Studies Show that the U.S. is a Nation of Fools in terms of Political Comprehension

[Occam's Banana]

Political ignorance is not caused by lack of information. Thanks to the internet, information is easier to find than ever. Yet studies show that today’s voters are about as ignorant as those of the pre-internet era. Most of such ignorance is actually rational. When your only incentive to acquire political knowledge is to make better voting decisions, remaining ignorant makes good sense. No matter how well-informed you are, the probability that your vote will change the outcome of an election is tiny—only one in 60 million in a presidential election, for example. Though few know the exact odds, people have an intuitive sense that there is little payoff to studying political issues, and act accordingly.

Did anyone else read the above?

People are less apt to pay attention to the details of things they can't effectively do anything about.

I have no doubt that some political ignorance is due to stupidity - but I suspect that even more of it is due to good old-fashioned horse sense ...

If you can't name the 3 branches of government, you shouldn't be able to vote.

Why should we expect things to be one damn bit different even if every single voter could name the three branches of government?

I can name the three branches - and I am willing to bet that I am a good deal more "knowlegeable" than 95% of the electorate about similar "civics class" matters. (But then, I seem to have a knack for cluttering my brain with such useless bits of trivia ...)

However, I fail to understand how that is supposed to qualify me to make better choices when it comes to deciding things like whether the Red Parasite or the Blue Parasite should get to join the ranks of the elite parasites ...

In fact, one might make a strong case that allowing people to vote only if they can do things like name the three branches of government would actually make matters even worse - since the kind of people most motivated to use the government as a truncheon to bash over the heads of their fellow citizens would also be among those most motivated to learn and know how the system works (and conversely, the kind of people least motivated to use the government as a truncheon would also be among those least likely to give a shit about things like how many members there are in the US House of Representatives).

In any case, I see no reason to think that "Informed" correlates significantly with "good" or "wise" or "liberty-friendly."

IOW: "Ignorant" voters vs. "informed" voters is NOT the problem ...

 

[Philhelm]

Is that what those ding dongs are, Armenians?

If so, then the Turks sadly missed a family years ago...

 

[acptulsa]

How popular was Mr Will Rogers during his lifetime? He's well before my time. I think his wit and wisdom would be lost on most people toady, especially those ~40 and younger.

What? You're not over ninety? Whipper snapper.

I've made people from about every demographic down to eight or nine years of age laugh by quoting Will Rogers.

If you won't take Henry Mencken's word for how popular he was, why would you take mine? Would it help you to learn that in the year of his death he was Hollywood's number one box office draw? Should I quote you how many thousands of newspapers carried his column? Did you sleep through all of those clips of him speaking at the 1932 Democratic Presidential Convention?

Seriously. If you won't believe H.L. Mencken when he said Will Rogers was '...the most dangerous man alive'--and I quoted part of that conversation in the very post you quoted--then why the hell should I waste my breath trying to explain it to you?

 

[Ronin Truth]

+rep. I doubt I'd ever get my way, but if I had my 'druthers, getting a voter ID would require an exam covering at least the basics of civics, US history, and econ.

Hate to tell you, but PC would label that racist and "schoolist" (prejudiced against the reading challenged).

 

[Ronin Truth]

How popular was Mr Will Rogers during his lifetime? He's well before my time. I think his wit and wisdom would be lost on most people toady, especially those ~40 and younger.


https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=Will+Rogers

 

[ifthenwouldi]

Did anyone else read the above?

People are less apt to pay attention to the details of things they can't effectively do anything about.

I have no doubt that some political ignorance is due to stupidity - but I suspect that even more of it is due to good old-fashioned horse sense ...

Thank you. Discussions seem to veer off course so easily on this site.

I particularly appreciated this section:

If we decentralize power from the federal government to states and localities, or to the private sector, more issues can be decided by foot voting instead of ballot box voting, and more of our decisions will be well-informed.

The "problem" is that a republic was never designed to work with a population even the size of my own state, North Carolina, much less the 300+ million in the US.

 

[Occam's Banana]

I particularly appreciated this section:

If we decentralize power from the federal government to states and localities, or to the private sector, more issues can be decided by foot voting instead of ballot box voting, and more of our decisions will be well-informed.

The "problem" is that a republic was never designed to work with a population even the size of my own state, North Carolina, much less the 300+ million in the US.

Precisely so!

 

[acptulsa]

Thank you. Discussions seem to veer off course so easily on this site.

I particularly appreciated this section:



The "problem" is that a republic was never designed to work with a population even the size of my own state, North Carolina, much less the 300+ million in the US.

This is the heart of the matter to me as well.

If only we could get this one point across, we would become saviors to the nation. If your local fire department is run out of Washington, and it's underperforming, then you have to convince twenty million people that your fire department is more important than abortion, gay marriage and their own fire departments combined. So then what are the odds your fire department can be improved?

And since the Department of Homeland Security was created, Washington has been gaining more control over your local fire department every day.

 

[ChristianAnarchist]

'MERICA !!!

 

[HOLLYWOOD]

+rep. I doubt I'd ever get my way, but if I had my 'druthers, getting a voter ID would require an exam covering at least the basics of civics, US history, and econ.

lol... How about all voters just take an 8th grade exam, since almost every US citizen has PASSED through the government's K-12 "Schooling System" today.

1912 Eighth Grade Exam: Could you make it to high school in 1912?

 

[timosman]

This is the heart of the matter to me as well.

If only we could get this one point across, we would become saviors to the nation. If your local fire department is run out of Washington, and it's underperforming, then you have to convince twenty million people that your fire department is more important than abortion, gay marriage and their own fire departments combined. So then what are the odds your fire department can be improved?

And since the Department of Homeland Security was created, Washington has been gaining more control over your local fire department every day.

And what about NWO ? Could we get rid of that too ?

 

[wizardwatson]

But Rand Paul will get through.

He will win.

He will broadcast a pirate signal from his curly head and hack the voting machines.

 

[Ronin Truth]

Fools AKA Sheeple.

 

[enhanced_deficit]

Chanting freedom slogans while finacing open-ended oppression of Palestinians for over 4 decades...then they hate us cuz we have freedom.. yea it fits in terms of political comprehesion of things.

 

[Anti Federalist]

What's the problem 'scro?

I know plenty of tards that live great lives.

 

[AuH20]

A perfect example..............

http://thefederalist.com/2015/06/18...ricans-to-know-anything-about-king-v-burwell/

According to a new poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 7 in 10 Americans have heard little or nothing about King v. Burwell, the U.S. Supreme Court case that will, any day now, decide the fate of Obamacare’s health insurance subsidies for millions of Americans. Yet 63 percent of those surveyed also say that if the court rules against the government, Congress should act to keep those subsidies in place.

Got that? The vast majority of Americans know almost nothing about this case, but 63 percent have an opinion about what Congress should do in response to a ruling that carries certain policy implications. How can this be?

I think I have the answer.....................

A sheep isn't expected to think. His job is to chew on grass all day and be dragged in for an occasional shear. He has no time to think about corporate cronyism, individual rights or unsustainable budgets.

For example, an estimated 15 million Americans are paying more for coverage on the individual market under Obamacare and not getting subsidies. That’s far more than the 6.4 million now receiving taxpayer help on the federal exchanges. Insurance regulations imposed by the healthcare law—age-rating rules, actuarial-value restrictions, and benefit mandates—have made insurance more expensive, and repealing them would dramatically lower the cost of coverage for everyone, subsidized and unsubsidized alike. Likely, millions of Americans now getting subsidized coverage could afford it on their own if these regulations were repealed.

But the media isn’t really interested in informing the debate with such pernicious facts. That’s why coverage of Burwell has focused almost exclusively on those who might lose subsidies and what congressional Republicans will do about it. The law’s defenders in the media and academia don’t want that to happen, so the polls they concoct assume the Burwell challengers are trying to undermine the law and Congress must do something to restore those subsidies.

 

[Ronin Truth]

Yep, you can just about always count on good old dumbing down government schooling to NOT convey the info.

 

[Dianne]

No chit. I saw recently that over 60% of Americans didn't know who Joe Biden was.

 

[Dianne]

What's the problem 'scro?

I know plenty of tards that live great lives.

I wish I was a tard. I would be so happy as one. Not a care in the world.

 

[rg17]

Fat Sheeple