As I contemplate the way Americans come to conclusions about candidates that effect their votes (our recent primary in West Virginia, for instance, with a predominance of non-college educated people many of whom believe Barack Obama to be a Muslim), I get increasingly worried about how the next administration will handle the economy or the war or anything else.
I guess I am most worried that people will vote for a candidate, say McCain, because they believe a certain set of lies and misrepresentations which he seems to come out with every day.
The Gallup organization just published this on their web site:
Four out of Five Americans Know Earth Revolves Around Sun
Probing a more universal measure of knowledge, Gallup also asked the following basic science question, which has been used to indicate the level of public knowledge in two European countries in recent years: “As far as you know, does the earth revolve around the sun or does the sun revolve around the earth?” In the new poll, about four out of five Americans (79%) correctly respond that the earth revolves around the sun, while 18% say it is the other way around. These results are comparable to those found in Germany when a similar question was asked there in 1996; in response to that poll, 74% of Germans gave the correct answer, while 16% thought the sun revolved around the earth, and 10% said they didn’t know. When the question was asked in Great Britain that same year, 67% answered correctly, 19% answered incorrectly, and 14% didn’t know.
Frankly, 18% of Americans thinking the sun revolves around the earth is a huge number, given the fact that we have known that the opposite is true for at least three centuries.
If even the most basic items of educational knowledge escape close to 1 out of 5 Americans, how can a government of by and for the people be established and still be sensible and able to make the changes we need?
perhaps a more productive way of viewing this, essentially meaningless, poll, would be to take the 82% of the, supposedly, enlightened, to task and find out why they don’t take a more active interest in, and involvement with, their obligations as the electorate in a democratic republic. when nearly half of them sit out elections, it’s no wonder the lunatic fringe exerts an inordinate influence on the results.
the fringer’s may be considered stupid by some definitions, but they vote…and in relatively large numbers as the past two national elections have shown. not to mention their influence on local elections and the absurd actions that that has engendered. [see kansas school board fiasco re: teaching evolution from a year or so back.] when the far greater percentage of the enlightened public becomes weary of the garbage in, garbage out nature of politics, they’ll do something about changing it. [as they ultimately did in kansas.] l’m hopeful that we’re on the cusp of just such a change.
this isn’t rocket science.
the solution lies in getting people off their complacent asses, aiding them in getting politically informed, instilling a sense of responsibility, and encouraging them to vote…the 18%’ers are outnumbered 4:1, but you wouldn’t know it from the hand wringing. l could go on, but why bother, it’s preaching to the choir.
watch this
from rick shenkman, author of Just How Stupid Are We?
Facing the Truth About the American People
nc
That’s truly frightening, that so many people haven’t made it out of the dark ages. But then, how many think the world was created in seven days, too? Or that God put dinosaur bones here to test people’s faith?