Interesting article. I would agree that most Americans are politically unaware per that article, because most Americans aren’t economists or historians. It was definitely an interesting read, but what I really noticed is that the article failed to compare American political unawareness to a global baseline, or at least provide some comparable country’s numbers, like England, France, Russia, China, Australia, Mexico and Canada?
Makes me wonder if I could pass the US citizenship test…
Edit: 95% on a practice test…
There are practice tests you can take . I bet you can pass it.
Why did the United States enter the Vietnam War?
Not the easiest kind of question to answer with multiple choice…
Passed that one. It was a little harder than the practice test, but I think it’s about a middle-school level difficulty.
The clear evidence of human ignorance and irrationality in the political arena poses a serious challenge to the popular wisdom. Lacking awareness of basic facts of their political systems, to say nothing of the more sophisticated knowledge that would be needed to reliably resolve controversial political issues, most citizens can do no more than guess when they enter the voting booth. . . . [T]he attempt to influence public policy through such arbitrary guesses is unjust and socially irresponsible.
Dayum.
