Congressional Stupidity At Its Finest

I promised you a great post on Congressional stupidity, and here it is. First, a little background is needed to set the stage.

Many of us have suspected for quite some time that most members of public office aren't exactly the sharpest tools in the shed, but now we have some evidence that proves it. The Intercollegiate Studies Institute has, for several years, done a study called the Civic Literacy Report, which is essentially a 33-question quiz that people can take online that tests your knowledge of government, economics, and history. The idea is to see how Americans are doing in those knowledge areas, what effects are observed by education and other factors, etc. Basically, it tests how much Americans know about our nation's heritage.

The results for 2008 are shockingly abysmal.

Some of the major findings include:
1. Of over 2,500 people who took the test, 71% failed. The average score is 49%.
2. Less than half can correctly name all three branches of government.
3. Less than one in five know that the phrase “a wall of separation” between church and state comes from a letter by Thomas Jefferson. Almost half incorrectly believe it can be found in the Constitution.
4. Only 27% know the Bill of Rights expressly prohibits establishing an official religion for the United States.
5. Although Congress has voted twice in the last eight years to approve foreign wars, only 53% know that the power to declare war belongs to Congress. Almost 40% incorrectly believe it belongs to the president.

There are several other findings that are worth passing along:
1. There is at least 69% agreement in all parts of the country that America's history, key texts, and institutions should be taught in college. This agreement holds across virtually all economic or demographic breakdowns.
2. College grads only scored an average of 57%, compared to 44% by those with a high school diploma, leading to the conclusion that while a college education helps, it certainly doesn't meet the expectations of the roughly 7-in-10 Americans who believe college should teach these things effectively.
3. Watching TV -- even TV news shows -- makes people dumber. By contrast, discussing public affairs, reading just a few hours each week, or using the Internet to stay on top of the news all improve scores.

Test yourself here. How did you do? The simple act of reading this blog regularly will greatly improve your score - I'm certain that running it for the past year and a half has boosted mine a LOT!

Last month, a radio station in Colorado interviewed Dr. Richard Brake, one of the leaders at ISI. It's a fascinating discussion, so check out some excerpts of the audio here.

This is pretty grim when you consider that this is the future of our nation. I would also point out that this is the inevitable result of liberalism creeping into our educational system. I mean absolutely no disrespect to teachers here...they are fighting an uphill battle most of the time. No, the problem rests with the NEA, the Department of Education, and the bloated administration that plagues so many school districts. They have forced teachers to be a party to ridiculous standards of teaching, focusing more on feel-good no-consequence activities rather than actually teaching the material. When recess is banned because some kids will be sad at being 'it', when score is not kept because the kids can't possibly handle losing, when two plus two doesn't always equal four...that's when we have a catastrophic breakdown in our educational system. When political correctness trumps actual education, the knowledge of our history and heritage fades.

I believe that's the intent of liberals. If every American student were taught the reasons for the founding of this country (freedom of religion, freedom of speech, etc.), if every student were taught the foundational basics of how to think rather than what to think, and if every student were steeped in tradition that emphasized American exceptionalism rather than the blame-America-first guilt-ridden self-loathing that liberals subscribe to, liberalism would find no traction in this country. It's all tied together.

So, while this is all very interesting, you may be wondering why this is such a prime example of Congressional stupidity. Here you go:

Among the 2,508 respondents, 164 say they have been elected to a government office at least once. This sub-sample of officeholders yields a startling result: elected officials score lower than the general public. Those who have held elective office earn an average score of 44% on the civic literacy test, which is five percentage points lower than the average score of 49% for those who have never been elected. It would be most interesting to explore whether this statistically significant result is maintained across larger samples of elected officials.

The elected officeholders come from the ranks of Democrats (40%), Republicans (31%), Independents (21%), and those who say they belong to no party or indicate no affiliation (8%). None were asked to specify what office they held, so the proportion in which they held local, state, or federal positions is unknown.

Not all officeholders do poorly, of course. Some elected officials rank among the highest scorers. But the failure rate on the test among those who have won public office is higher (74%) than among those who have not (71%). Officeholders scored lower on all sub-themes of the test: political history, cultural institutions, foreign relations, and market economy.

Officeholders and non-officeholders find it equally difficult to identify the three branches of government. Only 49% of each group can name the legislative, executive, and judicial.

The conclusion is clear: elected officials are, on average, dumber than the rest of us when it comes to American history, heritage, and government.

Maybe this explains why they are so hopelessly out of touch, and do so many incredibly stupid, stupid things. It also makes their own self-inflated sense of importance and expertise that much more ridiculous, doesn't it?

If there was ever a doubt about who knows best how to run anything, let alone the largest economic and military powerhouse the world has ever seen, this should put it to rest: anyone but the politicians.

There's my two cents.