Do you really know how our civics / political system works?
As Doug showed here, a lot of Obama voters knew neither the issues, the politicians, or which politicans had stood where or said what on the issues (and yes, I am quite sure that there are comparable examples on our side, too).
I think it can be said that our American society would be better served if the voters DID know more about what each election meant with regard to the philosophical stances of the politicians and their utterances. That said, it would also be better that voters better understand what undergirds those elections - how does our system operate?
At one of the Ed-Blogs I read, Intercepts, had a post about an online civics test that is being hosted by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Elections can have (are?) miserable outcomes if we, as voters, have no idea what our foundational system is? How many of our fellow voters know the difference between free market vs planned economies, socialism vs individual freedoms, the branches of government and the role of each in different areas of governance? What is some of the history of our country that has both defined and changed those relationships as we seem to tip from one side to another as if we were a multi-dimensional dradle?
Anyways, go take the test! Report back here how you did!
And yes, I did better than most but not as well as I had hoped (but no all-nighter either!):
You answered 27 out of 33 correctly — 81.82 %
Average score for this quiz during November: 78.4%
Average score since November 20, 2008: 78.4%
And yes, you do get the answers to the questions that you missed.
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UPDATE: I guess I shouldn't feel so bad about my score:
From Slashdot: US Officials Flunk Test On Civic Knowledge
A test on civic knowledge given to elected officials proved that they are slightly less knowledgeable than the uninformed people who voted them into office. Elected officials scored a 44 percent while ordinary citizens managed an amazing 49 percent on the 33 questions compiled by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. "It is disturbing enough that the general public failed ISI's civic literacy test, but when you consider the even more dismal scores of elected officials, you have to be concerned," said Josiah Bunting, chairman of the National Civic Literacy Board at ISI. The three branches of government aren't the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria?
Comments
Posted by: Paul | November 22, 2008 2:00 PM
Posted by: Randy | November 23, 2008 2:57 AM
Posted by: Putney | November 23, 2008 10:07 PM