The Core Knowledge Blog

Who will govern a free nation if no one understands the mechanics and instruments of that freedom?  Maybe, one day, a demagogue, writes columnist Kathleen Parker in The Baltimore Sun.  That’s her bright and cheery conclusion after reviewing a poll that shows “only 27 percent of elected officeholders in the survey could identify a right or freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment. Forty-three percent didn’t know what the Electoral College does. And 46 percent didn’t know that the Constitution gives Congress power to declare war.”

In his book Just How Stupid Are We?, historian Rick Shenkman, founder of George Mason University’s History News Network, is tough on everyday Americans. Why, he asks, do we value polls when clearly The People don’t know enough to make a reasoned judgment?  The founding fathers, Mr. Shenkman points out, weren’t so enamored of The People, whom they distrusted. Hence a republic, not a democracy. They understood that an ignorant electorate was susceptible to emotional manipulation and feared the tyranny of the masses.

OK, American’s lack of civic knowledge is low-hanging fruit when you need an evergreen column on a holiday weekend.  But Parker has more than half a point.  In tough economic times and a dangerous world, the potential to lead an uneducated country in any number of unsavory directions will always be a danger.