Can You Name the VP? 38% Fail Citizenship Test — Blame Capitalism
- Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:11am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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Graphic from Newsweek's article on the quiz.
Quick: Who’s the vice president of the United States? What happened at the Constitutional Convention? Who’s third in line to be president? According to a recent citizenship test conducted by Newsweek, 38 percent of those asked similar questions got them wrong. Depressing. But here’s whats even more depressing: in its write-up on the test results, Newsweek just happens to blame states’ sovereignty and capitalism.
Sure, the article starts out innocently, and gloomy, enough:
They’re the sort of scores that drive high-school history teachers to drink. When NEWSWEEK recently asked 1,000 U.S. citizens to take America’s official citizenship test, 29 percent couldn’t name the vice president. Seventy-three percent couldn’t correctly say why we fought the Cold War. Forty-four percent were unable to define the Bill of Rights. And 6 percent couldn’t even circle Independence Day on a calendar.
But then it starts naming off the possible reasons, and quoting experts about why we’ve become “incurious know-nothings.” There’s our complicated political system (which, of course, Newsweek says is complicated in relation to Europe) for one. “Most experts agree that the relative complexity of the U.S. political system makes it hard for Americans to keep up,” the article says.
Like this expert, Michael Schudson, author of “The Good Citizen:” “Nobody is competent to understand it all, which you realize every time you vote. You know you’re going to come up short, and that discourages you from learning more.”
And then we get to the good stuff — the other reasons: Income inequality, a “decentralized education system” that relies on the states, and “market-driven programming.”
More experts:
It doesn’t help that the United States has one of the highest levels of income inequality in the developed world, with the top 400 households raking in more money than the bottom 60 percent combined. As Dalton Conley, an NYU sociologist, explains, “it’s like comparing apples and oranges. Unlike Denmark, we have a lot of very poor people without access to good education, and a huge immigrant population that doesn’t even speak English.” When surveys focus on well-off, native-born respondents, the U.S. actually holds its own against Europe.
And:
Other factors exacerbate the situation. A big one, [Yale political scientist Jacob] Hacker argues, is the decentralized U.S. education system, which is run mostly by individual states: “When you have more centrally managed curricula, you have more common knowledge and a stronger civic culture.” Another hitch is our reliance on market-driven programming rather than public broadcasting, which, according to the EJC study, “devotes more attention to public affairs and international news, and fosters greater knowledge in these areas.”
Sure, Newsweek goes on to say that educating people on entitlement reform is key to balancing the budget, and notes that in these times civic ignorance is “a big problem going forward.” Good. But why must those nuggets be buried behind the capitalism-bashing?
Interested readers can take the civics test themselves. But understand your answers can and will be used against you. You could, however, just plead the fifth. That is if you’re not an “incurious know-nothing” who knows what that is.
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Comments (278)
FANGS
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 9:06amMy Kids are in Catholic school and my Fifth grader can recite all the Presidents in order ,He also knows who the current v.p. failure is. He can recite all the States and State Capitols as well. Catholic is predominantly a Capitolist education. Public schools are run by socialists, thats why the kids dont learn.Thats why I went through 13 public school employees in one year. I will never hire a public school kid again.
Report Post »MaggieRose
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 9:04amI believe it… a recent conversation with 20somethings, all with master’s degrees from a highly respected university could not name the major players in WW2… they were totally deer-in-the headlights when I asked them if they had heard of Pearl Harbor, General Eisenhower, D-Day… they vaguely knew of The Holocaust… yet they never missed a “Equal Rights March” or “Get Out the Vote” Day… frightening
Report Post »markamerica
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 9:00amI see. It’s hard… It’s hard to know all the players when your brain is plugged into professional sports with more fervor than the running of your country… Sure, I get that. So maybe we should go back to a poll test. Or, maybe we should just have a dictator. That would be easier for us to remember.
These are the same morons who propose that voters should decide on who is regulated, and to what extent? People who cannot pass this test are allegedly able to decide who is qualified to run the country? I’m sorry, but you get the country you deserve, and most Americans have become indecently lazy in almost all respects, but most particularly, intellectually.
Then we have the moron who says: “It’s poverty.”
Really? We have tens of millions, almost half the population taking government checks(other than wages.) Virtually all of them have cable TV or satellite. Almost all of them have access to C-Span, C-Span2, and so on. I‘ll bet most of them don’t even know where those are in the programming chart. I‘d bet they can find every idiotic ’reality show’ or sporting event that airs.
They’ve intentionally turned our country into “idiocracy,” and now they whine about it. Undoubtedly as an excuse to ‘help’ us some more.
Mark
Report Post »5410amh
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:58amIs anybody really suprised by this, 75% of all public schools can be classified as failing.
Report Post »Thatsitivehadenough
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:56amRead a good book: “I Can‘t Believe I’m Sitting Next To A Republican”. Your head will explode when you find out how discrimination against anyone who is not a leftist liberal poisons most of the education, journalism, etc, in America.
Report Post »Tickdog
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:53amDemocrats weaken the nation..
Report Post »Leadthemtothelight
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:51amINDIFFERENCE is the cancer eating away at our society.
Report Post »Mateytwo Barreett
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:51amtThe obvious conclusion is that we need to spend omore on education. Have mpre activities to occupy time and spread the wam & fuzzies. A stupid citizen makes a good subject!!
Report Post »BMWmech
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:48amShould have 100 home schooled kids and 100 school taught kids take the test to see where the lack of education really occures. Public schools would lose.
Report Post »hauschild
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 9:42amAnd, that is why you’d never see a test like that condoned or approved by the government.
