requiring some knowledge - a demonstration of participation - as a prerequesite to the privilege of voting. Allowing everyone to vote is the fuel for our alarmingly impotent system of government
Bravo! I'm with you. Although I said this a couple of years ago and was labeled an elitist (which I suppose I am).
"I'll use the magic word - let's just shut the fuck up, please." EV, 04/13/08
requiring some knowledge - a demonstration of participation - as a prerequesite to the privilege of voting. Allowing everyone to vote is the fuel for our alarmingly impotent system of government
Maybe we could limit it to people who can demonstrate their participation by paying a small tax or perhaps owning property.
Oh wait, we have that pesky 24th amendment to deal with.
requiring some knowledge - a demonstration of participation - as a prerequesite to the privilege of voting. Allowing everyone to vote is the fuel for our alarmingly impotent system of government
Maybe we could limit it to people who can demonstrate their participation by paying a small tax or perhaps owning property.
Oh wait, we have that pesky 24th amendment to deal with.
I think property owners should be the only ones allowed to vote for property tax increases.
"I'll use the magic word - let's just shut the fuck up, please." EV, 04/13/08
um no, you changed it completely. I didn't say anything about the war in Iraq. I said political questions relative to their own countries. politics involves more than Iraq, believe it or not.
Well it's about the war In Iraq is it not? Maybe I'm in the wrong universe again....I should really calibrate this damn time machine of mine...
How does one even out and compare the circumstances towards another country??...you have that country be at war with Iraq and poll them.... no?
Am I still in the milky way quadrant Picard?
Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
Maybe we could limit it to people who can demonstrate their participation by paying a small tax or perhaps owning property.
Oh wait, we have that pesky 24th amendment to deal with.
Is that sacred? are you afraid to address change the constitution? Why?
requiring some knowledge - a demonstration of participation - as a prerequesite to the privilege of voting. Allowing everyone to vote is the fuel for our alarmingly impotent system of government
Who decides whose smart enough? Who decides what the required knowledge is?
To me, implementation of this idea would mean that only members of the government and their benefactors would be allowed to vote on the government.
edited for spelling: apparently I'm not smart enough.
Who decides whose smart enough? Who decides what the required knowledge is?
To me, implementation of this idea would mean that only members of the government and their benefactors would be allowed to vote on the government.
edited for spelling: apparently I'm not smart enough.
Its something we'd have to work on. I believe with a little effort we can do better than we are doing now. You shouldn't have to be "smart". I don't think anyone has a real grasp of what smart means anyway. Just be aware of how our government works (federal, state, and local) and the current key issues.
I believe a very basic knowlege requirement - and the need to put forth the effort to collect the knowledge and a requirement to demonstrate it annually would go a long way.
Perhaps an annual Federal, State and Local pamphlet/DVD availabe your neighborhood libraries and post offices. Part of the trining will include recommended readings and listings of opportunities to help.
A little effort at education. Education would be the enemy of current politicians, who would surely file law suits challanging every fact presented. but if balanced truth is what is attempted - the law suits will fail and truth would begin to gain some steam - and perhaps one day even play a small role in our progress.
you're right, if Country X happens NOT to be at war in Iraq, there obviously are no political questions that could be asked to anyone in that country.
Actually I thought I was losing my mind... I have precious little of it left.
next round is on me
Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
Is that sacred? are you afraid to address change the constitution? Why?
That amendment was a change - to help the people disenfranchised by those in power.
You are now suggesting that we go back to having those in charge setting limits on who can and cannot vote.
I prefer a system where every citizen has the right to vote - no questions asked.
Look, we (USA) didnt get where we is by being smarty pants and researching stuff and shit and stuff and reading your stupid newspapers and learning things.
We fought the British.
We flex our big guns and squash mo fos that disagree with us FOR FUN. If our leaders say Saddam was involved, then its all must be true. I believe everything my govern ment tells me because I am a patriot american bitches. Question my patriot ism and I will crush this here Old Milwaukee beer can on your face you scumbag terriorist.
What you gonna do when the mad crazy ass guns of the ole united states of america come crushing down on you?!
Look, we (USA) didnt get where we is by being smarty pants and researching stuff and shit and stuff and reading your stupid newspapers and learning things.
We fought the British.
We flex our big guns and squash mo fos that disagree with us FOR FUN. If our leaders say Saddam was involved, then its all must be true. I believe everything my govern ment tells me because I am a patriot american bitches. Question my patriot ism and I will crush this here Old Milwaukee beer can on your face you scumbag terriorist.
What you gonna do when the mad crazy ass guns of the ole united states of america come crushing down on you?!
I agree. Not surprised at all. When that Flight 93 movie came out I was at a friends house and her sister came home after having seen it. She was describing it and said at one point, "the hijackers were speaking Iraqi." Jesus.
