Civic responsibility is not “anything and everything,” nor was it invented yesterday. Glancing over the day’s headlines and top stories every once in a while, having some idea of what’s going on, and factoring in that information at the voting booth is not an unreasonable expectation for a citizen in a democracy.

The 24 hour cable news cycle is toxic, yes, but there are still daily papers and even less frequent periodicals with generally calmer perspectives.