Great Alternet Article on Ignorance in Politics

In case you've been pondering the weird reality that even in this world where Bush and the Republicans have screwed up almost everything they've touched -- and intentionally so most of the time -- that there are still 40% or so of Americans who would vote them in again. There's clearly one big reason, and this AlterNet article says it all: "The Triumph of Ignorance: How Morons Succeeded in U.S. Politics".

It won't make you feel any better after you read it, but it will give you more motivation to get out the vote for Obama and try to turn back the tide of the "dumb and proud" crowd. It's clear that with an Obama presidency, smarts will be back in style and brainpower will get working again all over America.

Have you paid attention to the horrible education statistics in the U.S.? Though overall high school graduation rates aren't too depressing -- but nowhere near 100% -- they are particularly grim in large cities and among minority and economically-disadvanted students. Somewhere only around half of them graduate, and of course these days a high school diploma is the very least a person needs in order to prosper at all. In addition to those who struggle to get an education, there are those who simply go through the motion and don't absorb anything, including the basic mechanism of how to think.

This isn't good, and it makes for a woefully uninformed public and voter base. Hence, you get voters who can't tell when they're being lied to -- they either don't care to find out or can't understand the simplest cause and effect relationship -- but they sure are susceptible to rabid smears and mindless chanted slogans like "Drill, Baby, Drill." I know I'm not the only one who finds that particular chant very nearly obscene -- ugly and ignorant at the same time.

Anyway, read the article, and hope that perhaps some of those uninformed citizens out there have kept enough common sense, at least, to recognize something good and something wise when it's in reach. And that something is a Barack Obama Presidency.

Go! Read!! Volunteer for Obama-Biden this weekend!!! Tell Your Friends!!! VOTE!!!