Poll: What Americans (Don't) Know
We asked Americans about current events, history and cultural literacy. And we got some pretty disheartening results.
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Brian Braiker
Newsweek
Updated: 5:53 p.m. ET June 23, 2007
July 2-9, 2007 issue - For our What You Need to Know Now cover story, we asked our polling firm to test 1,001 adults on a variety of topics, including politics, foreign affairs, business, technology and popular culture. The results were mixed, to be charitible. NEWSWEEK's first What You Need to Know Poll found many gaps in America's knowledge—including a lingering misperception about an Iraqi connection to the September 11 terror attacks, an inability to name key figures in the American government and general cultural confusion.
Even today, more than four years into the war in Iraq, as many as four in 10 Americans (41 percent) still believe Saddam Hussein’s regime was directly involved in financing, planning or carrying out the terrorist attacks on 9/11, even though no evidence has surfaced to support a connection. A majority of Americans were similarly unable to pick Saudi Arabia in a multiple-choice question about the country where most of the 9/11 hijackers were born. Just 43 percent got it right—and a full 20 percent thought most came from Iraq.
Still, seven in 10 (70 percent) are aware that the United States has not discovered any hidden weapons of mass destruction in Iraq since the war began. And perhaps because most (85 percent) are aware that Osama bin Laden remains at large, roughly half of the poll’s respondents (52 percent) think that the United States is losing the fight against his terror group, Al Qaeda, despite no military defeats or recent terrorist attacks to suggest as much.
Closer to home, more Americans are able to name Jordin Sparks as the winner of the most recent season of American Idol (18 percent) than can identify John Roberts as the Supreme Court’s chief justice (11 percent). Only one in three (31 percent) know that Ben Bernanke is the current Federal Reserve chairman; a quarter (26 percent) think Alan Greenspan, who retired in early 2006, still holds the position. Still, more than half of those polled (59 percent) could identify Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker in a multiple-choice question. (Younger respondents had a harder time with this question though, with 46 percent of those under 40 able to identify Pelosi compared to 68 percent of those older than 40.)
One third of the public (36 percent) correctly answered a multiple-choice question showing they knew that both Al Gore and Andrew Jackson had lost a presidential election despite winning more popular votes. A similar number (37 percent) could identify Abraham Lincoln as the first Republican elected president.
Our understanding of broader global affairs and history is sketchy at best. Less than half (42 percent) of the public was aware that Iraq only existed as an independent nation since 1920; 15 percent think Iraq existed as a country before and nearly half (43 percent) refrained from even guessing. Conversely, more than half (60 percent) could identify Vladimir Putin as Russia’s leader. Only three in 10 (29 percent) are aware that nine countries posses nuclear weapons. Four in 10 (38 percent) think only five countries posses such technology; 21 percent put the number of nuclear countries at 11.
Roughly half (53 percent) are aware that Judaism is an older religion than both Christianity and Islam (41 percent aren’t sure). And a quarter of the population mistakenly identify either Iran (26 percent) or India (24 percent) as the country with the largest Muslim population. Only 23 percent could correctly identify Indonesia. Close to twothirds (61 percent) are aware that the Roman Empire predates the Ottoman, British and American empires.
NEWSWEEK also quizzed respondents on business, technology, science and medicine. About one third (37 percent) have an idea of the current value of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and even fewer (23 percent) could correctly select 2000 as the year that the dot-com bubble burst. The business question most respondents (55 percent) could answer correctly was the approximate price of oil (about $70).
Americans could only answer one of our three science and medicine questions correctly: 54 percent seemed to know that the human brain does not stop producing new neurons until after the age of 65. Only 15 percent, however, are aware that childbirth kills one woman a minute each day around the world. A quarter (28 percent) mistakenly thinks the top killer of women is AIDS and more than half (54 percent) thought it was heart attacks. Furthermore, only a small minority (17 percent) correctly chose “greater output from the sun” from a list of items as the lone factor that does not contribute to global warming (with 65 percent mistakenly believing that rice patties are not a contributing factor).
On the cultural front, even though there have been many popular television shows and movies based on her work, less than half (40 percent) of Americans can identify Jane Austen as the author of “Pride and Prejudice” and “Sense and Sensibility.” Women (44 percent) were somewhat more likely than men (36 percent) to answer the question correctly. Still, nearly two thirds (65 percent) of Americans correctly identified soccer as the most popular sport in the world; just 17 percent believe it’s America’s pastime, baseball.
Geography is not the strongest subject for many Americans either. Less than half of the poll’s respondents (45 percent) know that South Korea is closer to Japan than Vietnam, the Philippines and Australia. Close to twothirds (64 percent) do know that the Amazon River is in South America. And despite Iraq’s ongoing relevance to current events, just half (50 percent) could select Libya as the only country out of a list of four that doesn't border it.