Report Post »sing it out
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 12:41pmI was homeschooled all the way through; now I’m a freshman in college. I took the test and missed only three, giving me a score of 92.5 – and I haven’t had a civics class since tenth grade!
Report Post »epeel2
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:44am“The student doesn‘t know because the teacher hasn’t taught!” And they want a raise!
Report Post »memphis407
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 4:21pmyou couldnt be more right i went to an grade A high school and ive learned 10 times more from listening to glenn beck than i did at school. we need teacher who will challenge the students and dare them to be more
Report Post »hauschild
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:43amFurthermore, all this hogwash about income inequality needs to be deep-sixed. I came from a very poor area and family, as did my parents, but they seemed to get a decent education, as did I. I think any reasonable mind would agree it has to do with parenting much, much more than money.
Just because you‘re poor monetarily doesn’t mean you have to be poor ethically and morally.
Report Post »Tnredneck
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 9:06amAmen
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 9:21amYou got a decent education because you had decent parents I’m willing to bet. Parents today want to ship their kids off to government schools to be raised, not educated.
Report Post »jonaf
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:41amThis is exactly why Obama went with a statement on his NCAA picks before one on Japan or Libya. He’s trying to reach the youth to get their vote in 2012. It’s a cynical strategy, but one that looks right, when you read articles like this. This is why conservatives need to fearlessly teach conservatism in a simple and meaningful way. They could sure take a page from the book, Gut Feeling.
Jon
Report Post »http://www.gutfeelingbook.com
hauschild
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:47amAnd,. young people should be absolutely embarrassed that they are being pigeon-holed by somebody they think is looking out for their best interests.
These poor kids have no idea who they voted for and they have less of an idea that the person they voted for basically thinks they’re idiot lemmings.
Report Post »barrycooper
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:37amI think an important trait that our “complicated” political system clearly does not share with Europe (or Japan, or China) is recent experience with authoritarianism. We are unlike Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Czechoslavakia, Hungary, the former Yugoslavia, Albania, the Baltic States, Ukraine, Russia and the former “republics”, and other nations. Denmark and Norway were conquered by Germany–too weak to defend themselves, although both gave it a serious try, unlike Holland and Belgium. Sweden cooperated with the Nazis.
The reality, of course, though, is that our system is really not that complicated. You can read the Constitution in an hour. You can read the Declaration of Independence in half an hour. You just have to read The Onion to know who Joe Biden is.
The problem is that our school systems are more focused on diversity and tolerance training than they are on raising genuinely Liberal Americans, who know and value our history. The same folks who don‘t know what’s in the Bill of Rights damn sure know who Rosa Parks was ,even though the first is far, far more important. It is the template within which rights can be asserted on a Federal level.
I wonder, too, how long one would have to read Newsweek to become conversant with important Constitutional facts. Glenn Beck talks about them all the time. Could one not infer that people who do NOT talk about them, are made uncomfortable by them? Our own President views the Constitution he deceitfully swore to protect and defend as something “outdated”. FDR made that argument too.
I would suggest everyone who cares about the economic course of our nation read the book “FDR’s Folly”, by Jim Powell. The parallels between now and then are amazing. The difference, of course, is the amount of information sharing people who care about freedom are able to do. We very nearly become a Fascist nation in the mid-1930′s, a term I am using with clinical economic precision.
Report Post »Rickfromillinois
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:36amIsn’t a strange correlation that the educational test scores of U.S. Students started dropping about the same time that the Teacher’s Unions started gaining power. Progressives do not want U.S. citizens to be well informed about the political process and so they misinform or fail to inform at all. Funny that for close to 200 hundred years the citizens of the United States did understand how the process worked and did know who the Vice President was and knew that the Speaker of the House was next become President after him if something terrible happened. Now we have Newsweek telling everyone that the problem is that we are too stupid to understand something as complex as our government in addition to our educational system needs to be controlled by the Federal Government. In other words we need to give more power to the Federal Government and change our form of government all together. Progressives continuing to try to push their agenda of the government controlling all aspects of our lives.
Report Post »Angelacw
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 11:34amLet’s not exclude the Department of Education. Our education problem stems from teacher unions and CENTRALIZED education. Just like with anything else, the closer to the people the better. As a mother of an 8 year old, I think there is nothing more important than keeping our children’s education in our hands, their parents.
What they are doing at my daughter’s elementary school has lead us to opt for home schooling next year. They are out of control, intrusive, ignorant, and frankly, insulting.
Report Post »Tnredneck
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:34amI bet the top 400 households got all the answers right. I see the schools have failed. You can lead the dumb to school but you can’t make them learn. That’s right. These people have been bred stupid. It’s genetic. When brain dead crack addicts have babies the babies have the same trait as parents. And of course we need to get rid of the nea and other failed programs and stop giving these idiots a grade. If a kid is not willing to learn by high school it’s time to put them out on the plantation so to speak. If they have a strong back then they are going to work.
Report Post »LindaB11
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:30amAnd we wondered how Obama got elected?
Report Post »GABBYHAYES
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:27amThe Bill of Rights. Is that the thing that says people have a: right to collectivly bargain, a right to a job and a house and a right to health care?
Report Post »memphis407
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 4:11pmyes it is this is no longer america its Obama land
Report Post »grandmaof5
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:26amOne more reason to get rid of teacher’s unions. They never learned Civics and American History, the real deal, so they continue to not teach the subjects properly. We need to send history and civics teachers to “re-education” camps, along with economics teachers, and then put them back in the classroom.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:58amMorning Grandmaof5, hope the weather is warm today for you, its nice and cold here for a couple of days and may have rain sometime in the area. Kitty is good, and see my doctor tomorrow about the arm…hopefully I will get rid of this annoying sling once and for all.
