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You are too dumb to vote!

Guest post by: Patrick T. Malone

Article Overview: For some time now I have had the feeling that the majority of American people had so little grasp on the realities of economic, business, foreign, defense and global policies that there should be some kind of an awareness test that voters must pass before being allowed to vote.

You are too dumb to vote!

For some time now I have had the feeling that the majority of American people had so little grasp on the realities of economic, business, foreign, defense and global policies that there should be some kind of an awareness test that voters must pass before being allowed to vote. Recently author Bryan Caplan's book, The Myth of the Rational Voter seemed to support my premise. Using sound economic principles Caplan makes the case that voters are not just ignorant (having insufficient information) but they are flat out wrong and hold damaging beliefs about the functioning of our economy.

Daniel Casse, a Wall Street Journal columnist, takes issue with this thesis in his July 10, 2007 column. Casse uses free trade as an example and cites a 1977 poll when only 18% of Americans favored eliminating tariffs and yet three years later elected Ronald Reagan who ran on a platform of free trade, signed a free-trade agreement with Canada and laid the groundwork for a similar agreement with Mexico.

It seems to me that both of these writers, while making good points, have over-estimated the impact of the voter on our ultimate national policy. I confess to making the same critical error.

Throughout the book and the column both writers refer to the American democracy and that is the source of the error. We are a republic and as such governed by representatives of the people, thankfully not the people themselves.

These representatives are chosen from political parties. That very process causes candidates to move to the center on most important issues. Once elected even the most radical of positions are tempered by the checks and balances of the House and Senate and the three branches of our federal government.

The system is messy and inefficient but it allows everyone to put their two cents in without causing serious damage to other citizens.

So, testing a potential voter's economic awareness may not be a reasonable requirement. What if the only requirement to vote was you must pay more in taxes that you get in social services, welfare and other government doles? Perhaps a discussion for another day?

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Article Tags: economic business, global policies, voters



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