I'm listening to Sean Hannity. He does this about once a week. He has people (mostly college students) call in and then he asks them simple questions, Like who is the Vice President, who is the Secretary of State, who is the Secretary of Defense? Can you name your Congressman? They can't! Then sometimes he'll say OK who do you think will win on American Idol....And then they know all the names. WTF!
Sad!
- Thread starter tomchamp
- Start date
You are right. It is sad. And think, these people are going to vote and someday run this country. We are doomed.tomchamp said:
Thank you Buddy Lee 
Larry Gude
Strung Out
Time out...
...forget the kids.
Go to 7-11 this morning and start asking the older folks some civics questions, the 40 somethings;
Name the three branches of government.
Name their functions.
Describe, basicly, the way each affects the other in our system of checks and balances?
What does it take to Amend the Constitution?
Who becomes President if the President is unable? Who after him?
Name your local US Congressman? How many does Maryland have?
How many US Senators does your state have?
Are all Congressmen Senators?
Are all Senators Congressmen?
Name you local state Representative?
Name your local State Senator?
Who has the power to declare war, the President or Congress?
How many electoral votes does Maryland have? (it's like school, you know one, maybe you know a few more)
What did Floridas Supreme Court do in regards to the 2000 election that the US Supreme court objected to?
I don't care if people get them exactly, text book correct. You're gonna have piss poor luck in finding people who even have a rough idea or that even care.
I think that when a TV camera crew runs around asking people how they fell about this or that they should do follow ups to show, to report, that the person that just gave an impassioned opinion on something at least has a clue what they are talking about.
2ndAmendment said:
...forget the kids.
Go to 7-11 this morning and start asking the older folks some civics questions, the 40 somethings;
Name the three branches of government.
Name their functions.
Describe, basicly, the way each affects the other in our system of checks and balances?
What does it take to Amend the Constitution?
Who becomes President if the President is unable? Who after him?
Name your local US Congressman? How many does Maryland have?
How many US Senators does your state have?
Are all Congressmen Senators?
Are all Senators Congressmen?
Name you local state Representative?
Name your local State Senator?
Who has the power to declare war, the President or Congress?
How many electoral votes does Maryland have? (it's like school, you know one, maybe you know a few more)
What did Floridas Supreme Court do in regards to the 2000 election that the US Supreme court objected to?
I don't care if people get them exactly, text book correct. You're gonna have piss poor luck in finding people who even have a rough idea or that even care.
I think that when a TV camera crew runs around asking people how they fell about this or that they should do follow ups to show, to report, that the person that just gave an impassioned opinion on something at least has a clue what they are talking about.
crabcake
But wait, there's more...
A coworker was just telling me the other day how -- in her college days -- a news crew was on campus asking questions about whatever hot topic was going on in politics at the time. There were the three of them being interviewed. The newsperson asks them how they feel about x,y,z issue, and with the college as a backdrop, one of the girls responds, "Well, we're really not educated." 
My coworker said she wanted to 
. She's sure she meant to follow it up with "to talk about x,y,z issue", but the irony was too funny. 
It is sad that voters don't know more about our government, how it functions, the purposes of each branch, etc. But I have to wonder how much of that is to blame on the education system. I recall -- in high school -- the most education I got about our government was from a criminal justice class I took which was an elective.
My coworker said she wanted to . She's sure she meant to follow it up with "to talk about x,y,z issue", but the irony was too funny. It is sad that voters don't know more about our government, how it functions, the purposes of each branch, etc. But I have to wonder how much of that is to blame on the education system. I recall -- in high school -- the most education I got about our government was from a criminal justice class I took which was an elective.
Sad. Really sad.aps45819 said:I've seen ads for A.I. saying more people vote there than on national elections
Can I play for Double Jeopardy?Larry Gude said:
ylexot
Super Genius
I admit that when I was in college, I wasn't very aware of what was going on in politics because I was more concerned with my studies...and a bit of a social life. However, I still would have done fairly well on Larry's questions (which mostly deal with the structure of government). I may not have known too many of the names of government officials though.