The Ignorant American Voter
Historian Rick Shenkman laments the breed in his new book, "Just How Stupid Are We?"
Rather than being stupid, could Americans just be too trusting of their leaders?
It's very curious. Before this last half-century, Americans were very trusting of their leaders. But that all changed after Vietnam, Watergate, and Iran-contra. I don't think you can have a democracy without people trusting their government, but if the last half century has shown anything, it's that healthy skepticism about our leaders is probably warranted, if not a wholehearted cynicism. And I certainly wouldn't want to embrace a wholehearted cynicism. That's too grim a reading of the lessons of the last half century. But at the same time, they need to be skeptical. What I argue in the book is we have to reform ourselves. We can't just say to leaders, "You have to be better leaders," or to the media, "Do your job better." If this is going to be a democracy, we have to take responsibility as voters.
Is there any evidence that voters in other countries are smarter or more responsible voters?
I'm not an expert on other countries. My study of the last 30 years is focused on the United States. Our democracy is so different for so many reasons. We don't have tribal ancestry that unites us. What unites us are our ideas, and that creates a far different set of challenges for our democracy than for another democracy in the rest of the world. What I try to do is talk about comparing Americans today with Americans of the past and talking about our own history.
What can be done to un-dumb the American voter?
My point is not that we need to go back to a system where party or labor bosses were in charge of the system. We have a vibrant democracy today, and that's a good thing, but we need to simply acknowledge that the ordinary voter is not as smart as they should be. They are susceptible to manipulation and being conned, and once we admit that, we have to figure out how we can have a country of smarter voters. That's why I end the book on an optimistic note, because I think we can get there. My No. 1 suggestion that is easily implemented is to ask every college student their freshman year to take a current events quiz weekly. I think that would have an enormous effect on the country.
Reader Comments
why people are ignorant
as long as american people think that their vote really counts this game will go on same as past 180 years and now other countrys are learning and doing the same (voting ) like iran , but the reality is that they just want people to vote but they choose who ever they want , if people stop voting less than 50% then they will be canselled automaticly and this is some thing they don't want , that's why we see people are getting ingnorant more and more by tv -movies -banks loans tax , and they don't even want to talk about reality they are happy with this kinde of life becouse they can't imaging a life with out lies -tax -payment for house , why no one in america can't own a home of their own with out life time payment that's becouase they want people to be busy working and paying and have no time to think about any of this , THIS IS LIFE IN A GOLDEN CAGE , in the past they slave human but now they slave humanity . and so far they done a good job about it .
Htuqbpto
PVOVB8
The same type of people
The same type of people who voted for Bush, voted for Obama. The American public divides itself with catch phrases and propaganda dolled out by both sides.
The easiest way to teach children to become "smart" is to teach them logical fallacies in high school.
For instance, During bush's campaign he would use phrases like "If you don't support me, your with the terrorist." In Obama's campaign he didn't go at it directly but accomplished the same with his "old politics" phrases and anti-bush statements. Especially the "new" images. If you are trained in any way, shape or form you know that these are all logical fallacies. Bandwagon, and novelty. Popularity doesn't equate to what is correct, nor does something new. The ignorance of the American public is believing in these catch phrases and nuances. This is accomplished with calls of authority through the news media. They are just as much to blame as well.
A truly smart American knows that our political system is closed to any influence through voters except on a local level. It has been this way for a while. Through restructuring of voter laws every election, voter drives, and media coverage, any person with a lot of money can buy an election. In other words, it doesn't matter what you think, a person with the right amount of money and influence can change the rules of the game each election. This election is was Obama. He had enough money to buy the right people in certain key states to get them to change their election laws to favor metropolitan centers through voter registration, lessing of voter registration requirements, and extended voting time. This in combination with the money to actually huddle people to the polls by providing transportation, won him the election.
To simplify this let me ask you a simple question. When is the last time a president won the election without having the majority of political support (through being a democrat or republican) and the MOST amount of money compared to the other candidates? The pattern is quite clear.
advertisement
