How Poliparse works

Poliparse is sponsored by the Pragmatist Party. The Pragmatist analysis on each question is the sponsor's view and is labeled as such. The facts and each group's case are written to stand on their own, with sources you can check.

We think being open about the sponsor earns more trust than hiding it. Poliparse may later be sponsored by others, such as a nonprofit focused on civic learning. When that changes, this page will say so.

Poliparse is its own site, separate from pragmatists.org.

Every question is about America. Other countries show up only in footnotes, for comparison. Each question page has the same layers, basics first:

• The basics: what's being decided, in plain words.
• Agreed facts: what the evidence shows, each with its sources. We prefer government and nonpartisan data: CBO, CRS, federal agencies, USAFacts and peer-reviewed research.
• Who argues what: every group that actually argues for something on the question. They may be ideological blocs, movements, coalitions or professions, not just parties, and there's no fixed number. Politics isn't two teams, so we don't present it that way. Each case is written in its strongest, fairest form.
• Pragmatist analysis: our sponsor's view, in its own labeled section after all the groups. It looks through three lenses: the Listener (how the issue lands), the Analyst (facts, testable claims and values, kept apart) and the Pragmatist Leader (what's missing from the debate). It names the trade-offs and says what the evidence suggests works, and how sure anyone can be.

Throughout the site, three marks show what kind of statement you're reading:

Fact

checked against sources you can open

Testable claim

evidence can settle it; we say how far it has

Value judgment

reasonable people weigh it differently

Facts are drafted with AI help from primary sources, then checked by a second, independent pass. Every item carries a review status. Until it's checked, it's marked Draft.

When we couldn't verify something, we don't hide it or guess. It's flagged Unverified right where it appears, with a note on what's missing. Budget figures come from CBO, OMB and Treasury, each with the date it was current.

We say only what the evidence supports: a factor isn't called the main cause, and a correlation isn't called a cause.

Nothing that identifies you. The interests you pick when you first arrive stay in your browser. In The Whole Bill, your answers are recorded anonymously so we can publish what people choose, in aggregate. We don't set tracking cookies and we don't store IP addresses. The one thing we keep that's yours is an email address, only if you give it on a page that isn't live yet and ask to hear when it is. We use it for that one notice and nothing else.