A very high percentage of the U.S. electorate isn't very well qualified to vote, if by "qualified" you mean having a basic understanding of our government, its functions and its challenges. Almost half of the American public doesn't know that each state gets two senators. More than two-thirds can't explain the gist of what the Food and Drug Administration does. Full Story »
Posted by Kaizar Campwala
The story presents data to show that the public is not well informed about our government and about current events, and it jumps to a conclusion: democracy here is not working, let's get rid of democracy. The alternative that people like Thomas Jefferson proposed and which have worked well in the past are not even mentioned as possibilities. Is it really impossible in this country to re-invigorate education about civic matters? Is it really impossible to re-establish a responsible and informative media? These are other approaches, rather than just abandoning democracy, however these or other alternatives are not even considered.
