Protect Your Vote and Your Views: Fact Check!

Since 2012 is a presidential election year, we would like to highlight the importance of informed voting. Voting is how citizens take charge of future public policy by choosing who will shape our laws. Public policy affects all citizens' finances by determining things like the minimum wage, tax rates, and availability of government assistance,  to name only a few.

Voting responsibly can be difficult since, as Charles Blow of the New York Times puts it, lying could be considered   “fundamental to politics.” Since laws and public policy can affect how much you get paid and your access to healthcare, it is important not to be distracted by the political show. Thus, you and other young (or future) voters must learn how to investigate, or "fact check", political claims. To become informed, visit an unbiased political fact-checking Web site, such as FactCheck.org or Politifact. The operators of these sites research and evaluate campaign claims.

Here are some examples of campaign statements that we fact checked:

• Claim: VP candidate Paul Ryan stated in his RNC speech that President Obama has taken money away for Medicare benefits with the Affordable Care Reform.

Fact as provided by FactCheck.org: The Affordable Care Act does not take funding from Medicare benefits. The program's growth has been slowed to maintain solvency. The change means that hospitals will experience reductions in their future payments, but will not bring a reduction of senior benefits. This and other statements led a New Republic journalist to declare Ryan's convention speech possibly the "Most Dishonest".

• Claim: A pro-Obama commercial (funded by a Super PAC, not the Obama campaign) features a former steelworker of a company formerly managed by Mitt Romney. The worker states that his family lost their health coverage when the company closed the plant. The worker's wife later became ill and died. The worker faults Mitt Romney for his wife's death, since he was the manager of the company.

Fact as provided by The Washington Post's "Fact Checker": Though Romney was involved in the company's management; he left his position before the company took steps to close the steel plant. Romney is not responsible for the steel worker's job loss because he was operating the Salt Lake City Olympics at that time. Thus, the Super PAC that made this ad is very much exaggerating when it links Romney to the wife's death.

So for your future fact-checking needs, try these Web sites:

·         FactCheck.org – www.factcheck.org

This Web site is operated through the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

·         The Fact Checker – www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker

Glenn Kessler’s Washington Post blog covers topics in the news.

·         PolitiFact – www.politifact.com

This Pulitzer Prize-winning site is from the Tampa Bay Times.

Readers, what do you think?

 Do false statements or misinformation help candidates win? 

How could misinformed voters negatively affect your financial future?

Do you plan to fact check more from now on?

References:

Blow, C. M. (2012, August 31). The G.O.P.fact vacuum.  New York Times. Retrieved September 4, 2012, from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/01/opinion/blow-the-gop-fact-vacuum.html.

Farley, R. (2012, August 30). Ryan's VP spin. FactCheck.org. Retrieved August 28, 2012, from http://factcheck.org/2012/08/ryans-vp-spin/.

Kessler, G. (2012, August 7). New anti-Romney ad: Same steelworker, tougher message (revised). The Fact Checker. Washington Post. Retrieved September 1, 2012, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/new-anti-romney-ad-same-steelworker-tougher-message/2012/08/07/ac9afe2c-e0ab-11e1-8fc5-a7dcf1fc161d_blog.html

PolitiFact. (n.d.). About PolitiFact. Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved May 7, 2012, from http://www.politifact.com/about/.