Why Civitas?

I have always thought politics is pretty cool. When I was in college I learned a-lot about statistics, about theoretical underpinnings of political systems, but little in terms of realpolitik. I want to push the boundaries of understanding of the realities of politics at all levels. I want to build objective systems that are able to pierce through the drudgery.

Measurement is the fundamental problem in the social sciences.

How do you measure and collect measurements at scale? Social scientists turn to measurement by way of testimonial; be those testimonials structured or unstructured. It is not like you can send surveys to busy lobbyists and politicians, and if you did you have to deal with the fundamental issue of testimonials is that respondents lie. No where would this be more true than in politics where guarding ones internal state would be a matter of discretion. Respondents in a political world would be far more guarded in their responses. You are also limited if you make these faceless surveys of data, as given a sufficient mass of accounted conditions you can tie vote actions, or statements back to individuals. So in a sense scientific study of these political individuals has been hindered by the systems of anonymous research. There have been ethical considerations, that understanding politics to an nth degree will allow for the manipulation and gamification of the political system. This has already taken place, the issue is access to this information is not uniformly understood or distributed to many advocates. I want to, in my endeavors at Civitas, determine and make known these systems.

Actions do not lie, and the measurement of actions can tell us part of a picture. We can look at every action as a reflection of the internal state of an individual in an environment. The issue is we can never know the true internal state of an individual decision. We can only understand the context of an action in a given set of conditions.

So we must do what we can with the accounting of context and actions we have available. I want to build a knowledge graph that serves two primary motivators:

1. The real applications of data in the practice of lobbying (tracking bills, notifying advocates and general reporting)
2. Promote an understanding of corollaries in politics form a first principles basis (What are the levers associated with actions?)

My thought is Politics in this country, played out by rational actors will adhere to rules and mechanics of a game. My goal is to understand the political game as much as possible. I want more than anything to be a true student of politics.