Too Stupid for Democracy

Okay it is now official, Americans are actually getting dumber. My heart sank when I encountered the following article recently:

A substantial and growing number of Americans say that Barack Obama is a Muslim, while the proportion saying he is a Christian has declined.

A new national survey by the Pew Research Center finds that nearly one-in-five Americans (18%) now say Obama is a Muslim, up from 11% in March 2009. Only about one-third of adults (34%) say Obama is a Christian, down sharply from 48% in 2009.

To these fellow citizens I say: you are too f_ing stupid to be allowed to vote.

It is usually the Conservatives who are quick to invoke the Founding Fathers in their bid to take the country back to its supposed roots. Not surprisingly, more Conservatives than Liberals believe our president is a follower of Islam.

Of course, the Founding Fathers would likely turn over in their graves if they knew how the franchise was being practiced today. Never in their wildest dreams did those guys back in 1776 expect anyone other than their fellow wealthy, educated, white land owners to be in charge of the newly emerging republic - certainly not ale-swilling, sweaty every-day laboring rabble, women or imported human farm equipment.

I would be a strong proponent of requiring a “literacy test” as a condition for apply for voter registration. After all, we administer tests to people applying for driver’s licenses. Although I admit there are compelling practical implications of testing someone’s intellect prior to allowing them to hurl two tons of metal down public highways. Which of these two activities produces the most death and destruction?

Anosognosia is defined as a condition in which a person who suffers from a disability seems unaware of or denies the existence of his or her disability. It has more recently been used as well to describe people who are too stupid to recognize how stupid they are (¹ Dunning-Kruger Effect). The malady appears to be spreading in epidemic proportions in this country.

¹ The Dunning–Kruger Effect is a cognitive bias in which an unskilled person makes poor decisions and reaches erroneous conclusions, but their incompetence denies them the metacognitive ability to realize their mistakes.