truth in political advertising, or rather prefer banning all political advertising. has it ever existed?
imo whats needed is coursework in thinking critically. the ability to suspend belief in what is said/written until facts are checked and analysis of logic and reason is applied. politicians and advertisers only need to use triggers and cues in their language to elicit an emotional engagement with audiences and they can be eating out of ones hand. Trump is a prime example. Abbott is another.
but yeh, this is about the ability to access good information. and access suggests the ability to find evidence that either proves or disproves what is said by pollies. I think this snippet from your article says better what I've been trying to get out:1. Competitive elitist democracy
This model builds on liberal democracy’s emphasis on delegating power to representatives. In a competitive elitist democracy, which relies entirely on institutional politics and elections, citizens need critical digital literacy to evaluate online content in relation to bias and trustworthiness in order to form an informed opinion about competing parties and formal political processes. In addition, they need to understand how the information they come across is generated, including the impact of the internet on traditional media outlets, from its potential to democratise access to the news to the implications of online advertising for their business models.
(from your link)
"liberal democracy" implies a range of freedoms. free speech is among the key item of the criteria for such an arrangement. therefore its imperative to ensure all potential voters understand nuances of speech, how to discern fact from fiction and to decide what criteria each desires to fulfil their expectations of a political representative. its these criteria which defines the process of liberal democracy and enables inclusion of a broad range of opinion. (ref. Britannica. )
our duopoly, similar to other large "liberal" democracies, limits our choices. if such critical understanding of politics were applied we would all vote independent imo.
