--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "do.rflex" <do.rf...@...> wrote: > > > > [500] > > > > - - And before I go about demonstrating how, sadly, easy it is to prove > the dumbness dragging down our country, let me just say that ignorance > has life and death consequences. > > > On the eve of the Iraq War, 69% of Americans thought Saddam Hussein was > personally involved in 9/11. Four years later, 34% still did. > > > Or take the health care debate we're presently having: members of > Congress have recessed now so they can go home and "listen to their > constituents." An urge they should resist because their constituents > don't know anything. At a recent town-hall meeting in South Carolina, a > man stood up and told his Congressman to "keep your government hands off > my Medicare," which is kind of like driving cross country to protest > highways. > > I'm the bad guy for saying it's a stupid country, yet polls show that a > majority of Americans cannot name a single branch of government, or > explain what the Bill of Rights is. > > > 24% could not name the country America fought in the Revolutionary War. > > > More than two-thirds of Americans don't know what's in Roe v. Wade. > > > Two-thirds don't know what the Food and Drug Administration does. Some > of this stuff you should be able to pick up simply by being alive. You > know, like the way the Slumdog kid knew about cricket. > > Not here. Nearly half of Americans don't know that states have two > senators and more than half can't name their congressman. And among > Republican governors, only 30% got their wife's name right on the first > try. > > Sarah Palin says she would never apologize for America. Even though a > Gallup poll says 18% of Americans think the sun revolves around the > earth. No, they're not stupid. They're interplanetary mavericks. > > > A third of Republicans believe Obama is not a citizen, and a third of > Democrats believe that George Bush had prior knowledge of the 9/11 > attacks, which is an absurd sentence because it contains the words > "Bush" and "knowledge." > People bitch and moan about taxes and spending, but they have no idea > what their government spends money on. The average voter thinks foreign > aid consumes 24% of our federal budget. It's actually less than 1%. . . > > ...And these are the idiots we want to weigh in on the minutia of health > care policy? Please, this country is like a college chick after two Long > Island Iced Teas: we can be talked into anything, like wars, and we can > be talked out of anything, like health care. We should forget town > halls, and replace them with study halls... > > ... > > And if you want to call me an elitist for this, I say thank you. Yes, I > want decisions made by an elite group of people who know what they're > talking about. That means Obama budget director Peter Orszag, not Sarah > Palin. > > Which is the way our founding fathers wanted it. James Madison wrote > that "pure democracy" doesn't work because "there is nothing to check... > an obnoxious individual." Then, in the margins, he doodled a picture of > Joe the Plumber. > > Until we admit there are things we don't know, we can't even start > asking the questions to find out. Until we admit that America can make a > mistake, we can't stop the next one. > > > A smart guy named Chesterton once said: "My country, right or wrong is a > thing no patriot would ever think of saying... It is like saying 'My > mother, drunk or sober.'" To which most Americans would respond: "Are > you calling my mother a drunk?" > > ~~ Bill Maher > > http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/new-rule-smart-president_b_2539\ > 96.html > Maybe the conspiracy nuts saying there is a conspiracy to make the population dumber had some basis? (chemtrails-fluoride etc).
