American Political Ignorance and the Privilege To Vote.

Houston, we have a problem.

For just a minute let's throw aside the mud slinging, the back stabbing and the deafening cacophony of this political static shall we? I'd very much like to get back to the foundations of what this great country was built on...the constituency. We hear much about how the candidates are truly going to represent the people this time around or how they will give us the change we want. I firmly believe that the central and most fundamental issue with all of this is that the average American citizen has no idea what they truly want, how to get it, nevertheless which candidate will take them there. This political ignorance is maddening, and it must stop.

Quite a few surveys have been done on this issue. One of the most thorough and long running has been by the people at www.people-press.org. I'd like to point out some of their frankly frightening findings. Only 21% of American adults can identify who the current Secretary of Defense OR the Vice President is. Good lord, they only had to get one answer right. A mere 37% of adults can use their masterful skills of deduction to come to the conclusion that Chief Justice John Roberts is a conservative. And more people can identify who Peyton Manning is than Barack Obama (just when I thought he had reached true movie star status). And this was just the beginning, let's not even go down the road of how the political system actually works.

I don't reveal this information to belittle you or call you names. I share these statistics to infuriate you. The fact that you are even reading this blog is a testament to your love for this country, and the fact that so many people put forth so little effort into the basic knowledge of their own government should force your fists to clench and steam to project from your nostrils.

Now the United States is supposed to be a Democracy, yes? It is a type of government where all of the power is to be vested in the people or their elected officials. That is all well and good and personally, I wouldn't have it any other way. But a severe issue arises when the people become apathetic, desensitized, uninformed and ignorant of the positions of their elected officials and, more generally and disturbingly, of how their government works. This is a symptom of an illness within a democracy and we need to find a cure.

Now, I believe that in a healthy democracy it should be every citizen's inalienable right to vote and to have an equal contribution as to the direction of their country. However, due to America's illness some drastic measures must be taken. I full heartedly believe that a rudimentary test should be given to earn the right to vote. The 2008 election has stirred people's interest in their country's direction, and that is a good start. Unfortunately, this does not mean they (we) are informed. I'm not proposing that we restrict voting rights to a privileged few--that would turn our democracy into a bastardized oligarchy, and that is not something we want. I am insinuating that in a sense we need to shock the people back into taking responsibility for their own country.

Overall, the Post-Harvard survey found that more than half of all Americans agreed with the following statement: “Politics and government are so complicated that a person like me can’t really understand what’s going on.” If someone declared that traffic laws are so complicated that he couldn’t figure out which side of the road to drive on, most people would support yanking that person’s driver’s license. Yet no amount of ignorance can disqualify a voter from a role in choosing representatives and presidents. http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0308d.asp

As much as I detest government interference with the everyday lives of its citizens, a test to gain the privilege to vote is a pill I'm willing to swallow. Again, I would not like to see a test so hard that only the most informed pass--basic knowledge should suffice. Knowledge of the three branches of government and their roles, the basic differences between the House and the Senate, the POTUS and VP candidates for both parties, the party platform they represent, and a few of their basic stances.

Could you answer these most basic of questions?

If the answer is no, than I'm sorry, but "Due to your lack of love, respect and responsibility for your country, your voting privileges have been revoked."