Have a good day today.
Report Post »kevindean3
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 10:28amSome of us work really hard to teach history and civics. There are some, although not many, conservatives in the classroom. I made the comment a few years ago to some other teachers, “Bill Clinton would have been a good president if he hadn’t had the morals of a snake.” Two responded, “What does that have to do with anything?” Just saying…
Report Post »TexasProgressive
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 1:26pmGrandma – Re-education camps..can you imagine if I said something like that on this board…
Kevin – what does Clinton banging his intern have to do with running the country? I really wish he didn’t do it, it was embarrassing, but the media attention and impeachment made it MUCH worse.
Report Post »ISeeDanger.com
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:25amMaybe they should make a quiz like this and make you pass before you can join Facebook…
http://www.ISeeDanger.com
Report Post »hempstead1944
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:24amI knew they had dumbed us down but I had no idea ………
Report Post »NHABE64
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:23amIf I was President I would stop ALL immigration for 5 years. We don’t even have a clue what foreigners are in this country good or bad. STOP immigration until we figure it out. Every damn time American politics gets us into some crap war we end up paying the bill then taking in hundreds of thousands of refugees. Most of these people could care less about our Constitution, our history or what made America great. All they care about is getting a free paycheck from the government as well as any other handouts. The idea of Jack Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what can you do for your country” doesn’t mean squat to them. Don’t give me this bs that once they swear in as citizens they are Americans. They are not Americans. They are whatever their ethnic group is Chinese-Americans, Asian-Americans. If I lived in Japan for 50 as a citizen I would still never be called Japanese, I would be simply a “gaijiin” outsider! Get your head straight American, wake the hell up you boneheads. Do you really think someone from a foreign country knows or cares anything about the Washington Monument, the Vietnam Wall, the WWII Memorial ? I have spent most of my life traveling and I know better. This is not to say that there are no foreigners who come here don’t become good citizens and neighbors but they are still not Americans. And do not compare the people coming here today with the Germans, Italians, Polish, and others who came here at the turn of the 19th century. THESE people did come here to learn english, leave their flags behind and vote as Americans. The foreigners coming in today will vote for whoever will give THEIR group the most benefits. Period. If you do not believe this either your head is in the sand or your just stupid. Sorry to sound so blunt but I love this country and I not not want to see it turn into a 3rd world country because of idiots. God bless you and God bless America.
Report Post »Vietnam veteran and partriot to the end.
Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:31amA number of years ago I lived in Pensacola, where facing the bay they have a replica display of the Vietnam Memorial Wall; what really caught my attention one day while down there, part of a monthly trip I made, a grandfather and grand daughter were looking at the wall, the grandfather explaining to her what the wall meant and represented for the nation.
She asked him a simple question of the heart “Who will tell their stories grandpa?”
He responded promptly with ‘We do, in remembering the freedom they paid for with their lives; for the freedom we all are responsible for, and never to forget it ever again.”
Report Post »MetalPatriot
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 9:26amNHABE64
I feel you. My wife & I are 42 and are JUST now learning real U.S. history, the Declaration & Constitution, government. We’ve only just become ,in the last 2 1/2 years, aware of what’s going on in our country & the world. We‘ve always had this feeling in our guts that people aren’t right, something’s wrong, there’s more bad coming to surface. At first i thought it was because we’re aging & our views change (which is possible too).
My neighbors harbor illegals & women that come to birth anchor children. It’s ok because the one who does it has legal status…They hate my flag, NRA stickers, United We Stand stickers, say horrible untrue things about me & my family in a foreign language that i understand well enough (then, deny it when i confront them in their own language). Most people refuse to follow simple parking rules based on sharing & courtesy. We have a couple dealers here. We actually live in a clean/decent place…it ain’t the Hood by any means.
We’re the minority (not that it’s actually important – just for emphasis of this particular culture or class of people). WAIT! We‘re the SAME class economically but DON’T despise our country/culture & want to ruin/change it into the country these folks left behind. They encourage racial division which sickens me. My family didn’t fight in WWII & Vietnam for those type of principles. My wife‘s family in the Revolutionary war didn’t either.
I take a few classes at community college (definitely not one of the bright light bulbs here – note spelling issues) & can see on any day “kids” wearing communist looking shirts, sometimes military hats with a red star. There really is an agenda that’s inundated education. Regardless…i‘ve had 2 math instructor’s that ARE patriotic & 1 government instructor that’s actually an entrepeneur. He made what i thought a bold statement & worth retelling, “The Chinese are beating us because they place a higher value on education and not on extra curriculars. The Mexicans stay behind because they refuse to assimulate.”
What is plain is the curriculum contributes heavily. Tons of art/dance/music/sports/culture/ classes & not nearly enough math/science/U.S. history classes (other country & culture histories…plenty). Next semester there’ll be even less of the core classes.
All to say I completely agree with you & recognize the seriousness of the condition of our Republic. There’s just not enough of us, yet, to regroup & recoup. Most likely, it’s too little too late. Our demise has been planned & worked on for a long time. We try to spread the word, get our own house in order (it’s a mess), try to live & teach our daughter principles (be polite, don‘t hit unless you’re hit first, share, stop killing daddy & mommy, etc…lol! ) We just don’t experience other parents (except at church) trying to do the same. A lot of it IS our economic class (no blame for our circumstances). People around us just don’t seem to behave or have respect for themselves & certainly not others or the country. The whole Honor thing in Japan on Glenn humbled me.
