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Widespread Ignorance Threatens Our Republic
Townhall.com ^ | March 10, 2016 | Jerryy Newcombe

Posted on 03/10/2016 11:30:43 AM PST by Kaslin

“Who is our nation’s capital named after?” seems like an easy question for any fifth grader to answer correctly.

But a man named Mark Dice went out to the streets of San Diego and asked this question in numerous man- on-the-street interviews, asking that very question. His results can be seen here, and they are shocking.

Many of the adults he spoke to in these Jay Leno-style interviews had no clue. One lady even offered up Lincoln as the answer. He asked, “Lincoln, DC?” She then realized her error and said, “Washington, DC.”

An older gentleman answered the question correctly, as if it were perhaps a trick question. But the interviewer noted that this was a tough question for millennials to answer correctly.

A couple vacationing from Italy got it right, but they were surprised when Dice told them that many Americans didn’t get it right. He noted, “We’re talking to stupid Americans.” And he added, “Making fun of Americans is a favorite past-time.”

One fellow had an “I [HEART] DC” shirt on. He couldn’t remember at first who District of Columbia was named after. His excuse was “I just woke up.” Then, with some prompting from the interviewer, he remembered it was Washington, but he could not remember George’s first name.

The scary thing about these tip of the iceberg examples of widespread ignorance is that these people vote.

America has poured billions and billions of dollars into our educational system, and this is what we get out of it?

Some scholars have noted that the longer you are in school, the dumber you become.

The founders believed that “we the people” should be in charge of our nation. They gave us a great deal of freedom because we were an educated and a moral populace.

The man after whom our nation’s capital is named made this point in his Farewell Address (1796): “Promote…as an object of primary importance institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge.”

The founders understood that our experiment in self-government could only be maintained by a well-educated populace. James Madison, one of the key architects of the Constitution, once noted: “A well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people.” 

Bestselling author Eric Metaxas, has a new book coming out soon, called If You Can Keep It (Viking). The title harkens back to a time just after the Constitutional Convention, in the year of our Lord 1787, when a lady asked Ben Franklin what kind of government the founders were giving us.

Franklin’s reply was, “A republic, madam, if you can keep it.” If widespread ignorance in this land continues, including willful ignorance of the moral laws of God, we won’t keep it.

I remember years ago when I was a guest on a hostile radio show. It came after one of the Supreme Court decisions that they got right by a 5-4 majority. The Court affirmed that the Equal Access Act passed by Congress was constitutional.

The Equal Access Act, still theoretically in effect, declared that if a high school allowed for extra-curricular clubs after hours, they could not prevent a Bible club from also forming.

If the chess club could use the PA system or bulletin board to announce their upcoming meeting, so could the Bible club.

I was defending that law against both the host and a guest who felt that the schools should not allow anything of a religious nature---especially if it is Christian.

One of the points I made that seemed to resonate with my hostile opponents, however, wasy my claim that part of the reason I was sacrificing to send my children to a Christian grade school was so that they would not only learn about God, but so that they would learn correctly about math and history and geography.

Tragically, our schools are now too often places of political correctness but not historical correctness or geographical correctness or scientific correctness---or biblical correctness.

Today, we have millions of functional illiterates. There are graduates of high school who literally cannot read their own diplomas. In contrast, John Adams said (around 1800) that to find an uneducated man in New England was a rare as a comet.

To put that in context, those New Englanders were taught first and foremost biblical truths. That’s why they started schools in the first place---at every level. This includes the Ivy League schools of  Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, and Brown, all of which were created for the express goal passing on Christian learning to the next generation.

As we have moved away from our Christian roots, we have also moved away from basic literacy. No wonder a handful of fellow Americans chosen at random either can’t name our nation’s capital or don’t know who it is named after. 


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: dumbasses; tdstrolleverything; vote
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And these people vote.
1 posted on 03/10/2016 11:30:43 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

And these people vote.

For Trump!!!


2 posted on 03/10/2016 11:32:49 AM PST by tallyhoe
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To: Kaslin
Correction:

Widespread Ignorance of Democrats Threatens Our Republic

3 posted on 03/10/2016 11:33:09 AM PST by Michael.SF. (That was the gift the president gave us, the gift of happiness, of being together,' Cindy Sheehan")
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To: Kaslin

You can’t use big words in the headline like “republic”.


