In essence, PolicyWonk.com is the anti-matter to the spin-zone.  We’re not about scoring points at the expense of truth (though we do enjoy scoring points in debate).  We dare to think!  We dare to crunch numbers!  We dare to reject established “truth” when reason and facts point us in another direction.

 

We believe public policy plays a vital role in the health and survival of the democratic republic that we are blessed to live in.  We believe that those who engage honestly and intelligently in the public policy process are engaged in an honorable pursuit and those that do it as a profession are engaged in a noble calling.  (A calling pursued until recently by the founders of PolicyWonk.com.)

 

Public policy runs the gamut of issues.  From the truly profound—war and peace; the protection of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; the facilitation of commerce, competitiveness, and job creation; the protection and promotion of civil rights (and responsibilities!); the education of a new generation of Americans; the protection of those unable to protect or care for themselves; taxation, representation—you get the picture—to the important, but mundane—traffic laws, trash pick-up, zoning, and so on.

 

All of these…and more…will be analyzed and articulated, discussed and debated, atomized and viewed holistically.  We will foster thoughtful and spirited dialogue.  And we’re not beyond throwing a few (intellectual) bombs out there to prod and provoke.

 

PolicyWonk.com is serious business…but we plan to have fun doing it!  Soon you will see “The Policy Wonk Hall of Fame” and its infamous twin, “The Policy Wonk Hall of Shame.”  We hope to bring you thought pieces and analysis from the well-known and the unknown. We will include those who have been around the track a few times, as well as those whipper-snappers who are just now lacing up their sneakers.  Might even entertain a few generational debates in the course of things to come. (“Momma, I’m not paying your Medicare anymore”—and other sing-song tales of GenX.)

 

And we hope you will participate.  Policywonk.com is intended to be an interactive national discussion.  And while we do not intend to discriminate against the truly ignorant (you probably wouldn’t be reading this if you fell in this category), we will encourage the participation of the “best and brightest”—people who have spent a great deal of time and fired-up more than a few brain-cells on issues of interest and importance to you, to us and to the Nation.  In fact, in short order, we plan to run a contest to identify and crown PolicyWonk.com’s 100 Smartest People on the Planet. (Okay, we’re not going to actually crown them, but we are thinking about giving them a really nice recognition!)

 

We hope you will come and read, and think and write, and argue and analyze, then tell 100 of your smartest friends to do the same.  We look forward to a long and lasting relationship.