In late September, following the United States government shutdown, banners appeared on numerous government-run and established websites. These banners were displayed on each site’s home page, stating “The Radical Left in Congress shut down the government.”
U.S. government teacher Jeff Haas said these banners should not be displayed on official government websites and that bias has no place on official government sites.
“There’s definitely some politically partisan messaging going on, and when you’re talking about official governmental websites, they should be removed from political partisanship, but they’re not…There’s no check,” Haas said.
Without previously assessing the banners, senior AP Government student Landry Koester said the government should not offer opposition or opinion. She said that instead, all parties should work together to reach a goal rather than working against each other.
Koester said that bias shouldn’t exist on these websites because it provides viewers with false information. Another AP Government student, senior Camille Lee, said that it isn’t right to blame the Democrats without evidence that they are responsible for the shutdown. She said the government should not use opinion as fact.
“If there’s strong evidence that the Democrats are doing something, then they would be able to say that, but there’s no evidence. So, it’s just solely opinion, which is not what the government should run off of, because that doesn’t make sense,” Lee said.
Government shutdowns are not caused by a single political party, but by disagreement between republicans and democrats. Sophomore Luke Riegel said that it is fair for the Democrats to be blamed. Riegel said that since they have shown no empathy to those not being paid, the displayed statements are justified.
“[Democratic senators] do not care about how people aren’t getting paid, and to make it all worse, they are blaming President Trump for the shutdown. This clearly shows that the Democratic Party isn’t for the people,” Riegel said.
Both Democratic and Republican senators are being paid during the shutdown, representing Article 1, Section 6 in the Constitution. Riegel said that since Democratic senators don’t seem to care that many American citizens are not being paid, bias is appropriate in this scenario, and Haas said that he worries that these biased statements are hurting the country’s government and politics.
“We are in uncharted waters, and we currently have an executive who is clearly not bound by established norms. In terms of established norms, we can look at a whole bunch of arenas of American governmental and political life, and they are being trampled,” Haas said.
With concern for how politics is viewed in the nation, Koester said she also worries about younger populations with this kind of information. She said that younger people are more likely to just believe what is told to them, and not take bias into account, even though they shouldn’t have to.
Koester said she thinks the banners may begin a large spread of public misinformation because the websites are typically used for facts.
“A lot of people turn to government websites to get their information, and, when you’re younger, they tell you to look at ‘.gov’ websites because that’s going to be the most credible source,” Koester said.
Additionally, Haas said he thinks the public hasn’t yet realized the major effects of this display of bias.
“We’ve got a level of dysfunction at this point that, from where I’m sitting, the American public has become pretty numb to, unfortunately,” Haas said.
