When a country has a moronic population, does that affect the democratic system of that country? Here's something to chew on:
This is the premise of the latest book from historian Rick Shenkman, "Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter". I'm not here to do any sort of promotion for the book but I wanted to start a discussion on the subject. Do you think a democracy is lessened when the majority of the population is voting on issues they know nothing about, got their opinion from a conglomerated TV news media source, or have a completely wrong understanding about them? This goes beyond party lines. The war example is troubling considering what was/is at stake and it's importance.
"Only 2 in 5 Americans know we have 3 branches of government and can name them. Only 1 out of 7 Americans can find Iraq on a map. Only 1 out 5 know we have 100 U.S. senators. On the eve of the Iraq war, 70% of Americans believed Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11. 80% of the people who supported the war mentioned this as their main reason for supporting the war. What kind of a democracy can you have when the single biggest event of our time comes along, and you can't get the basic facts right?"
This is the premise of the latest book from historian Rick Shenkman, "Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter". I'm not here to do any sort of promotion for the book but I wanted to start a discussion on the subject. Do you think a democracy is lessened when the majority of the population is voting on issues they know nothing about, got their opinion from a conglomerated TV news media source, or have a completely wrong understanding about them? This goes beyond party lines. The war example is troubling considering what was/is at stake and it's importance.