The University News

Issue date: 11/2/09 Section: Forum

Media Credit: Evan Helmuth

By way of introduction and despite this being my third column, I'd like to discuss my reasons for offering my opinions every week and, more broadly, what my readers can expect from "Common Sense."

Unlike Thomas Paine's iconic pamphlet by the same name, this column - which will appear in these pages on a weekly basis - will not seek to convince the UMKC community to secede from Great Britain.

Instead, since most UMKC students are not nearly as interested as I am in politics, "Common Sense" will deal only with issues that affect the UMKC community.

The column will deal with national and local issues, as well as traditionally non-political issues.

The underlying goal will be to expose my readers to subjects they would not have known about otherwise and to tell them about aspects of familiar issues they don't commonly hear about in other media.

Winston Churchill once said, "The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average citizen."

Unfortunately, this remains true today, as anyone who has ever done polling of the general public can attest.

I am convinced, though, when young people are shown how an issue will affect them, they will perk up, listen and maybe even take action.

This is not to say there are not very well-informed and opinionated politicos at UMKC.

There certainly are, and I hope they will find "Common Sense" to be a valuable contribution to a discussion they were already tuned in to. But they are not the majority.

Most UMKC students probably don't know or care who Rep. Charlie Rangel is, but they care if he is raising their taxes and not paying his own.

Similarly, few UMKC students are likely to care a great deal about economic policy, but they care about 18.5 percent youth unemployment.

Young people might not get into the minutia of the health care debate, but they care about being required to buy health insurance or facing stiff fines.

Admittedly, there will be issues discussed in "Common Sense" that are also dealt with at-length elsewhere, but this column will examine these issues in a way specifically applicable to my readers.

I am also convinced it is possible to be serious, informative and entertaining all at the same time when discussing these issues, especially if it is done in a way that applies common sense and steers clear of policy wonk political jargon.

I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to offer my opinions every week and my goal, above all else, is to give my readers a column that is enjoyable to read.

My hope is that readers look forward to every Monday for the chance to read about a new and little-discussed issue that affects their lives in a big way and they are, at least sometimes, prompted to action by what they read in "Common Sense."

ehelmuth@unews.com

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