10.17.2008

Vote!

In a recent 20/20 piece, John Stossel questions whether some people, mostly young people, have enough knowledge to vote. Before viewing the video, I assumed he would be asking people what they knew about the positions of the various candidates for whom they could be voting. However, that was not the case. Instead, people were asked how many states there are in the United States, the number of senators each state has, what the Bill of Rights is, and what Roe v. Wade is. He also had people attempt to identify photos of political figures. Everyone identified McCain and Obama, and most identified Sarah Palin. Joe Biden did not fair as well though, and neither did Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (although everyone could identify Judge Judy).

Frankly I don't care if someone can't identify a photo of a Supreme Court justice. I doubt I could identify them all from their photos. Hell, they don't even let cameras into the courtroom! And while the first set of questions are things all American citizens should know, I do not think that lacking this knowledge automatically means that a person's vote will be completely uninformed, although I admit that some people will vote with a lack of any real knowledge of the candidates. This applies to all people though, not just the young people singled out in this piece. Maybe John Stossel should do a piece next about people whose heads are filled with erroneous information about the candidates for president, such as their religion and country of origin.

No comments: