Dumbing Down

I was driving home the other day listening to the POTUS '08 channel on XM radio--a channel dedicated to all things related to the presidential campaign. While that sounds quite intellectual on my part, keep in mind that most of the time I listen to ESPN radio or one of the comedy channels, but this being the "dead zone" of the sports year (no, I'm not into college basketball), I find the candidate competition to be pretty intriguing.

Anyway, I'm listening to a guy from a think tank talk about the campaign and he offered a stat that really struck me. He said that surveys show that only 2 out of 5 Americans can name all three branches of the federal government. 60% of our countrymen don't know how they are governed, yet they are out there voting. It's no wonder the candidates don't talk in detail about the issues. Apparently, most people wouldn't understand them anyway.

I find it fascinating that in a world where information is instantly available on any topic that Americans seem to be, by and large, getting collectively dumber. I was at my son's baseball practice last night and all the people around me watching the kids bat the ball around could talk about was what was happening on "American Idol" and that they had to run home to watch it. No wonder our presidential campaigns come down to a popularity contest.

It's heartening to see so many people getting interested in the campaign right now, particularly young people, but let's make sure we're in it for the right reasons. Whoever winds up with the nominations, let's judge them on the strength of their ideas, character, and ability to lead rather than on how they play on camera. I hope we're watching the debates as intently as we would some aspiring musician.

OK, enough preaching for a Thursday!

Comments

[DogBlogger]

Have you seen the movie "Idiocracy" yet? If not, it's worth a rental...