they don’t have anything like it.

It seems so basic to me, to help create the common ground for an informed electorate, especially this year, because of our many complex initiatives. We are lucky here in Colorado. When our family decides to vote, we sit down together, pull out the Blue Book and any other election materials, and discuss the issues. Then we fill out our “mail-in” ballot calmly and hopefully with more information and drop it in the county election drop box. Only Alaska, Massachusetts and Oregon have similar voter guides.

Recently I watched a Netflix documentary called What’s Next. Episode two was on misinformation and disinformation, and interviewed Bill Gates. The moderator talked about the many wild conspiracy theories involving Gates, such as that Gates put the Covid vaccine in every Idaho potato that goes to McDonalds in an effort to control our minds, or he is actually a shapeshifter and becomes a lizard person along with Tom Hanks and Lady Gaga. Etc. Etc. Wacko stuff.

Bloggers on information silos like QAnon are not required to fact check their “opinions.”  Reputable news sources like the NY Times, Washington Post, CBS, NBC, ABC always corroborate before they publish. Shock jocks make their incomes based on the number of clicks they generate and thus there’s an incentive to print more outrageous conspiracy theories…. like Alex Jones of Info Wars who denied Sandy Hook happened, said the parents of the deceased were actors, and just went bankrupt because he lost several lawsuits that demonstrated the real harm he caused to these parents who got death threats, etc.

This week’s conspiracy theories declare that the Democrats are controlling the weather and funneled three hurricanes through the Gulf Coast of Florida to harm Republicans. Or that FEMA has run out of money because they have spent all their funds helping illegal immigrants to come to the US, and then to vote, supposedly to help the Dems. (By the way, Trump did divert FEMA money during his presidency to help build the wall.) Or that $750 is all a family can get after a disaster. Last week it was Haitian refugees on Temporary Protective Status eating cats and dogs….Or Aurora being run by gangs. Do you wonder why Trump declined to appear on 60 Minutes, shunning a decades-long tradition of interviewing both candidates for president? My guess is that they would ask him questions about his role in January 6th, whether he lost the 2020 election, as well as the multiple lies he spews during his rallies. He knew they would fact check him and his firehose of lies would fizzle.

Isn’t it sad that a large percentage of the country can’t even watch 60 Minutes because they think it is biased. Many citizens often don’t hear conflicting views because they are in their information silos, and the algorithms keep feeding them more of the same. An informed electorate is crucial to our democracy. A national Blue Book, not just in a few states, would be a small step in the right direction.

 Bill Thibedeau

Gilpin County