Many lawmakers and politicians are dishonest in what they say for public consumption. This book establishes a set of rules for public discourse by which members of Congress, candidates for public office, political pundits and everybody else can be held accountable for what they say. In addition this book offers tools to help us discern what is true, what is false, and what is misleading. It establishes the means by which those violating the Rules for Public Discourse can be held accountable by ordinary citizens. Much of the information we are daily confronted with is false. There are many pundits, bloggers, politicians, columnists, institutions, and news organizations that seek to present things the way they are regardless of consequences.. These people and organizations have integrity. On the other hand there are many pundits, bloggers, columnists, institutions and some politicians and news organization that promulgate false information, misrepresent things, use polarizing language and seek to confuse people about the facts of any given matter. These people and organizations do not have integrity. It is one of the missions of Western Research Institute to identify and publish which is which. Rules for Public Discourse is one of the means used to accomplish this. Information about this project and about the book is at wrii.org/. (Full URL is wikiwacky.net/wrii/). The Rules for Public Discourse are listed on this web site at Rules. These rules can hold lawmakers, candidates for public office and others accountable for what they say. They can reign in the rhetoric and expose dishonesty in what members of Congress and candidates for public office say for public consumption. The acrimonious conduct of the U.S. Congress has shocked the nation and had Republican and Democratic members of Congress at each other's throats amid accusations of dishonesty, misrepresentation, and failure to serve the national interest. There seemed to be a total disconnect in positions advanced by each side and no way to resolve the dilemma. The stakes in this drama are incredibly high for it is not only about money. It is about the future of the United States, which is at stake. And the integrity of those who are putting the future of this country at stake over who gets what slice of the economic pie is a valid question. False statements, fallacious arguments and misrepresentations are not only not helpful, but contribute to the obfuscation of the issues and are highly detrimental to any constructive solution to the problems that are faced. Ideally the priorities of each member of Congress should be to do firstly what is in the best interests of the country; to do secondly what is in the best interests of their state and the people they represent; and only then to do what is in their own and their family's best interest. Unfortunately, judging by their actions, many members of Congress put their own and their party's best interests first and the best interests of their country last and in so doing end up fighting among themselves for the spoils of government. Also as part of this book, there is offered a "Patriot Integrity Pledge" to replace the pledge most Republican lawmakers make to Grover Norquist. By taking this pledge lawmakers put the best interest of the country ahead of any other consideration.
About the Author: Charles Hoppins is a semi-retired journalist with a passion for philosophy enhanced by formal graduate study and a lot of research. He has worked for The Associated Press and a number of newspapers as writer, assistant city editor, state editor and wire editor. Reporters working for news organizations are under constant pressure to produce copy and meet deadlines. The stories they cover often have serious ramifications that are dealt with only on a superficial basis. Troubled by the lack of time to do serious in depth reporting on a number of stories, he conceived of the idea of a research institution that would have the funding and ability to cover stories that would otherwise not see the light of day. In 1987, he was a principle in the founding of Western Research Institute (WRI). From its inception WRI set out to do in-depth reporting on a number of issues. It has done reports and published books on technology, law, government, philosophy and communication. For the past number of years he has been involved in the study of the prevalence of certain philosophical positions and how those positions affect society, human behavior and public policy. He has completed a number of books on the results, the last involving precepts of dialogue and general principles of communication. The outcome of these studies, is the publication of Rules for Public Discourse, on how to hold lawmakers, candidates for public office and others accountable for what they say for public consumption. As part of WRI's commitment to public interest research, he has in collaboration with Jerry Fenning embarked on an in-depth research project involving reports on How America Can Stop Importing Foreign Oil and The Fight Over Using Natural Gas for Transportaion.. How America Can Stop Importing Foreign Oil is available in a print edition and an ebook edition. The ebook edition is available on Kindle, Nook, Smashwords.com and Apple and Google devices.