The tragedy of an ignorant electorate

James Simpson
Published: November 7, 2008

It is a sad time for Virginia and a tragic time for America. The only thing more dangerous than our two-party political system is having one party in complete control.

Most Americans have little money saved. What’s even worse, Americans seem to appreciate the information deprivation environment created by those seeking the power of political office.

I have no doubt that more than 50 percent of the people in Prince William County don’t even know who their representatives are … at any level in government. An even greater number — perhaps 90
percent — likely couldn’t tell you where candidates really stand on specific issues. And I would hazard a guess that as many as 99 percent have no idea how the people they just elected or reelected
actually voted while in office.

People talk about voting as a civic duty or responsibility. Hogwash. An individual’s responsibility is being educated about the issues as well as the backgrounds of the men and women upon whom they
are about to entrust a significant amount of power. It is wholly irresponsible to vote the way so many people do … through emotional manipulation. The problem has become so bad in this nation that at
this point I would not oppose a screening test. If you can’t answer a couple simple questions about the candidates on the ballot, you aren’t allowed to move to the next screen and actually select one of
them to legislate. We have a test for driving, which requires that you understand the meaning of certain road signs. Yet an uneducated driver is significantly less dangerous than people electing
representatives to office who are in charge of the world’s largest military without these voters knowing what the issues are and where the candidates stand.

It astounds me that so many people are such staunch Republicans or Democrats. They walk the party line, chanting slogans and sound bites like good little automatons .

I try hard to believe that America is not comprised mostly of idiots, but sometimes it is just impossible to ignore (especially during election season). Hey, I am no genius. There are a lot of really smart
people out there — physicists, doctors, economists, etc. In many cases, I probably couldn’t learn or understand a quarter of what they know even after spending years of my life trying to do so.

Unfortunately, when it comes to our government, most Americans are little more than lemmings controlled by a system designed to keep us ignorant and compliant. The true audacity is not that of hope,
but that of politicians who so easily get people to fall for their rhetoric.

People vote one party into power … that political party screws up (usually due to some problem with the economy). Then Americans turn around and vote the other party into power … and that one
screws up (again, usually due to some problem with the economy). But like cows in line for slaughter, voters seem to have neither the gumption nor the mental capacity to understand that we are being
played by a ravenous two-party system designed to keep each other in power at the taxpayer’s expense.

So down the road to socialist ruin we travel. Our masters are happy that we aren’t intelligent enough to vote for a candidate who believes in significantly cutting spending as well as one who understands
that government is, and has always been, the root of the problem … not the solution.

Americans seem unable to learn from history.  Attention spans are so short that sound bites are all that most are capable of absorbing. Everyone hears the words “hope” and “change” and “universal
health care” and have no clue about the consequences of the direction we are now accelerating headlong into.

Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are expected to leave the United States with a shortfall of over $52 trillion, and that is a conservative estimate.

On Oct 13, Bill Sardi wrote an article for LewRockwell.com. In it he quotes a GAO (Government Accountability Office) report from April 2008 titled “The Nation’s Long Term Fiscal Outlook.” Sardi
paraphrases the report to point out that “The public doesn’t understand this money grab and believes their medical bills will be covered with passage of a universal health insurance package, not
recognizing their tax bill will rise overall and that their country is headed for insolvency even without universal health care.”

It’s amusing to see politicians already backpedaling on what they are going to deliver. During the campaign, Obama himself started backpedaling and flip-flopping. Those who know better understand that
campaign promises are mostly lies. How’s that for change?

James Simpson lives in Lake Ridge.