Personal Responsibility of Every Voter
Update: Aug 27, 2016: According to the Dept. of Ed and the National Institute of Literacy, 32 million Americans can't read. It appears immigration is not our number one concern and I wonder who's reading this article.
What could be more contentious that a political debate on a Friday night in any given bar in America? Conspiracy theories abound, and the more the debaters drink, the funnier the conversation gets.
Or, perhaps the debate might revolve around distrust, another easy subject warranting hours of drunken stupidity. But when the conversation comes to a complete halt is when either party is pinned down on facts, figures and dates: How does American government work? How is it structured? What decisions have been made and who made them?
Nothing aggravates most people more than being called stupid, and the defenseness that would arise in the imaginary bar talk when pinned to the wall would most likely end the conversation at best or end up in a brawl at worst. In a poll conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center, "Americans know surprisingly little about their government," survey finds.
Never before has the knowledge and awareness of American politics come more into question than the 2016 election campaign battle. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee--Donald Trump--has no political experience whatsoever. Just exactly what criteria are voters using in choosing the inexperienced billionaire candidate? Because he has a charming TV personality?
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee--Hillary Clinton--has tremendous political experience but is distrusted by many Americans. Why is she mistrusted? Was there ever a time in American political history when the citizenry did not trust government? When do Republicans ever trust Democrats and vice versa?
But political experience and perceived trust are not the issues. What are the issues, is what Americans know about the political process, how the U.S. government is structured and functions, and how current society has been shaped by American History.
It is the personal responsibility of every American citizen to make an informed choice when voting for any candidate, whether on the national or local level.
What does G.O.P. stand for? What are the names of top government officials other than the president or vice president? In a recent Jimmy Kimmel Live show, a dozen or so individuals on Hollywood Blvd. were asked who Joe Biden was. Granted, those interviewed were included in the clip most likely because they had the funniest answers. In the name of comedy, such a street polling can hardly be held representative of what Americans know and don't know about American government.
But, what such silly interviews do call attention to is that when asked, just exactly how many Americans really do know who's who in American goverment? What do government officials do? How does a law get passed?
Just exactly what goes on in the White House while most Americans spend their daily lives fighting traffic jams, screaming at sports events, and watching an average of 4-6 hours of TV a day (more or less, depending on the report)?
As of June 20, four of the presidential racers raised exhorbitant sums of money to finance their campaigns. [In millions] Clinton: $334.9; Bernie Sanders: 229.1; Donald J. Trump: 67.1; Jeb Bush: 162.1.
Where does all that money go? How is it Jeb Bush spent more than double what Trump spent and then drops out? When a candidate drops out, is the money spent all a big write-off? Or is the Bush empire so big they can afford the loss?
What's a Super-PAC? What's a lobby? What's a committee?
Following is a random and very short list of basic questions about how American Government is structured and how it functions. These questions need to be asked of every American citizen. If given a test prior to voting, how many Americans would actually be able to pass a simple quiz on American politics, government, and/or American history?
When voting, it is every voter's responsibility to make an informed choice, a choice not based on how good looking a president is, or how "cool" they might seem to be.
- How many senators are there? How many governors? What's the difference between a senator and a governor? What do senators and governors do?
- At the state level, what are some of the positions held on a senator or governor's staff? What are the names of these people? What are their backgrounds? Are they elected or appointed?
- On a state to local level, who runs city hall? What is the function of city hall and what are the names of city hall officials? How are decisions made for state counties that have no cities or a city hall?
- Not only what are the names of past presidents, but what are the names of the major officials under any given presidency? What did these people do? What are the top 5 accomplishments of any given president?
- What was Watergate?
- What are the Pentagon Papers?
- What is the Louisianna Purchase?
- What is the Manhattan Project?
- What's the difference between the State Department, Justice Department, CIA, FBI, NSA and Homeland Security?
- When was the Civil War and who was fighting who for what reason?
- When did the U.S. Constitution come into affect and how? How many Amendments are there and what are they? What is the significance of the Declaration of Independence?
- What is a filibuster?
- What are the names of 5 of the 15 executive departments?
- What is the Department of the Interior?
- What does gubernatorial mean?
- What is ratification?
- What's the difference between the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate?