"The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie—deliberate, contrived, and dishonest, but the myth—persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."

JOHN F. KENNEDY

If the Biblical saying (Hosea 4:6) “My people perish from lack of knowledge.”  is indeed true, Americans should be placed at the top of the endangered species list.  

Just how dumb are we? Consider a new report from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute about civic literacy concludes that the average American is too dumb to vote intelligently.

Over 70% of the test takes, including college students and elected officials flunked the 33 multiple choice question test which covered basic civics.

How bad were the results? Consider the fact that 27% of the elected officials surveyed could not name on right contained in the first amendment. How will we know when the country is placed under martial law? The answer: We won’t!  But neither will the majority of our leaders.

Rick Shenkman, author of the book Just How Dumb Are We, found that 87% of American college students could not find Iraq on a map. In fact, Shenkman also found that:

- Only 1 in 5 know that we have 100 United States senators.

-Only 2 out of 5 citizens can name the three branches of the federal government.

-Only 20% of young Americans between the ages 18-34 read a newspaper daily. An amazingly low 11% report surfing Internet news sites.

 

Among 18- to 24-year-old Americans given maps:

-83 percent cannot find Afghanistan
-76 percent cannot find Saudi Arabia
-70 percent cannot find New Jersey
-11 percent cannot find the United States

Only 17% of college graduates understood the contrast between a free market economy and centralized planning. Perhaps this explains why America was not rioting in the streets following the passage of the bail out. I am left wondering what percentage of Americans actually believe that the Federal Reserve is both Federal and has reserves. Soon, nearly 100% of Americans will not be able to find their wallets

“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”

THOMAS JEFFERSON