Who Do You Trust?

by Patrick Appel

Bernstein asks liberals:

Are there specific pols, interest group leaders, activists, pundits, or whoever who, if they support a candidate or a nominee or a bill, you would basically assume that she or it was acceptably liberal?

He poses the same question for conservatives. I don't trust any politicians; pols are incentivized to lie or gloss over hard truths. There are a number of writers who I trust to write with intellectual honestly, but I put more trust in systems than I do in people. This reader reply is spot on:

I think about this process in the way my uncle once recommended that I think about movie reviews: the key is to read the same reviewer over and over (regardless of whether you consistently agree with their perspective or not). In this way, you begin to establish a third (or fourth or fifth) point of reference in relation to to the objects under consideration (movies, pols, or policies) and yourself.