The NEWSWEEK Poll, conducted June 18-19, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points for questions based on Census Current Population Survey parameters for gender, age, education, race and population density. In conducting the poll, Princeton Survey Research Associates International interviewed 1,001 adults aged 18 and older.
Just like many Arabs believe 9/11 was the work of Mossad, the CIA or some other conspiracy.
Most Americans are ill-informed and associate 9/11 terrorists (Arabs, hate America) with Iraqis (Arabs, fighting Americans, etc.).
2000: Lubbock; 2003: OKC, Dallas, San Antonio; 2006: Los Angeles II, San Diego; 2008: Atlanta (EV Solo); 2012: Dallas (EV Solo); 2013: Dallas; 2014: Tulsa; 2018: Wrigley I
it may be because saddam paid the families of the attackers.
??? Link?
I tried to find one myself, and when I typed "saddam paid 9-11 attackers' families" into Google, this thread and this post showed up as the #3 link. Of the two before it, one is a pro-iraq war site from 2004 that mentions Saddam paying "homocide" bombers in Palestine, and the other was JINSA page about a cash link between Saudi Arabia and Osama bin Laden - from Sept. 2002.
Comments
more like outside of a church.
Bravo! I'm with you. Although I said this a couple of years ago and was labeled an elitist (which I suppose I am).
Oh wait, we have that pesky 24th amendment to deal with.
Kind of a strange suggestion, isn't it?
I think property owners should be the only ones allowed to vote for property tax increases.
Well it's about the war In Iraq is it not? Maybe I'm in the wrong universe again....I should really calibrate this damn time machine of mine...
How does one even out and compare the circumstances towards another country??...you have that country be at war with Iraq and poll them.... no?
Am I still in the milky way quadrant Picard?
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
(")_(")
Is that sacred? are you afraid to address change the constitution? Why?
To me, implementation of this idea would mean that only members of the government and their benefactors would be allowed to vote on the government.
edited for spelling: apparently I'm not smart enough.
Allowing convicted criminals to write their own sentences is as stupid as allowing non-property owners to pass levys requiring others to fund them.
Why don't you just say we should abolish property taxes?
Its something we'd have to work on. I believe with a little effort we can do better than we are doing now. You shouldn't have to be "smart". I don't think anyone has a real grasp of what smart means anyway. Just be aware of how our government works (federal, state, and local) and the current key issues.
I believe a very basic knowlege requirement - and the need to put forth the effort to collect the knowledge and a requirement to demonstrate it annually would go a long way.
Perhaps an annual Federal, State and Local pamphlet/DVD availabe your neighborhood libraries and post offices. Part of the trining will include recommended readings and listings of opportunities to help.
A little effort at education. Education would be the enemy of current politicians, who would surely file law suits challanging every fact presented. but if balanced truth is what is attempted - the law suits will fail and truth would begin to gain some steam - and perhaps one day even play a small role in our progress.
you're right, if Country X happens NOT to be at war in Iraq, there obviously are no political questions that could be asked to anyone in that country.
Actually I thought I was losing my mind... I have precious little of it left.
next round is on me
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
(")_(")
You are now suggesting that we go back to having those in charge setting limits on who can and cannot vote.
I prefer a system where every citizen has the right to vote - no questions asked.
Fair enough. Now you're speaking my language. We should abolish property taxes.
We fought the British.
We flex our big guns and squash mo fos that disagree with us FOR FUN. If our leaders say Saddam was involved, then its all must be true. I believe everything my govern ment tells me because I am a patriot american bitches. Question my patriot ism and I will crush this here Old Milwaukee beer can on your face you scumbag terriorist.
What you gonna do when the mad crazy ass guns of the ole united states of america come crushing down on you?!
ARHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Take that world!
yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
wanna fight?
got roids?
Ony thing in America worse than a ignorant, uniformed American is a pompous, self-hating, self-righteous American. Oh, and country music.
And hippies...I forgot about those wretched smellin hippies.
I was wonderin' what the odor was in Cleveland? I just thought it was the lake.
"Obama's main opponent in this election on November 4th (was) not John McCain, it (was) ignorance."~Michael Moore
"i'm feeling kinda righteous right now. with my badass motherfuckin' ukulele!"
~ed, 8/7
Just like many Arabs believe 9/11 was the work of Mossad, the CIA or some other conspiracy.
Most Americans are ill-informed and associate 9/11 terrorists (Arabs, hate America) with Iraqis (Arabs, fighting Americans, etc.).
I tried to find one myself, and when I typed "saddam paid 9-11 attackers' families" into Google, this thread and this post showed up as the #3 link. Of the two before it, one is a pro-iraq war site from 2004 that mentions Saddam paying "homocide" bombers in Palestine, and the other was JINSA page about a cash link between Saudi Arabia and Osama bin Laden - from Sept. 2002.
So, please, point me in the right direction.