Don't Know, Don't Care

I's been called "the dumbing down of America", a recognition of the downward spiral of American education. The average person in the U.S. is ill-informed about national and international affairs. Thus, they are easy prey for demagogues who trade in false patriotism, fear and prejudice. A recent study of political views confirms just how ignorant and gullible is the typical U.S. citizen. For democracy to work, there has to be a well-informed citizenry. The men of 1776 knew this, and pinned their hopes on it for their political experiment to succeed.

They would be extremely disappointed in 2011. Ironically, with all the freedom of information and multiple outlets to obtain it, the American people have very little political culture and their participation in the democratic processes is far from what it should be in an advanced society.

Comments

  1. Roberto Ariel FernándezNovember 20, 2011 at 4:19 AM

    I sometimes say that the U.S. is too important a country to be run by the super corrupt that govern it and to have such stupid citizenry. Puerto Rico has similar ills, but it's mostly irrelevant to the rest of the planet. The rest of the world can afford Puerto Ricans to continue in our alienation, although we ourselves can't.

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