I'm too dumb to read the whole thread. Are you equating being uninformed with being unintelligent? Because I know a lot of really smart people that don't have a clue.
Should we have an IQ test for right to vote?
- Thread starter gmart74
- Start date
Surely, you acknowledge the difference between registered and likely voters, and the use of the former will skew results in favor of the Democrats. The Pew organization states, "Republicans traditionally turn out to vote in higher numbers than do Democrats."
I am not dismissing them, just acknowledging that they contain a methodological bias. Perhaps you missed that.
Ditto, mate.
No, more detail is in order, but the sources do not go into the requisite granularity.
Obviously you do since you are commenting on the topic.
The reason I brought that up was that the Christian Science Monitor story from 1992 did break down post-grad holders of MAs from holders of PhDs.
There were more of the former than the latter, thus a more significant demographic.
Well, since PhDs make up the vast majority of the professoriat, and they tend to have a relatively long shelf-life. Many of those who earned their PhDs in the early 1970s are still teaching. Look at your department. How many of the PhDs earned their degrees in the 1970s (and thus, were in grad school during the draft-exemption era)?
Nope, just the most recent data on the subject I could recall. It struck me at the time (1992).
In my haste, I included the “other party” category in the Republican number. It varied from 1.4 to 2.1%. Not significant enough to change the analysis: Democrats won HS drop-outs, HS grads, Jr College (by progressively narrow margins), lost college grads, and won post-grads, (although MA and PhD holders are not differentiated in the last category).
Here is more data from 1997-2003, this time from the Pew Research Center.
You do trust Pew, I take it.
............1997-2000..........Post 9/11
................Rep...Dem......Rep...Dem
<HS grad....20.....39........20....36
HS Grad.....26.....34........29.....32
Some coll...30.....31........33.....30
Coll grad....35.....28........38.....27
Post-grad...29.....34........31.....33
http://people-press.org/report/?pageid=750
Once again, the trend holds. Democrats win HS drop-outs by a wide margin (almost 2-1), HS grads by a smaller margin. 1997-2000 Democrats narrowly won those with some college, but post-9/11, they lost their edge with voters with some college (a change I would wager has been reversed in 2008). In both time periods, they lost college grads, but post-9/11, the gap with post-grads narrowed.
Bottom line: different time period, same general results: with the exception of post-grads, the less educated a voter, the more likely to vote Democrat. Are you still disputing this result?
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No at all.
Einstein used to get lost walking home while at Princeton.
Brilliant physicist, maybe not the most-informed or politically astute voter.
No. The only requirement here is that you understand basic movements of a mouse and keyboard and have extreme patience with the the general public.
Stalin says something to the effect of... The one who counts the vote decides who is the winner.
I really dont think an IQ test would help anything.
Everyone knows IQ is the ability to learn or retain. But with all the "Learning" (American Idle, Dancing with whomever) people are doing now its no wonder we are voting for scum and scummier.
I really dont think an IQ test would help anything.
Everyone knows IQ is the ability to learn or retain. But with all the "Learning" (American Idle, Dancing with whomever) people are doing now its no wonder we are voting for scum and scummier.
"It is not who votes that matters. It is who counts the votes that matters."
Abraham Lincoln, during the American Civil War, was very concerned about how what America did would influence representative government elsewhere. If the country fell apart, anti-democrats around the world (and there were a number in 1861-65), would point at the US and say, "See? People can't govern themselves. To attempt to do this is folly." They are still watching and the debate is not over.
Fast-forward the tape to 2008 and an electorate that is (a) dealing in debt, spending more than it has, year after year (b) about to enact more deficit spending, (c) and even fool itself into believing that "tax credits" for people not paying income taxes is something other than a transfer payment.
There is simply no bottom to the fiscal depravity that could be unleashed. The people at the bottom end of the tax brackets can simply vote themselves unlimited raises from those at the top, until those at the top stop working or move off-shore.
I
It's On A Slab
Guest
Hey, I made a conscious attempt yesterday to spread sweetness and light, and make this forum into our version of Super Fun Time, but you guys didn't even try to enjoy the new niceness.
The real Slab is back this morning.
So no more of this belly-aching about turning Non-Sports into The Strip. Unless we can turn The Strip into The Strip Joint. :biggrin:
:eek2::biggrin2:
I did my best to mirror you...but if you're going back to your cranky, sardonic self...then so am I.:biggrin2:
I guess that if you go back to your old ways then I will just have to come and beat that butt like I promised you. :biggrin:
whoooo!!!!! if you get to bring back the old slab then I get to bring back the old me....... hmmmmm now if only I can find that old post of the week acceptance speech i had.........:biggrin:
Are you actually saying that Senator Obama is a Muslim? And, I don't pretend to be a Senator, but there are many factors that go into how a Senator casts his or her vote on the Senate floor. Defending a vote that is perceived as an unpopular position takes a lot longer than it takes a biased media to spin the vote in the light that they see it. "He voted to raise taxes 92 times" is a simple enough sentence that the majority of the people can grasp it. If you go into a discussion about the specifics of those votes, people lose interest.
Well, one definition of education is the ability to make yourself do something that needs to be done, when it needs to be done, whether you like it or not. So, in that case, the more educated people have the ability to apply themselves to the pursuit of attaining a degree (whether it is a college or post-graduate degree). An excessive number of instances of dropping out or quitting school would be as good of an indicator of lack of education as someone who refused to put in the behind-the-scenes effort in order to get that A.
And, no, I would not say that those who have not gone on to grad school should blindly follow anyone.
Learned that one from my Mom - she had a framed version of it in her office. She's been in education her whole life - taught at Bama for many years, but not any more. It was her philosophy on education, but I did find it interesting that Coach Saban basically said the same thing was his definition of self-discipline in one of his recent press conferences.
While I believe that any standard which would improve the quality of voting may be a good thing, a better, much more easily enforced and less elitist standard would be to deny the franchise to anyone receiving a hand-out from the government. If you cherish your vote, don't take a hand-out.
By accepting a hand-out, a resident is declaring himself to be irresponsible in managing his personal affairs, needing a hand-out to get by, and thus a ward of the state. It defies logic to allow a person who cannot manage his own personal affairs to have a hand in directing the affairs of state.
If recipients of welfare had to sign a statement declaring themselves a ward of the state for the duration of such welfare in order to receive his check, and agreeing not to exercise the franchise within one year of such a declaration, the quality of voter rolls would be improved immeasurably. Most importantly, forcing such people to acknowledge their irresponsibility would remove a target audience for demagogic appeals. Recipients of a gift should not be empowered to dictate the nature and amount of a gift.
This will never happen, of course, but is a worthy ideal to help ensure the republic survives.
Saw that myself Mama. Shows how well informed the population is and that many blacks will vote for Obama simply because he is black.
By that list, I'm more than twice as qualified (political science, law, international relations, business from big name schools + work experience that goes with it) to be president as Obama.
If I were his potential "employer" and looking at this resume I would note the following.
BO has a nice "education" section on his resume, but he's substantially light on the work experience.
Another lawyer, huh? God knows we need another lawyer (social engineer) in the halls of power.
No knowledge of economics.
No knowledge of international relations.
No demonstrated respect for the Constitution.
No leadership/executive experience.
Next job candidate, please.
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