U. S. Politics: Dumb (Pick Any Candidate) & Dumber (The Voters)

Kathleen Parker, a Righty Op-Ed columnist for hire, gives us a pair of strange bedfellows: the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) of Wilmington, DL and Professor Rick Shenkman of the History News Network (HNN) Web site. The ISI was founded in the wake of William F. Buckley's polemic: God and Man at Yale (1951) to combat godless atheism and liberalism on U.S. college campuses. Shenkman's HNN is hosted at George Mason University of Fairfax, VA. The ISI created an online civics quiz that provided grist for Kathleen Parker's Op-Ed mill. With Professor Shenkman chiming in with his recent polemic — Just How Stupid Are We? Facing The Truth About The American People (2008) — Parker weaves both narratives into an explanation of the Dr. Phil question: "What were they thinking?" when the question turns to the election of Milorad "Rod" R. Blagojevich to TWO TERMS as Governor of Illinois by the voters in the Land O'Lincoln. What were the voters of Illinois thinking? Pssst. The correct answer is that they WEREN'T THINKING when they cast those ballots. However, Illinois doesn't have a corner on the stupidity market. Look at Alaska (or Texas). If this is (fair & balanced) civic despair, so be it.

[x (The Nearly Bankrupt) Chicago Fishwrap]
Bailing Out The Ignorance Of America's Voters
By Kathleen Parker

So much for the wisdom of The People.

A new report from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute on the nation's civic literacy finds that most Americans are too ignorant to vote.

Out of 2,500 American quiz-takers, including college students, elected officials and other randomly selected citizens, nearly 1,800 flunked a 33-question test on basic civics. In fact, elected officials scored slightly lower than the general public with an average score of 44 percent compared with 49 percent. Only 0.8 percent of all test-takers scored an "A."

America's report card may come as little surprise to fans of Jay Leno's man-on-the-street interviews, which reveal that most people don't know diddly about doohickey. Still, it's disheartening in the wake of a populist-driven election celebrating Joes-of-all-trades to be reminded that the voting public is dumber than ever.

The multiple-choice quiz wouldn't deepen the creases in most brains, but the questions do require a basic knowledge of how the U.S. government works. Think fast: In what document do the words "government of the people, by the people, for the people" appear? More than twice as many people (56 percent) knew that Paula Abdul was a judge on "American Idol" than knew that those words come from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (21 percent).

In good news, more than 80 percent of college graduates gave correct answers about Susan B. Anthony, the identity of the commander in chief of the U.S. military and the content of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

But don't pop the cork yet. Only 17 percent of college grads understood the difference between free markets and centralized planning.

Most bracing: Only 27 percent of elected officeholders in the survey could identify a right or freedom guaranteed by the 1st Amendment. Forty-three percent didn't know what the Electoral College does. And 46 percent didn't know that the Constitution gives Congress power to declare war.

What's behind the dumbing down of America? The Intercollegiate Studies Institute found that passive activities, such as watching TV (including news) and talking on the phone, diminish civic literacy. Pursuing information through print media and participating in high-level conversations—even blogging—makes one smarter.

The institute insists that higher-education reforms aimed at civic literacy are urgently needed. Historian Rick Shenkman—author of Just How Stupid Are We?—thinks reform needs to start in high school. His strategy is poetic (to certain ears) and pragmatic: Require students to read newspapers, and give college freshmen weekly quizzes on current events.

Shenkman is also tough on everyday Americans. Why, he asks, do we value polls when clearly The People don't know enough to make a reasoned judgment?

The founding fathers, Shenkman points out, weren't so enamored of The People, whom they distrusted. Hence a republic, not a democracy. They understood that an ignorant electorate was susceptible to emotional manipulation and feared the tyranny of the masses.

Both Shenkman and the Intercollegiate Studies Institute pose a bedeviling question: Who will govern a free nation if no one understands the mechanics and instruments of that freedom?

Maybe one day, a demagogue.

[Kathleen Parker is a syndicated columnist. Her columns generally support American conservative ideology and are syndicated nationally by The Washington Post Writers Group. Parker is a consulting faculty member at the Buckley School of Public Speaking, and makes appearances on television shows like "The O'Reilly Factor" and "Hardball With Chris Matthews." Parker is the author of Save the Males: Why Men Matter, Why Women Should Care (2008). Parker, a Florida native, attended Converse College before transferring to the University of San Francisco for a year of study in Spain, majoring in Spanish Literature. She holds a Master's degree in Spanish literature.]

Copyright © 2008 Chicago Tribune

Get the Google Reader at no cost from Google. Click on this link to go on a tour of the Google Reader. If you read a lot of blogs, load Reader with your regular sites, then check them all on one page. The Reader's share function lets you publicize your favorite posts.