We have a moral issue…it’s a lack or morals, pride, & honor.
Sounds pretty darn hypocritical coming from this “long hair’s” mouth, but it’s true. I pray for our family, soldiers, & country daily. We’re becoming more thankful for our blessings day by day.
Half jokingly i tell people, “We (humans) have screwed it up. God needs to wipe it out & start over.”
I’m always available for correspondance (may take a day or two to reply) instead of having to wade through pages of blogs…ericnnnghm@msn.com
Report Post »SFYMP
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 11:54amSemper Fi, brother in arms, well spoken piece. It does need to come back to American First. I can still remember hearing my grandpa speaking german inside of his house, you would never hear him speak it outside. To him once he left HIS house then he was in America and would only speak the native tongue of the country that he felt adopted HIM. He had to speak german to be able to communicate with his wife who was still learning the language. We need to get rid of any ethnic hyphenated PC crappola we endure today. He would never have wanted to be known as a german-american He was now an American citizen and THAT meant everything. I was taught that to be an American you had to leave your past and embrace the wonderful document called the constitution, That made him proud. We need that pride in being an American.
Report Post »TexasProgressive
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 12:26pmMetal Patriot – nice job. I agree with much of your commentary. I don‘t see that public schools offer ’tons’ of liberal arts type stuff and I feel that those are the things that are often cut in times of budget crises.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:19am38% Fail Citizenship Test, 98% know who won “Dancing With the Stars” last year.
Report Post »WAR PIGS CRAWLING
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:50am…and 43 out of 77 people make up 82% of statistics about fractions……..
Report Post »Cemoto78
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:57amExactly right, who did when dancing with the stars by the way? (2%er)
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 9:50amI have no idea Cemoto78, thank goodness.
Report Post »G man
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:17amI would have guessed 70%.
Report Post »Cobra Blue
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:16amThe results of indoctrination…not education.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:26amI have to agree to a certain point on just how messed up our education system is; by the progressive indoctrination as Cobra Blue mentions. Most students are taught that to question anything they are given by teachers is to be punished for being ‘different and non-conforming’ to the system. The ‘elites’ attempt via intimidation and exageration to shove their own doctrine and ideology upon the youth of this land, as they have sought for long decades of time.
Report Post »Thatsitivehadenough
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:54amYou said it. Just look at how much money has been poured and poured into public schools and yet their students are getting dumber and dumber. They took all that (hard earned under capitalism) money from citizens and used it against us.
Report Post »SlimnRanger
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 9:14amThere are still some really good teachers in this nation,most i would say are in the rural areas,Parents that take an intrest in their childs school work are raising the smarter better kids,It dosen‘t surprise me about this poll that was taken most likley most of the kids they polled couldn’t speak english,I certainly don’t understand how the lefties could blame it on Capatilsim when the socialist agenda is to do nothing and recieve a monthly check another handout from the government.there truly needs to be a cleansing of teachers,Teachers should be graded just as the students are and if the teacher can’t do the job properly,fire them!
Report Post »drbage
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 9:24amConcur that indoctrination is a good portion of that problem, but other factors have to be accounted for also. The one “expert” laments all the Homer Simpson-esque states having to figure it out on the own and the need for a central system. Therein lies one of the problems or unintended consequences of federal laws regarding educational standards. So many of the school systems focus on teaching for the NCLB law that they are not educating, they are teaching to pass an exam. So you get students who pass the exam, but what have they really learned? The school system where I live is rated AAA+, yet 42% require at least one year of remedial courses when they enter college. And then we have political correctness–the wish to neither say or do anything that might offend someone. Many schools no longer recite the Pledge each morning, because it might offend someone, especially an atheist. When I went to school, not only did we recite the Pledge each morning, but also the Lord’s Prayer. There were people of all faiths in the room and each recited the Prayer as they had been taught in church or remained silent. The differences were embraced and used as a teaching tool, yet today we choose or more accurately have been forced to choose to ignore them. By doing so, we just hope that they will go away. Some school systems are doing the same thing with American History and choosing only to teach it from a certain point–post Civil War seems to be a popular starting point, because there is just SO much to cover. Ignoring something will not make it go away and it certainly will not prepare the students to meet the challenges of the real world when they go out and get a job. When I taught in a former French colony, I used to have discussions with my French colleagues about the merits of the two educational systems. My final conclusion at that point was that the majority of European systems taught students what to think, whereas the US taught students how to think. Unfortunately, I feel our school systems have now adopted the European system and we are suffering the consequences. The final nail in this coffin is now being driven into place by the Progs with the adoption of the mantra that education is a human right and not a privilege. They should look to their beloved Europe where education is, indeed, a privilege and NOT a right.
Report Post »kreese
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 11:22amSlimranger:
You’re right, there are bad teachers. But while we are grading the teachers, who is going to “grade” principals, who will grade the teachers? I had good principals, but I had some who should not have been in education, in any capacity. As you know, there are “politics” in education.
Unfortunately, when you look at some of the new teachers, they are a reflection of our society. Just getting the federal government out of education would vastly improve education.
Report Post »Maji
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 12:16pmI know this kind of a tangent but the one I like is, “He’s not Keynesian he’s an American…you people are so ignorant!”
**Remember that one?
Report Post »hauschild
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:15amKeep ‘em dumbed-up and voting democrat.
Report Post »cessna152
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:18am…and these are the morons that voted for who they don’t know!
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:22am…and are the same ones who go to rallies and make protests for things they have no clue of or why they are there for.
Report Post »tobywil2
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:47amPerhaps, they are in denial. The people refuse to accept as Vice President a person selected for the position as a deterent to the assassination of the President.
