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Voters Fail the Test By Kathleen Parker
www.washingtonpost.com ^ | November 25, 2008 | Kathleen Parker

Posted on 11/26/2008 6:58:00 AM PST by Publius804

Voters Fail the Test

By Kathleen Parker

Tuesday, November 25, 2008; 7:56 PM

WASHINGTON -- So much for the wisdom of The People.

A new report from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) on the nation's civic literacy finds that most Americans are too ignorant to vote.

Out of 2,500 American quiz-takers, including college students, elected officials and other randomly selected citizens, nearly 1,800 flunked a 33-question test on basic civics. In fact, elected officials scored slightly lower than the general public with an average score of 44 percent compared to 49 percent.

Only 0.8 percent of all test-takers scored an "A."

America's report card may come as little surprise to fans of Jay Leno's man-on-the-street interviews, which reveal that most people don't know diddly about doohickey. Still, it's disheartening in the wake of a populist-driven election celebrating joes-of-all-trades to be reminded that the voting public is dumber than ever.

The multiple-choice ISI quiz wouldn't deepen the creases in most brains, but the questions do require a basic knowledge of how the U.S. government works. Think fast: In what document do the words "government of the people, by the people, for the people" appear? More than twice as many people (56 percent) knew that Paula Abdul was a judge on "American Idol"

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2008; bho2008; civics; civicseducation; isi; newspapers; quiz
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Towards the end of this piece she seems to endorse government subsidized newspaper subscriptions for students to help with civic literacy and maybe save the newspaper industry. So now pundits want a bailout package too?!!!!

Parker truly is a nitwit.

1 posted on 11/26/2008 6:58:01 AM PST by Publius804
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To: Publius804

If you ask me, Kathleen Parker has failed the test....and failed it profoundly.


2 posted on 11/26/2008 7:00:10 AM PST by SumProVita (Cogito, ergo...Sum Pro Vita. (Modified DeCartes))
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To: SumProVita

If the test was how many feet can you fit into your mouth, she got an A+.


3 posted on 11/26/2008 7:02:06 AM PST by csmusaret (I'd rather have a sister in a whorehouse than have a brother in the US Congress.)
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To: Publius804
Kathleen Parker is a cunning runt of a so called conservative. (please excuse my dyslexia)
4 posted on 11/26/2008 7:05:33 AM PST by Vaquero ("an armed society is a polite society" Robert A. Heinlein)
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To: Publius804
To Ms. Parker: "HaHaHa, rubbish! You have no powers here! Be Gone! Before some one drops a house on you!"
5 posted on 11/26/2008 7:06:06 AM PST by ozark hilljilly (Obama lies, the Constitution dies)
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To: Publius804
"WASHINGTON -- So much for the wisdom of The People."

Just what do you expect when they are brainwashed by the media of the black "messiah" descending from the heavens on clouds of glory, NOTHING bad dare be spoken of him, or his associations with despicable, America hating people, while everyone else is attacked relentlessly throughout the election cycle?

It should be, "So much for a "fair and balanced press". What we have instead a "Marxist propaganda machine", not a free press.

6 posted on 11/26/2008 7:08:18 AM PST by Nathan Zachary
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To: Publius804

“wake of a populist-driven election celebrating joes-of-all-trades”

Slamming “Joe the plumber”, I presume. Parker is something I can’t say here.


7 posted on 11/26/2008 7:08:26 AM PST by dynachrome (Obama yunikku khinaaziir)
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To: Publius804
While I think people should understand the basics of our Republic, I'm not too concerned that they might confuse this document with that document. What I do object to is a survey that shows voters who don't even know that Obama's running mate was not Sarah Palin. What I do object to is that inspection of 2100 voter registrations by Acorn in Lake County (Indiana) shows 2100 of them to be false.

I'm losing faith in the voting process in this country and I doubt that I'm alone. When that becomes suspect, the entire political process becomes suspect, and that's exactly where I am at this moment.

8 posted on 11/26/2008 7:10:11 AM PST by econjack (Some people are as dumb as soup.)
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To: SumProVita

Dr. Dobson is very upset with her. He has a great article - We Will Not Be Silenced.

She blames the social Conservatives for all the problems of the world.


