If there is an antidote to the kind of inveterate optimism it takes to believe we can actually cure the ills of Congress it is a stroll through the news of the day.

So far today I have read a quite disturbing story titled The Global Machine Behind the Rise of Far-Right Nationalism, which as the author points out is a fairly ironic topic.

I’ve also learned a new and horrifying term...swatting.

I’ve read the latest on Jeffrey Epstein’s death

I even waded into op-ed, since it seems refreshing to me to still find opinion labeled as such in the newspaper rather than just mixed in with the news as if they were the same thing. Unfortunately this particular op-ed only served to convince me that what I would have guessed to be a universally desirable outcome, like safeguarding the electoral process, can be turned into a partisan topic.

I’m not suggesting these stories are not news, they are. The Times story, in particular, appears to have included some very good journalism. But isn’t there room somewhere for articles and information about what can be done to control healthcare costs? That has been at the top of almost every “which issues matter” poll I’ve seen this year. What is the President proposing to do about it? What is Congress’ next move when it returns to Washington next month? What does your representative think?

How about increasing wages? Or preparing today’s students and the millions of Americans without the skills to compete for the jobs of the future with those skills. Isn’t there room somewhere for coverage about what’s being done and, more importantly, not being done about that?

These were the top three outcomes listed in the July Project to Find America poll. Admittedly these are based on a tiny survey. More on that in a minute.

Where do we go for news about what the President, or Congress or your state or community government are doing to drive these outcomes? That’s the question I’m hoping to address next.

But I need your help with this. Whether you voted or not in the July poll, I’ve reset the poll for August and you can vote now. And please please please, share this page with others and ask them to vote. Wouldn’t it be cool to get a real sense for the outcomes that Americans commonly want to drive instead of just the issues that divide us?