Report Post »http://commonsense21c.com/
wildjoker5
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:49am73% can’t say why we fought the cold war? Is there a doubt of why so many want socialism now?
Thatsitivehadenough
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:51amThis is the result of too many years with too many leftist/socialist/communist teachers, college professors, writers & journalists seriously brainwashing American youth into being as anti-American as they are. These people are the enemy within. They are traitors, and should be treated like traitors should be treated. Do whatever you can to get your children out of public schools, even if it means home schooling. And bust up those teachers unions. The teachers, their unions, and the politicians who give them their exorbitant pay packages, are in it together.
Report Post »grandmaof5
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:54amMorning, SNOW, hope you had a good weekend. Re: your post on Viet Nam Memorial Wall, don’t know if you have seen this site http://www.virtualwall.org/istates.htm
Someone sent it to me awhile back knowing my husband served, and thank goodness came home. Beautiful day in FL as I hope it is in AZ. Have a great day and hope your arm is better.
wildjoker5
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:58amFunny how they keep blaming the top 400 house holds and say they make more than the bottom 60%. Guess what, as long as the population of the bottom 60% keeps reproducing at astonishing rates, that number will go up to 80%. There is always going to be a top 400, but there are always going to be a growing lower class. Plus, when you get to math, an income of ZERO $$ really hurts the other workers. Remember, there are 40,000,000 that are unemployed, and I am sure they don’t account for the government handouts they recieve either.
You would think those with no job would have the time to educate themselves, the library does rent books for free. Doubt they find anything educational from watching MSNBC.
Report Post »Cemoto78
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 9:08amI find it shocking so many people can’t speak English. Imagine that, when we do everything we can to accommodate this by dual-triple language printings on BALLOTS, push 2 for English, etc.
Report Post »TexasProgressive
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 9:14am40% think Obama is a Muslim…it is embarrassing out uninformed we choose to be
Report Post »BlazingBlaze
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 9:18amMaybe on the Vice-President question, most of the people were like me: “It’s… it’s.. Joe… No, it CAN’T BE… no one in their right mind could possibly pick a buffoon like Joe Biden to be one heartbeat away from the Presidency! It must be someone who just LOOKS like him!”
Report Post »Obama Bin Lying
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 9:18am@CEMOTO78…Soon it will be press two for written in crayon, or have pictures… It is sad that people voted for Hoax and Charade
Report Post »constitutionparty
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 9:22amI would love to see this same survey broken out between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats thrive on the uneducated and uninformed.
Report Post »exdem
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 9:33amThe college kids I know have been successfully indoctrinated by the left. They are very concerned with eating poor defenseless animals and how absolutely horrible it is to eat MEAT. They are obsessed with recycling and global warming. Every snow storm,hail storm, earthquake, hurricane,tornado, hot,dry,wet and cold day is because of Americans addiction to oil. They refer to republicans as Jesus freaks who want to control women and take away their rights to their own bodies. Most have no interest in debating the opposing side because they have been taught conservative ideals are stupid, useless and are to be dismissed. They believe we have forsaken science and blindly believe in God.The progressives have done a very effective job on our kids and the irony is we have paid them to do it.
Our government should require a test (ENGLISH only) that must be passed to cast your vote. There should be drug test to qualify for unemployment and financial aid. Not to mention requiring that Presidential candidates are not communist/Islamist and are born in this country.
Stoic one
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 9:37amI grew up in the military, and received both the US & UK versions of the revolutionary war. I have not been impressed by public ed in this country ever, I was taught to think by my mother. That includes questioning everything. believe nothing of what you hear and half of what you see.. that was my mother that taught me that..
Report Post »It used to be here is the information, now college kids i have met say “so what’s wrong with socialism?” they were taught socialism is a viable economic system.
Jethro212
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 9:46am@Texasprogressive He sure isn’t Christian if he believes in Collective Salvation, that is not in the Bible, anywhere. He was a member of a cult, if he believes in the nonsense Jeramiah Wright says that is.
Report Post »oldoldtimer
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 9:48amDo they even teach Civics in school any more?
Report Post »Moocephus
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 9:53amIm sure they thought “Richard Trumpka” was the VP. They should’ve asked party affiliation along with the survey.
FormerLib
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 10:04amWell, I was educated under the capitalist system and I missed one on that test- the number of constitutional amendments. I was off by one. Then again, I was educated back when we were expected to do homework every night, corporal punishment was in school, we had dress codes, and parents backed the teachers when we misbehaved rather than threatening to sue them. The average teacher made less, not twice as much, as the public they served and schools of education had not become leftist factories for churning out community organizing statists.
M wife has been a teacher for nearly 30 years, and the NEA magazine she gets in the mail is sickening in it’s focus- everything is about getting more for the ‘ public education system’ ( meaning union members, everyone from administrators to janitors) and how evil Republicans and especially conservatives are, how bad capitalism is, and how the schools are run by ‘professionals’ and parents ought to just butt out. They have a yearly meeting and establish a platform that has position on everything from abortion to the war in Iraq to redistribution of wealth to (insert leftists cause here). At every turn, and by every measurable standard, their product has become less and less successful as out citizenry becomes less informed, less able to write a coherent sentence, less able to distinguish between ‘there,‘ ’their,‘ and ’they‘re’ or ‘your’ and ‘you’re’, less able to perform even simple math, unable to find Malaysia or Brazil on a map, can’t name even 10 state capitals, and so on. If any business put out a product like that they’d have gone bankrupt long ago. But they have a monopoly. We spend more money than ever before on‘ education’ and get less than we ever have for it. And the one constant that is off limits to discuss is the presence of the union. So politicians get blamed, and when the states have union-favorable politicians in their pockets, it’s the capitalist system, completely disregarding the dismal slide over the past 30 years when we had conservatives and capitalism then as we do now. I like the way Newsweek blamed ‘non-English speaking immigrants’ as if they just happened like some natural disaster, instead of being the product of a ridiculous and destructive border policy created and maintained as a sacrifice at the altar of ‘multi-culturalism‘ and ’racism’. We are committing social murder by the ineptness of our ‘educational’ (as in, ‘indoctrination’ ) system, and blaming the victim, not the killers.
