Okay, so we suspect that most people won’t accept banning people from voting if they can’t explain the concepts and ramifications of deficit spending. We also think that requiring someone to take a quiz on who holds what position is politically untenable.
So that leaves education as the ethical alternative. How do we effectively educate voters?
We put fun facts on the paper lining of McDonald’s food trays.
I’ve heard it argued that the free education system (a novel idea at one point in time) and the free library system (ditto) were designed to cover this. Schools (what is now K-12) provided an initial burst of education while libraries supported what we now call lifelong learning.
Media has grown in ways that have changed the public’s relationship to libraries, though. Fox News has much more influence over “information” than any library nowadays.
I had a mandatory civics class in high school (it was (re-)instituted just in time for my graduating class) in which we were given regular quizzes on what was happening in local and national politics. (International politics weren’t sexy then.) That was, at least, a start.
A cable channel with a sort of styling not far away from that of MTV which conveys the crux of ongoing political activity in an exciting and entertaining way. Primary focuses would be recently passed and pending legislation, foreign relations, and fiscal policy.
Hmm…economics has never been my strong suit. I probably couldn’t give more than a cursory reason as to WHY increasing the debt ceiling is a bad idea…I just kind of instinctively know that it is. Other than the fact that the interest this country is paying on what it is borrowing could be used for much, MUCH better purposes.
So, school me, brother. If you’d like to educate a voter, start right here!
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