This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

There is a term in politics and elsewhere that is gaining a lot of attention these days:  “False equivalence.”

What does it mean?

It is when two opposing sides of an argument are made to look like they hold equal weight when they really don’t.  And, presenting both views as valid is a logical fallacy, or, to use the term, a “false equivalence.”

One real-world, down-to-earth example:  “Dogs have tails and feet, and cats have tails and feet. Therefore, dogs are equivalent to cats.”

It is obvious to see why this argument falls flat.  Simply the fact that two things might have similar properties does not mean they are equivalent in all respects. 

The example above is intentionally absurd to help identify the fallacy.  But it can be hard to spot false equivalencies in this world, including, if not especially, in politics.

A friend got me thinking about the subject of “false equivalence” and he and I had a good discussion with him about examples in politics today. 

For one thing, there is a notion that Democrats and Republicans are equal in their bids to get rid of democracy in America.  No.  It is Republicans who often set out to trash America’s system of governance to avoid allowing “the people to speak.”  The Rs want to be the ones who speak and damn others who disagree with them. 

Of course, Democrats are not immune from overstatement.  But, do they generally favor violence and hate to tear America down?  No.

A piece of good news is that in the recent mid-term election most of those who follow Trump as democracy haters and who call themselves “election deniers” lost.

False equivalence also reigns in climate change.  A small percentage of non-authoritative scientists’ opinions are given equal weight or seen as “competing against” 99 per cent of scientists’ opinions. 

Or, anti-vaccine activists have proclaimed they have just as much solid scientific evidence as pro-vaccine scientists.  But anti-vaccinators’ evidence is largely anecdotal. 

Why are we susceptible to false equivalence? 

Because it simplifies our thinking.  There are less critical thinking skills needed when we accept two things as equal, rather than unequal.  In addition, when someone (especially a person in authority) tells us two things are equivalent, we might tend to believe it more due to his or her inherent position or power.

Consider this current example of false equivalence.

Representative Kevin McCarthy, in a bid to obtain what he lusts after, being Speaker of the House, has announced that he intends to avoid giving committee seats to three Democrat representatives.  They are Adam Schiff, Eric Salwell, and Ilhan Omar.  All have served on committees in the past, but now appear to be the focus of McCarthy’s exclusion. 

McCarthy compares his tactic to the Democrats’ actions to remove Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Representative Paul Gosar from their committee assignments when the Ds were in charge.

And, today, the Wall Street Journal – unfortunately, I think – has gone on record editorially contending that McCarthy is just doing what Democrats did before him, so his actions are appropriate.  But, it is just the “get even” strategy in politics these days that indicates how far Congress is from finding middle ground.

As for “false equivalence,” consider what Greene and Gosar did by going on-line to advocate killing Democrats they didn’t like.  Yes, killing!

Greene promoted the execution of Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  Gosar posted an animated video in which his avatar executes Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a sword.  

By contrast, Schiff, Salwell and Omar disagreed with McCarthy on politics.   

Well, in all of this, how do all of us fight back against false equivalence? 

• First, educate yourself on the different forms it takes so you can recognize it. 
• Next, call it out when you see it – at least call it out to yourself. 
• Next, distance yourself from the source of it.
• And, most of all, don’t succumb to it.