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 10:05amI have started talking with people about taxes with the challenge of using Google to fact check/question what you are getting from all media (this one included).
“Oh you do social media? Facebook? try the local county?”
throw this CRAP back in the faces of our peers, (yes that includes our children).
challenge them to find out themselves…. after all they are sitting here anyway…
I have started a campaign of information seeking, it is really easy JUST talking with folks.
i forgot sb anthony, & # in house thought 475
Report Post »Rogue
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 10:12amWhat – no statistics showing the income level and success rate of those who passed the test? How many poorly educated people with low paying jobs failed the test? Oh right, we’re her to bash capitalism, not education.
Report Post »Beckofile
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 10:23amThe vice president is the chia pet that grows medical marajuna out of his gaff known mouth everytime an illegal alian waters his head. The Constitutional convention happened in 1913 when Wilson let the Fed take control of our fiscal lives. Third in line to the president is George Soros or whomever he wants to be in line to recieve enough votes to be the puppet in chief. Did Newsweek even check if the 1000 folks that took the test are citizens? I bet if you ask some American Idol questions we could beat the chinese?
Report Post »Mee the People
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 10:44amhe is joe (i an the real president not obummer) biden
Report Post »Mee the People
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 10:45amJoe (the one with a birth certificate) Biden
Report Post »Bum thrower
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 10:56amthe dumb asses are too stupid to know what was in store for them thru BHO‘s ’Change”; it is CHAINS, you morons!!
Report Post »GayDem4Beck
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 11:02amAnd yet the Democrats created the Department of Education in the 1970′s. They also see to the funding the Department Of Education. Our national test scores have constantly fallen from that point on. It’s time to de-fund and dissolve the DEA !
Report Post »A Doctors Labor Is Not My Right
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 11:02amThe reason America doesn’t do well on these tests is because our schools test more on knowledge of when events happened, rather than why.
Also, the Progressives have deliberately withheld or candy-coated the destruction and misery of past Socialist and Communist countries.
Report Post »kreese
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 11:07amWhy is anyone surprised? Look at the textbooks. Look at the teaching methods we were forced to use. Look at the college teachers, many of whom spend their time denegrating the founding fathers. Finally, look at the Department of Education, whose focus is “social engineering”! Damn! These idiots in Washington can’t find any place to cut government spending!!!
I was there when this sh** was forced upon public education, and we wonder why people want vouchers to send their kids to private schools. Even worse, I wonder how many Americans don’t know how bad public education really is. Of course, we have a “drugged-up pop culture“ generation that is producing these ”students”!
Report Post »RJGUSA
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 11:26amclearly George Bush’s fault…but hell, I’m one of the smart ones & I know who our VP is…Cass Sunstein..right?.
Report Post »mikem1969
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 11:29amThe liberal progressive school system at work. Kepp them dumb so they are easier to enslave.
Report Post »nomorpc4me
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 11:35amWhn you talk to these folks, their response is usually something like: “I’m here for some money….Obama money…….Obama!, Obama!, Obama!” First they get paid, then told what to think and say.
Report Post »o2bme
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 11:47am@RJGUSA That made me laugh outloud. :)
Report Post »Mirimichi
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 11:50am@Hauschild, I think you mean dumbed-down. You can wise up.
Report Post »Marcobob69
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 11:56amYou hit the proverbial nail on the head, HAUSCHILD!!! “Dumbed-up and voting Democratic” just about covers it! And the fact that the teachers are being controlled by the unions further “dumbing-down” the kids makes for a substandard level of education, to say the least!
Report Post »Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 11:56am@EXDEM
“Our government should require a test (ENGLISH only) that must be passed to cast your vote. There should be drug test to qualify for unemployment and financial aid.”
I have been saying this for years. It’s good to see other people believe it, too.
Report Post »VegasGuy
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 12:00pmI will take a wild guess here. Any chance the so called “experts” are all from the teaching profession? You know, the profession that is made up of 90% liberals? Nah, couldn’t be.
Report Post »Fatheroftwo
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 12:12pmActually that Harvard professor, what was his name??? Oh yeah, “HACKER” (play with that one all you want!!!), got it 180 degrees right!!! It’s not decentralized, but centralized education; ie programing; that is the reason that most people have no civics education!!!
Report Post »marine249
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 12:32pmTAXASPRO
Report Post »I don’t think the boy pres is muslim
but if you ask me I will tell you that he is
joke just like our boy pres
Uriel
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 12:37pmThe article says: “They’re the sort of scores that drive high-school history teachers to drink.”
It seems to me that the drinking came first.
Report Post »Uriel
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 12:42pmBesides, why have a “Citizenship Test” if you don’t need to take it in order to gain all the rights of citizenship?
Why did Newsweek (they still have a magazine?) subject all those poor students to an obviously RACIST test? /sarc off
Report Post »katiefrankie
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 12:58pmStoic One – A friend of mine (a very liberal English teacher) recently told me that her students are “afraid of Communism” and that they simply don’t understand that Communism/Socialism isn’t bad, “it just hasn’t been practiced right.” And this while her students were reading George Orwell’s “Animal Farm.”
