Talk on political discourse draws crowd in Bellingham

Media's role in democracy and the nature of people and politics were the topics of the League of Women Voters of Whatcom County's meeting Saturday, Jan. 15.
The discussion drew more than 50 people to the Bellingham Public Library's lecture room to hear about the importance of deliberation in a democracy.
Speaker Johann Neem, from Western Washington University's history department, talked about the fight between making choices based on interests rather than deliberating. Through deliberation, he said, people can gain a better understanding of the issues and the people on both sides of them.