Never Mind the Candidates...
Today is Wednesday, 20 October 2010.
“In a New York Times/CBS News Poll last month, fewer than one in 10 respondents knew that the Obama administration had lowered taxes for most Americans. Half of those polled said they thought that their taxes had stayed the same, a third thought that their taxes had gone up, and about a tenth said they did not know.” *
Easy to see why less than 10% of Americans knew about the tax cut. After all, it took place in the long ago of last year, when human consciousness had barely evolved from the primordial ooze, affected a miniscule 95% of working families, and received merely significant notice in the media.
I suspect one would discover similar polling results if the question were, “During the last two decades of The Cold War, which American president was responsible for beginning the increase of military spending so substantially, that many analysts believe it was a significant factor in the collapse of the Soviet Union?”
Ronald “Mr. Mourning in America” Reagan, the Great Hawk and Communicator, yes? No: that pusillanimous peacenik and master of malaise, Jimmy Carter.
Another recent poll in this country found that atheists were more likely to be better informed about religious beliefs that people who claimed devoutly to believe.
One of the foundations of Teabaggery is that taxes can be slashed while government services swell: creation ex nihilo.
Democracy is not a referendum of the ignorant and misinformed. There can be no democracy in a society in which a majority of the electorate is either grossly ignorant or drastically misinformed.
Never mind the candidates: the electorate is largely unqualified.
______________________________________
* The New York Times, 19 October 2010.
“In a New York Times/CBS News Poll last month, fewer than one in 10 respondents knew that the Obama administration had lowered taxes for most Americans. Half of those polled said they thought that their taxes had stayed the same, a third thought that their taxes had gone up, and about a tenth said they did not know.” *
Easy to see why less than 10% of Americans knew about the tax cut. After all, it took place in the long ago of last year, when human consciousness had barely evolved from the primordial ooze, affected a miniscule 95% of working families, and received merely significant notice in the media.
I suspect one would discover similar polling results if the question were, “During the last two decades of The Cold War, which American president was responsible for beginning the increase of military spending so substantially, that many analysts believe it was a significant factor in the collapse of the Soviet Union?”
Ronald “Mr. Mourning in America” Reagan, the Great Hawk and Communicator, yes? No: that pusillanimous peacenik and master of malaise, Jimmy Carter.
Another recent poll in this country found that atheists were more likely to be better informed about religious beliefs that people who claimed devoutly to believe.
One of the foundations of Teabaggery is that taxes can be slashed while government services swell: creation ex nihilo.
Democracy is not a referendum of the ignorant and misinformed. There can be no democracy in a society in which a majority of the electorate is either grossly ignorant or drastically misinformed.
Never mind the candidates: the electorate is largely unqualified.
______________________________________
* The New York Times, 19 October 2010.
posted by HH at 2:18 AM
3 Comments:
Mr. HH said "One of the foundations of Teabaggery is that taxes can be slashed while government services swell: creation ex nihilo."
Sorry, am still not bilingual. What is "ex nibilo?"
Latin for "out of nothing".
You are absolutely right and express it brilliantly. I find it unbelievably frustrating and truly frightening that we are surrounded by so many who are "grossly ignorant or drastically misinformed." I am also disgusted and angry at all those candidates who take advantage of such voters.
I have spent the last two years being grateful that most of the rest of the country is not as backward as my home state (which I won't name, but many could guess), only to be faced with the horrendous possibility that the numbers of the misguided, judgmental, and entirely self-centered are growing drastically.
If only I really could vote early and often.
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