I almost choked on my lunch in horror. I couldn’t even speak to reply to her. THIS is a leading reason why our students are wretchedly unprepared for the real world.
Report Post »banjarmon
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 1:01pmUnion teachers…dumbing down Americans!!
Report Post »jzs
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 1:10pmHere’s the statement I like, “It doesn’t’t help that the United States has one of the highest levels of income inequality in the developed world, with the top 400 households raking in more money than the bottom 60 percent combined. ” Another way to look at this is the wealthiest 1% of the US owns 95% of the wealth in this country.”
Talk about the distribution of this country’s wealth!
We need more tax breaks for the wealthy and for corporations. Only when the top 0.1% of the population owns 99% of the wealth in this country will we all be truly be free. Anything short of that is Marxism.
One day, if we’re lucky, two or three people will own 99.9% of the country’s wealth. Then we will all be 100% free.
Report Post »Hobbs57
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 1:27pmHmmm… Well, Newsweek is Primarily LIBERAL, so what does this say. No wonder nobody knows why the cold war was fought, heck, I am in History 2 in college and the professor and my book show the good aspects of the communist party. They tell you people were opposed to them, but never why. Usually, they show the communist groups as means to Politicians and the Media to falsely associate their enemy’s with. Trust me, the reader of these books would certainly think it might even be cool to be Communist. I even had some rich kid claim he was communist in a joking way, as if he was feeding the joke. Sickening.
Report Post »This shouldn’t a surprise either, because in Sociology, they treat Communism as a viable and working means for a nation to rule their people. Never ever to mention the terrible effects, such as 70 million who died under Chairman Mao, but instead on how it is based on equality amongst the state. INSANE. Fortunately, or unfortunately ( depending on if we are talking about my blood pressure or not), I am 35 and I know better. Seriously, I have to watch how I say things or I looked at as if it is me who is from a party that slaughters baby’s in a dark basement. Which is ironic, considering that is the party of which they defend. These children are beyond indoctrinated, they have been programmed.
Lastly, I can’t tell you how tired I am of hearing about the top percentage of GREEDY and EVIL people in our nation holding whatever the percentage of wealth. WHAT THE HE77 DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING ?!?! Seriously, Is there anybody really suffering in the US ?? NO Oh, they will tell you about the homeless they saw in the city, that is, before I tell them I was that homeless person. I explain to them there is many ways to get back into society through private charity. There is plenty of food to be found as well ( this is the city of course). THose who live on the streets either choose to or in the sad cases, they are mentally incapable. The latter are probably the more blessed as they don’t seem to have the mental capacity to care either. They stay in the shelters and go to the soup kitchens. You get lot’s of free clothes, and there are path’s upon which you can attain housing as well. However, I lived in the shelter and saved my money until I could get my own place. Many of those are addicts and alcoholics who have become comfortable with the life they have there as well. They all get food stamps as well and some get cash. You can get free medical services through multiple Christian services also. America has a heart , trust me.
Employers also show up looking for good workers, there is often a labor pool nearby, and many other services from the charity’s of the PRIVATE Sector and churches. It is the government services that enable people the most to staying out there. Those who get checks often blow the cash on drugs and remain in the public shelters. Which is crap, because they take u pa bed sometimes of those who really need them. Kinda like how the Military didn’t help me grow up in certain ways. No matter how bad I messed up spending my money, I always had food and housing. So there were no real consiquences for my actions. Over time I did become tired of screwing myself and grew up, but it took some time. The problem with Government when pertaining to personal services is, the government is a body lacking personal interest. They can only make a one size fits all formula that encompasses every exception to the rule in order to maintain non-discrimination , thus, providing services un-monitered. Yes, people who prefer to be liberated and not dependent on the government do use it for what it is meant for and get back on their feet, that is, if they can get on because the alloted number of openings are saturated with people who are not driven to get off or out of the system.
Where as churches and private entities can provide the personal touch. They can determine if a person has spent all their money on crack or booze or see the person had disappeared for a few days on a bender, and deny them services, so not to enable them anymore. They can work with people to move them up and away from the support they are giving, often times, having the person to return as a volunteer to give back what was so freely given to them. This is what the Liberal and Progressives can never learn from their stats and books. This is the difference between wisdom and knowledge.
Sorry to babble on, but I will have my practice focusing on addiction/alcoholism, co-dependency and enabling, so I take all this to heart. The same problem exist in Unions. There is no consiquences for these people and no motivation to preform well. This is the very same reason why they can’t grasp how to deal with social issues. They are driven by fear and are control freaks, so they have no faith to know and understand people will take care of one another. They can’t see the unknown because they are intellects of knowledge. They can only know what they know, so it must be known safety nets upon which they can find security. Faith is in the unknown, a scary place to that of the Liberal and Progressive. I will write a book on this one day …. lol God Bless those of you who understand this.
A Doctors Labor Is Not My Right
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 1:54pm“Like this expert, Michael Schudson, author of “The Good Citizen:” “Nobody is competent to understand it all, which you realize every time you vote. You know you’re going to come up short, and that discourages you from learning more.””
Maybe if there weren’t so many safety nets, and we all could more easily feel the effects of the market, like every entrepreneur does, we would be more engaged. As it is, the Progressives have been trying to mask the effects of the market so they can disincentivize entrepreneurship, and impose Socialism.
Labor in all its forms is what produces wealth, whether it’s the labor of our hands, or the labor of our capital which was made with our hands. As long as the government isn’t prohibiting us from freely participating in the market, then we are all equal under Capitalism.
