Politics Blog: Scientists say America is too dumb for democracy to thrive

San Francisco Chronicle / SFGate.com ^ | Mar 09 2012 at 9:29 am | Posted By: Mike Moffitt

[thecodont]

I think this article is a trial balloon to prepare the populace for the idea of a dictatorship.

[dangerdoc]

Looking at the source it is easy to guess who they think is too stupid toknow what’s good for them

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

And it’s folks like this writer that elected the most incompetent leader in the nation’s history.

[JimSEA]

This has long been the opinion of progressives. There is nothing democratic in the cries to disenfranchise the Tea Party.

[Shadowstrike]

How do they get through doors with heads that big?

[MNDude]

“Let’s say a politician comes up with an ingenious plan that would ensure universal health care while decreasing health care costs”

LOL

[randita]

And just who are these stupid people? Anyone want to bet the authors would consider conservatives to be the stupid ones?

[denydenydeny]

San Francisco Chronicle, Cornell, livescience.com.

eyeroll, eyeroll, eyeroll.

[Savage Beast]

"Scientists say America is too dumb for democracy to thrive"

If the 2008 election is an indicator, I'd have to agree with them.

[Mr. K]

They may be right

I have been trying to talk to some actual socialists lately- the brainwashing is incredible

[SWAMPSNIPER]

This isn't supposed to be a pure democracy. The Constitution was intended to limit both the excesses of government AND the excesses of democracy.

A democracy with universal suffrage has one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel and the founders were well aware of it.

America isn't failing by design, it is failing because the design has been thwarted.

[reg45]

He’s right! After all 54% voted for 0bama.

[phoneman08]

The author is right.

After all, this once great nation elected a communist sympathizer raised in a Muslim country. No one in their right mind 10 years ago would have thought that America could even think of electing a COC with a name like Barack Hussein Obama after 9/11.

[KansasGirl]

[ And it’s folks like this writer that elected the most incompetent leader in the nation’s history. ]

exactly!

[bicyclerepair]

I believe we (FR-thinkers) are outnumbered. 08 is proof.

If BS gets re-elected America’s toast.

[BobP]

A nanny state is not sustainable.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

Spoiledbratocracy

These clowns and there ilk can state Marxist ideology in their own words and that makes them intellectuals and qualified for high-level government positions.

They are still spoiled brats. In most cases.

Take Dr. Thomas Sowell's description of how intelligence is often recognized early, the child is treated special, given breaks, great education, inside track to great opportunities -- the works. Spoiled brats. (My words)

Take former Secret Service agent Dan Emmett's book “Within Arms’s Length.” He writes of during the course of his duties to protect the Clintons and staff "patient attempts to reason were met with childlike emotion born of a past where no one in authority--probably beginning with her parents--had ever said no to [the staffer] about anything.”

Pretty intelligent, recognized early, good schools, the left ideology, spoiled brat.

See: Secret Service agent: Clinton’s staff rude, Hillary aloof

And how about the book "Unlimited Access : An FBI Agent Inside the Clinton White House" by Gary Aldrich. I will always remember how potential Clinton staffers responded to loyalty clearance questions: "I am totally loyal to the Clintons!" The spoiled brats just don't get it.

[andyk]

The United States may be a republic, but it’s democracy that Americans cherish

No, that is not what we cherish. They just don't get it.

[rstark56]

http://www.socialsciences.cornell.edu/0912/Dunning.html

[andyk]

the unsophisticated would 1) be incapable of recognizing the wisdom of such a plan; 2) assume they know better; and 3) have no idea of the extent of their inadequacy.

Are the sophisticated allowed to view it as an assault in individual liberty?