4 posted on 03/10/2016 11:34:22 AM PST by The Toll
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To: Kaslin

In this day and age, I sometimes wonder if folks don’t answer stupidly just to get on television. Granted that’s a sign of being stupid as well to me. I’m just not convinced all those people don’t know who Washington, D. C. was named after.

Everyone knows by now it was a follower of Islam.


5 posted on 03/10/2016 11:35:07 AM PST by DoughtyOne (Facing Trump nomination inevitability, folks are now openly trying to help Hillary destroy him.)
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To: tallyhoe

Zing! I’m going back to my early voting station and asking them to change my vote from Trump to Cruz! You’ve convinced me! Now he’ll win Florida!


6 posted on 03/10/2016 11:35:36 AM PST by 20yearsofinternet (Border: Close it. Illegals: Deport. Muslims: Ban 'em. Economy: Liberate it. PC: Kill it. Trump 2016)
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To: Kaslin
You can tell the “duncity” of the American public by the fact that the Climate Change Scam is STILL being taken seriously by an alarming number of people.
7 posted on 03/10/2016 11:35:43 AM PST by PATRIOT1876 (The only crimes that are 100% preventable are those committed by illegal aliens)
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To: Kaslin

As I’ve posted on here a zillion times...

the typical millennial knows far more about “climate change” than the US Constitution


8 posted on 03/10/2016 11:35:48 AM PST by nascarnation (RIP Scalia. Godspeed)
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To: tallyhoe

God, I hope so.

I don’t care how he gets elected. I just want him elected.


9 posted on 03/10/2016 11:35:49 AM PST by DoughtyOne (Facing Trump nomination inevitability, folks are now openly trying to help Hillary destroy him.)
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To: Kaslin
He couldn’t remember at first who the District of Columbia was named after. Then, with some prompting from the interviewer, he remembered it was Washington

Even the writer gets it WRONG!!

The "District of Columbia" is named after Columbus, NOT Washington.

10 posted on 03/10/2016 11:36:27 AM PST by Michael.SF. (That was the gift the president gave us, the gift of happiness, of being together,' Cindy Sheehan")
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To: Kaslin

I read a “Man on the Street” article a few years ago where he found a large number of college students who had never heard of Hitler


11 posted on 03/10/2016 11:36:47 AM PST by PATRIOT1876 (The only crimes that are 100% preventable are those committed by illegal aliens)
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To: tallyhoe

I was for Cruz, but now switched my vote to trump does that include me too with your comment?


12 posted on 03/10/2016 11:37:30 AM PST by manc (Marriage =1 man + 1 woman,when they say marriage equality then they should support polygamy)
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To: Kaslin

A lot of those people are college graduates.


13 posted on 03/10/2016 11:39:55 AM PST by forgotten man
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To: Kaslin

I remember once,on Leno, he asked a college student to name the country north of the U.S.A.

Her answer: Hawaii.

.


14 posted on 03/10/2016 11:40:31 AM PST by Mears
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To: Kaslin

But show these people a picture of mega-slut Kim Kardashian and 100% get it right.


15 posted on 03/10/2016 11:40:32 AM PST by KyCats
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To: Kaslin

Lord.

Explains the rise of the likes of Trump.


16 posted on 03/10/2016 11:43:20 AM PST by RIghtwardHo
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To: Kaslin

“As we have moved away from our Christian roots, we have also moved away from basic literacy.”

As we have moved away from our Christian roots, we have also moved away from basic education.

We’ve replaced that creation of dead, white, privileged, slave-owning men with proper social justice courses and a life style that mandates watching TV and collecting as much free stuff as fast as possible, before the commercial break ...


17 posted on 03/10/2016 11:44:27 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: Kaslin

Our national IQ is one of our most important assets. If it falls any lower, we won’t be able to fight our way out of a wet paper sack


18 posted on 03/10/2016 11:44:57 AM PST by ghosthost
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To: RIghtwardHo

It sure does


19 posted on 03/10/2016 11:46:14 AM PST by Kaslin (He needed theThe l ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
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To: The Toll
You can't use big words in the headline like "republic".

Besides, it's racist! /s

20 posted on 03/10/2016 11:49:19 AM PST by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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