{{Newsrelease|date=August 2022}}
{{short description|Political website in United States}} '''A Starting Point''' is a website, launched in 2020, devoted to presenting videos by elected officials (current or former), presenting various points of view on issues that are of interest to the United States electorate. It was started by Chris Evans, Mark Kassen, and Joe Kiani.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Darby |first=Luke |date=April 7, 2019 |title=Chris Evans Is Getting into Politics, But Probably Not the Way You Think |url=https://www.gq.com/story/chris-evans-starting-point-politics-video |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191215065505/https://www.gq.com/story/chris-evans-starting-point-politics-video |archive-date=December 15, 2019 |access-date=December 15, 2019 |work=GQ}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last1=Pearson|first1=Ryan|url=https://apnews.com/e8bebd3de410f34b60dd0c362f1c992f|title=Chris Evans hopes to shield democracy with politics website|publisher=Associated Press|date=August 14, 2020|access-date=August 31, 2020|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813212909/https://apnews.com/e8bebd3de410f34b60dd0c362f1c992f|archivedate=August 13, 2020}}</ref> Since starting this project in 2017, Evans et al have been able to engage dozens of elected officials to create videos on a plethora of topics; the draw for the speakers is that, unlike when being interviewed by a journalist, they can speak their minds without being attacked for their points of view.<ref name="Cap">{{cite news|title=Captain America is trying to … captain America|newspaper=Washington Post|date=22 Oct 2020|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/chris-evans-activism/2020/10/22/29e7b2cc-1270-11eb-ba42-ec6a580836ed_story.html|author=Geoff Edgers}}</ref> The basic idea is to encourage civic engagement of the electorate by allowing politicians in office to present their points of view in a civil manner, and start dialogs which will encourage bipartisanship.<ref name="Cap"/>
The website has these sections: * ''Starting Points'', videos under 2 minutes, organized by broad topic * ''Daily Points'', in which an office-holder can discuss any topics for under 2 minutes * ''Counterpoints'', in which two office-holders (typically one Democrat and one Republican) can discuss a topic of their choosing, in multiple videos of under two minutes, alternating between the two speakers
The participants include: * Senators * Members of Congress * Governors * Mayors * State representatives
If a user chooses to see all contributions by a particular politician, the sections available includes ''Intro Points'', which gives the politician the opportunity to introduce themselves to the viewer by answering three questions: * What inspired you to get into politics? * What is your most meaningful moment in politics? * What do you think can be done to create a more bipartisan environment in Washington?
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{citation|first=Arielle|last=Pardes|title=Chris Evans Goes to Washington|url=https://www.wired.com/story/chris-evans-starting-point-politics/|work=Wired|date=February 2020}}
==External links== * [https://www.astartingpoint.com/ Official website]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Starting Point}} Category:American political websites Category:Projects established in 2017 Category:Internet properties established in 2020 Category:2020 establishments in the United States