Civics Exam?

Well, it appears that the Chronicle has replaced Cragg Hines with Jonah Goldberg. They could do worse, I suppose. Goldberg hails from The National Review, which may be rightwing, but still has a legacy of integrity coming from Bill Buckley. I wasn’t down with Goldberg when he was defending his mother and Linda Tripp for sandbagging the Clintons, but at least he hasn’t run anything from Ann Coulter on National Review Online since she wrote that bit about “invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity” after the 9/11 attacks. And he finally admitted that the Iraq invasion was a mistake, albeit a “noble” one. Goldberg wrote a piece last week that I about agree with. Here’s some:

“A very high percentage of the U.S. electorate isn't very well qualified to vote, if by "qualified" you mean having a basic understanding of our government, its functions and its challenges.

So, maybe, just maybe, we have our priorities wrong. Perhaps cheapening the vote by requiring little more than an active pulse (Chicago famously waives this rule) has turned it into something many people don't value. Maybe the emphasis on getting more people to vote has dumbed-down our democracy by pushing participation onto people uninterested in such things. Maybe our society would be healthier if politicians aimed higher than the lowest common denominator. Maybe the opinions of people who don't know the first thing about how our system works aren't the folks who should be driving our politics, just as people who don't know how to drive shouldn't have a driver's license. Instead of making it easier to vote, maybe we should be making it harder. Why not test people about the basic functions of government? Immigrants have to pass a test to vote; why not all citizens?”

-I often feel this way when I see those surveys that show people, say, the Bill of Rights, and ask them if they agree or disagree. People not only don’t recognize them, they disapprove! The republicans seem to think that the democrats have a lock on the ignoramus vote, but to paraphrase H. L. Mencken, the boobus americanus is a bird that knows no party. I’d put our idiots up against theirs any day.