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My question is this: Should voters be required to take a simple test to show that they understand the issues they are voting on before they're allowed to vote? I address this simple albeit logical question with some trepidation as the mere idea of taking away anyone's right to vote is fraught with emotion and criticisms that generally stray far from the question at hand.
If we were to discuss this subject matter logically, the answer is startlingly self evident.....absolutely! Lets agree first that Chaos Theory applies to politics and voter participation, everything becomes MORE complicated as time moves forward. Our decisions are tougher to make as we have more information on which to base our choices, consequently our decision making process needs to be better informed and increasingly enlightened to have a hope of creating the correct decisions, failure to understand the problem creates a systemic failure in choosing the right path which is manifested in our vote. As we now allow all who are remotely qualified to vote on any subject that's applicable, be it local or national, we actually DECREASE the possibility that we can make a rational decision. This helps explain some of the more recent decisions approved by an uninformed electorate leading to expensive and inherently waste full decisions.
As I wrestled with the problem I found myself doubting my own logic and pounded through some basic research to apply some statistics to my thought processes. My findings led to a sudden longing for a shot of whiskey followed by several more in quick succession. They result in a sobering analysis and are based on The National Adult Literacy Survey that represents 190 million U.S. adults over age sixteen with an average school attendance of 12.4 years. The survey is conducted by the Educational Testing Service of Princeton, New Jersey.
1. Forty-two million Americans over the age of sixteen can't read. Some of this group can write their names on Social Security cards and fill in height, weight, and birth spaces on application forms.
2. Fifty million can recognize printed words on a fourth- and fifth-grade level. They cannot write simple messages or letters.
3. Fifty-five to sixty million are limited to sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade reading. A majority of this group could not figure out the price per ounce of peanut butter in a 20-ounce jar costing $1.99 when told they could round the answer off to a whole number.
4. Thirty million have ninth- and tenth-grade reading proficiency. This group (and all preceding) cannot understand a simplified written explanation of the procedures used by attorneys and judges in selecting juries.
5. About 3.5 percent of the 26,000-member sample demonstrated literacy skills adequate to do traditional college study, a level 30 percent of all U.S. high school students reached in 1940, and which 30 percent of secondary students in other developed countries can reach today. This last fact alone should warn you how misleading comparisons drawn from international student competitions really are, since the samples each country sends are small elite ones, unrepresentative of the entire student population. But behind the bogus superiority a real one is concealed.
6. Ninety-six and a half percent of the American population is mediocre to illiterate where deciphering print is concerned. This is no commentary on their intelligence, but without ability to take in primary information from print and to interpret it they are at the mercy of commentators who tell them what things mean. A working definition of immaturity might include an excessive need for other people to interpret information for us.
Sobering indeed, wasted all that good Scotch, on the other hand newsvine participants that means YOU are probably qualified to vote and please do. It boggles the mind to think that apparently only 3.5% of the populace can possibly understand what they're even voting on, its a wonder we haven't blown ourselves up yet, but we seem to be making progress on that front, but that my friends is a rant for a different day.
So whats the answer? A simple test to be taken at the voting booth or filled out on-line to show that the voter has some remedial knowledge of the issue he's voting on. Its complicated and will be fraught with legal discrimination battles to defend the rights of morons to make uninformed decisions, and accusations of elitist pandering. But if the battle were won wouldn't it change the fabric of America for the better, rewarding intellect and attempts at understanding the issues. When it would be an achieved privilege to be recognized as an approved VOTER. Not blithely given away to as many enfranchised people who can be coerced into voting for a set of simplistic political party's self serving interests for the acquisition of power.
As the idea is not to take away ANYONE's ability to vote, in fact I would like everyone to enjoy the privilege, I don't care if the applicant is 12 or 92, but the voter MUST understand the issues to participate. I've included a poll to participate in, of course taken by the 3.5% of the reading and intellectually competent, as to whether this idea seems plausible and the logic makes sense.
Forest Browne
