About GeorgeWasRight
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”
— Margaret Mead
What You Will and Won’t Find on GWR
Think of GeorgeWasRight as a public service. It is intended to help the average citizen understand the government and politics of America, and to provide easy, useful ways for people to become more engaged in the process and participate in our democracy. New content will be added on a regular basis.
What You Will Find
A good deal of the content on GWR can be found on the TOPICS page. Many people lack a good understanding of how our political system works, and what they can do to influence it. If you weren’t taught much of these things in school, or if you could use some refreshers, the items on the TOPICS page should help bring you up to speed.
The TOPICS page is arranged with the following categories.
U.S. Constitution & Other National Documents: Beginning with the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence, we’ll explore some of the most important documents in our nation’s history.
Our System of Government: We’ll discuss the basic structure of our government, as well as the duties and capabilities of the separate branches and departments. We’ll also dive deeper into the three branches to understand how they work, and in recent times, how and why they’ve fallen short in protecting the American people.
Money in Politics: While many correctly assume that much of our public policy is dictated by special interests, few understand how this system of legalized bribery works, and even fewer know what they can do to change it. We’ll walk through the ABCs of money in politics, and show you how to quickly see the largest contributors to the candidates and ballot measures for which you’ll be voting.
Inside…: With subjects such as Elections, Newsrooms, Public-Opinion Polling, and Redistricting, we’ll take a look at specialized information not widely known or available to the public.
History Worth Knowing: We’ll delve into the archives of our nation’s past to examine key events and decisions, including information such as why the Framers of the Constitution chose the model they did for our government.
New Takes: Our political system provides an environment particularly suited to recycling old ideas, with no better chance of them becoming law than when they previously failed to do so. We’ll instead focus on new approaches to old problems. We’ll examine innovative concepts, something desperately needed for a political system that lurches from crisis to crisis while ignoring longstanding problems.
Our Dysfunctional Politics: One thing many Americans agree on is that our government and our politics have become exceedingly impaired. We’ll examine why this is the case, and discuss what ordinary citizens can do, with even just a modest investment of time and energy, to help institute meaningful change.
Interviews: We’ll post interviews with interesting, knowledgeable people who work in and around government and politics. These interviews will take you behind the scenes in their areas of expertise to explain the operations of their fields, the major problems they face, and potential solutions to these problems.
Where We Go From Here: We’ll glance into the future to see what our government and politics may look like down the road, whether or not we make important changes.
What Do You Know?: If you’re interested in learning what you know or don’t know about politics and government, you’ll find optional ten-question, multiple-choice reviews on various subjects.
On the ARTICLES page, you’ll find pieces that offer fact-based perspectives on different aspects of American government and politics.
WHAT’S NEW? contains a chronological list of every item posted to the site, with the most recent first. Check back frequently for new pieces, or create a free account to be notified when fresh content is posted.
WORDBOOK collects terms from around government and politics, offering definitions. The first occurrence on a GWR page of any of these terms will offer a link to its entry in the Wordbook.
FAQs offers answers to Frequently Asked Questions.
DONATE allows you to contribute to the upkeep of the site, which will help keep it free to all.
CONTACT provides a means of getting in touch with GWR’s owner/creator, as well with the webmaster.
Finally, in the footer of every page, R. H. HERTZ links to a brief bio of the creator and owner of GeorgeWasRight.
What You Won’t Find
As useful as the content on GeorgeWasRight is intended to be, what’s also significant is what isn’t here.
You will find virtually no discussion, or even mention, of individual officeholders, candidates, or specific parties. While there are considerable differences among politicians and between the major parties, there are countless other places to debate them. Articles and resources to which we link may include political parties and/or politicians for factual or illustrative purposes, but this site remains focused on specific information about government and how everyday citizens can get more involved.
GWR will instead focus on systemic problems that plague our country, such as unbridled partisanship and the never-ending quest for more and more campaign contributions.
GeorgeWasRight will never tell you to vote for any particular candidate or party.