Oct 22 2008
Voter Test
You know….I’ve been on a bit of a rant tonight. It started brewing after reading a few blogs about ::shock:: the election/politicians and then I had an off class tonight which lead to my education rant and made me think. Stupid people drive me completely nuts. I’m not talking about people who are handicapped or have a learning disability but those people with ‘normal’ IQs that are just…teched as my grandma would say.
So back to that education rant. I was supposed to be a US History/civics/economics teacher. Kids in Florida get my class and then maybe one or two more classes of some combination of the material I covered in high school. They don’t have to actually pass any of these classes by more than the barest margin and we send them off to be voters. Heck…some voters don’t pass any of those classes or even graduate and they still get to vote. How is this a good idea?
We make people take a test to drive because they could kill/maim/harm someone if they don’t know how to drive. That makes sense. Teachers have to pass tests before they are allowed to teach children so that (in theory anyway) the children get the correct information so they can go on to be productive adults. That also makes sense. Every profession that I know of has requirements and many of them have tests…but to vote you just have to be eighteen? What is that?
We, as a nation, are allowing people who have absolutely NO understanding of our government, our history, or our laws to elect officials who then feel the need to pander to these people with flashy commercials and bailouts to guarantee these uneducated voters vote for them.
I know the history of people being refused the right to vote and why the law is in place so don’t give me a history lesson (I taught it, I promise). I don’t think the test should be set up to discriminate against people unless the people it discriminates against are people who don’t have a basic understanding of our country/constitution/government (go on…ask someone the three branches of the government or how many congressmen are in their state….heck as someone how many senators are in their state…go on. Call a few random people, I’ll wait. You want a test now too, don’t you?)
So yeah. I want people to have to take a test to be allowed to vote for MY government representatives. What about you? If not, please tell me why this is a bad idea. If you agree what questions would be on your test?
Let me say that before I agree with you, because I do, that I think it would be a wonderful idea to have as a candidate someone who understood the US Constitution. Someone who knew the ins and outs of it well enough to teach other people about the Constitution at a college level… wouldn’t that be nice? If we had a candidate so familiar with the inner workings of the Constitution that he was qualified to teach Constitutional Law…that’d be something.
BTW, I agree with you.
After how long involved in this process every day? Jaysus…at this point I can turn a post about pomegranate energy drinks into a plug for Obama. But yes, there should be some sort of test to see if one qualifies to vote.
I don’t know about a test for citizens, but a test for nation leadership roles should be compulsory for public office (worldwide, the US is not the only offender on this one).
Yeah, (i know i’m late, i’ve been busy woman!) I fully support IQ tests for getting the right to vote.
Oh and the electoral college is stupid and at least shouldn’t have the name college.
Gore/Lieberman 2000!