Everyone owns what he makes or earns, so there’s no inequality there.
Since everyone owns what he earns, no one is obligated to offer his wealth as a wage at a particular rate, to even offer a job at all, or to buy anything with it. That’s individual liberty.
Everyone can gain capital, if they can afford it, so there’s no inequality there.
“Income inequality”, then, becomes a matter of individual drive within the context of the individual liberty of everyone else in the market.
Capitalism under our Constitutional Republic doesn’t make people unequal, it makes more people more prosperous.
Report Post »hud
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 2:31pmYou mean they don’t know Plugs
Report Post »A Doctors Labor Is Not My Right
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 3:42pm@jzs,
“Here’s the statement I like, “It doesn’t’t help that the United States has one of the highest levels of income inequality in the developed world, with the top 400 households raking in more money than the bottom 60 percent combined. ” Another way to look at this is the wealthiest 1% of the US owns 95% of the wealth in this country.”
“Talk about the distribution of this country’s wealth!”
That statistic is meaningless by itself, and you falsely assume that the economy is a zero sum game.
Wealth is created through work done either through labor or capital. Wealth is only TRADED when one person wants something more than what he is asked to give up on return – both parties benefit.
If I can get something cheaper by buying it from someone who has the capital to mass produce it, i’m going to go with the cheaper, functioning, machine-made product, rather than the hand-made product. Capital makes things cheaper to produce than labor – AND CREATES MORE WEALTH – which is why capital such as tools and machines are a GOOD thing.
The only thing that would cause inequality under Capitalism is if people were restricted from earning capital. The Progressives are doing a great job at that by restricting drilling for oil and surface mining for coal.
“We need more tax breaks for the wealthy and for corporations. Only when the top 0.1% of the population owns 99% of the wealth in this country will we all be truly be free. Anything short of that is Marxism.
“One day, if we’re lucky, two or three people will own 99.9% of the country’s wealth. Then we will all be 100% free.”
Someone else’s success is none of my concern. I‘m glad there are people who have been able to weather the Progressives’ anti-business storm with ease.
And the Progressives are actually the cause of a lot of the poor’s inability to work themselves out of poverty, with all the regulations which cause the business owners to appropriately fire their workers. People are allowed to spend their money how they want, which is why no one owes anyone a job – that’s not why people go into business, and it’s not why people hire workers.
Report Post »memphis407
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 3:57pmwell i got one wrong didnt know how many house seats we have
Report Post »also 70% couldnt tell you what the supreme law of the land is
also if you read the comments on the newsweek site almost all say its the tea party’s fault and fox news
im 21 now and got 19 right but if you were to ask me when i was 15 i wouldnt have got 10 right. something amazing happened when i was 16 my dad started listing to glenn beck at first i was like who is this cry baby turn this crap off but some how my dad convinced me to listen and the rest is history.
hey newsweek why dont you ask 1000 real tea party members and see how much different the results are
Uncle Crusty
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 5:06pmthe other two:
The Constitution agreed to and was signed by all State reps.
President Pro Temp of Senate is third in line, after House Leader second in line, after VP first in line
Blazers are aware!
Report Post »FreedomMissMeYet
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 5:30pmThe reason the bottom 60% enjoy what they do have is BECAUSE of the Top 400.
Report Post »madarain
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 7:04pmTexasProgressiv@. Before you assail the 40% (your number, not mine) that you say believe Obama is a muslim, why dont you list the presidents college grades, or show us his birth certifcate, or just explain why the most deeply secretive administration in history, nearly awarded themselves a phony award for transparency last week before one of their minions realized what a joke that would be. The facts are simple…Obama is secretive, and dishonest…(I dare you to try to disprove that) and based on those two facts it is reasonable, even prudent, to beleive that the president is not being honest about his religous bent. The bigger question is why are you dumb enough to believe anything he saysm when you know he is a liar?
Report Post »foobear
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 7:47pm“Income Inequality” is one of the stupidest measures *ever* to measure injustice. Really. It’s stupid. And anyone you hear talking about it is stupid. If both Bill Gates and I make 20% more money, the economy is doing better, and more inequal. But who cares? We’re both better off.
The key measurement people should be focusing on instead is “median household income in constant dollars”. You can even break the economy down by quintile and see how well off each sector of our population is doing. Guess what? It’s up 25% across the board since the 1960s in constant dollars. Sure, the rich are doing even better. Again – who cares?
Report Post »Vunderkint
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 7:50pmThis is a sad commentary on the interests and basic intelligence of a large part of the American public, it seems obvious why we are allowing our Constitution to be subverted and our liberties destroyed, we were warned! http://www.nccs.net
“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
Report Post »suttonea76
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 10:38pmGlad to see all that taxpayer money going towards the DOE. Oh wait, some may not know what the DOE stands for….shoot! I should have spelled it out…too late, people are starting to drool and mumble senslessly!
Where is Teleprompter Man to save the day! Save us!
Report Post »calamari12
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 11:06pmI just took the test and I feel pretty confident that I only missed 2.
Report Post »jackrorabbit
Posted on March 21, 2011 at 11:44pmRight, so the answer isn’t to give school vouchers, because the parents of the child couldn’t possibly want their kid to get a good education. The answer is to make it all equal, thanks to Bush’ and no child left behind, now they are all left behind. Put education back where it belongs in the hands of the local school boards.
Report Post »sbleve
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 6:22amYou be repeating the very words of Pres 36. In simplistic view – ‘put up feed’in troughs along the street, they vote you for 200 years’
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