9 posted on 11/26/2008 7:10:24 AM PST by Paige ("All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing," Edmund Burke)
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To: econjack

Then elect Conservatives to run the county government and the state governments. The local, county, and state elections still matter.


10 posted on 11/26/2008 7:11:45 AM PST by Paige ("All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing," Edmund Burke)
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To: Publius804

‘Kathleen Parker’. Didn’t she used to be someone?


11 posted on 11/26/2008 7:12:46 AM PST by Condor51 (Obama believes in Karl Marx. I believe in Sun Tzu.)
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To: Publius804
Kathleen Parker is sssssssoooooooooo yesterday.

She's a nobody, not even linked on Drudge.

Hey Kathleen, still waiting for that first invite to a Georgetown cocktail party?

12 posted on 11/26/2008 7:13:10 AM PST by Night Hides Not (Don't blame me...I voted for Palin!)
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To: dynachrome
Parker blamed the belief in God for the Republican's loss. This column was the last straw for me. She has succumbed to liberalism and its cult of half-truths.
13 posted on 11/26/2008 7:13:35 AM PST by Loud Mime (We're not hateful. We respect traditional marriage - which our opponents HATE)
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To: Publius804

Save for later


14 posted on 11/26/2008 7:14:03 AM PST by submarinerswife ("If I win I can't 't be stopped! If I lose I shall be dead." - George S. Patton)
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To: Publius804

Google “Electoral College, Founding Fathers”..........they also felt that the people were not smart enough to understand our elections or our government. So they left it in the hands of the Electoral College. This means that the most important elections are the Governors of the States. Control these elections and you control the Electoral College.


15 posted on 11/26/2008 7:15:41 AM PST by RC2
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To: Publius804

I would be interested in a breakdown by age group. I believe that people who were educated in the 50’s-60s and before are probably more knowledgeable than the age groups who came after. I believe that 20-year post-war period was the last in which students were taught the basics of civics and history.


16 posted on 11/26/2008 7:18:37 AM PST by RJS1950 (The democrats are the "enemies foreign and domestic" cited in the federal oath)
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To: Paige
Then elect Conservatives to run the county government and the state governments. The local, county, and state elections still matter.

I do that, but that only gets you so far. I also vote for conservatives in federal elections, but what I got in return was a RINO who defeats his own party's core. Dick Lugar used to be a true Republican. Now, I can't tell him from any other spend-and-tax Democrat. And because we have an uninformed electorate, he remains in office. I'm starting to think my only choice now is to become a Libertarian...the GOP no longer wants people like me who believe in less gov't and lower taxes. My feelings? Screw 'em. They abandoned me, so why should I stick around for them?

17 posted on 11/26/2008 7:18:38 AM PST by econjack (Some people are as dumb as soup.)
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To: Publius804
I hate it when these 'journalists' reference some quiz or test and don't give a link.
So here it is: ISI Civics Quiz

Lets' show em how smart FReepers are!

(be back in a few..)

18 posted on 11/26/2008 7:19:32 AM PST by Condor51 (Obama believes in Karl Marx. I believe in Sun Tzu.)
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To: Publius804

As if the MSM would educate anyone about the Constitution, our founding and the Declaration in any meaningful way?

It would be interesting to see a study about how many schools actually teach any meaningful civics course anymore and, as for those that don’t, if they ever did and if they ever did when and why they stopped.


19 posted on 11/26/2008 7:22:14 AM PST by AmericanVictory
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To: Publius804; holdonnow; IrishMike; DieHard the Hunter; ZULU; JustAmy; DMZFrank

The outcome of the last election was designed by the Liberal traitors who have been plotting their power takeover for the past 25+ years. All anyone has to do is read the curriculum and textbooks that they’ve used to brainwash our children with Liberal propaganda. I’ve read it and spent 8+ years trying to warn parents. I can assure you it is there and it is by design.

A NATION AT RISK

http://www.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html

The Childrens’ Story by James Clavell

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/llefler/clavell.htm

From A Nation At Risk:

“...If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves. We have even squandered the gains in student achievement made in the wake of the Sputnik challenge. Moreover, we have dismantled essential support systems which helped make those gains possible. We have, in effect, been committing an act of unthinking, unilateral educational disarmament...”


20 posted on 11/26/2008 7:23:18 AM PST by ExTexasRedhead
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