Yet, against a background of hard-won suffrage, voter turnout in America remains notoriously low. As a result, election outcomes are increasingly determined by special interest groups and their money. Some have called for reform that might reverse this trend such as automatic registration or making election day a national holiday. Some have even called for making voting mandatory. Call me cynical, but recent election cycles lead me to question whether marching citizens to the polls at gunpoint is the solution. Is the issue really turnout? In 2000, half the electorate voted for the president they'd prefer to have a beer with. In 2008, half the electorate voted for a vice president who was dangerously incompetent. As of this writing, the frontrunner for the 2016 Republican nomination is a reality TV star. The frontrunner for the Democratic nomination is under FBI investigation. As of this writing, Congress somehow simultaneously manages a single-digit approval and a 90% reelection rate. It seems to me merely putting bodies in the voting booth is failing to grasp an essential dimension of the problem.
Something deeper is broken in American democracy.
We test lawyers before allowing them to practice law. We test doctors before they can practice medicine. Professional engineers must pass a PE test to become licensed. Hair dressers and dog groomers carry certificates of competency. Voir dire is an oral examination to determine your qualifications to sit on a jury. You must pass a test to drive.
Why on earth do we not require a test to vote?
The answer is simple: Because the last thing politicians want is to answer to an informed polity. This isn't specific to Republicans or Democrats; it affects the fundamental character of government. If the only voter is an informed voter then attack ads and vague innuendo no longer sway elections. Simplistic billboards and mailers are rendered toothless. Billion-dollar vapid television spots become nothing more than wasted money. Tools the corrupt rely on to secure public office -- the very tools that allow money to undermine democracy -- vanish. We don't need campaign finance reform; we need more discriminating voters.
Well, LabKitty is here to help.
As Aristotle may have once said: It's better for government to be selected by a single educated citizen than by a 100% turnout of know-nothing sound bite addicts. In that spirit, I have created a little test that will allow you to determine if you are qualified to vote. A collection of questions on civics and current events that any reasonably attentive person should be able to answer, or should be able to answer before we allow them a say on matters that affect us all. Now, like Fig Newton sings, here's the tricky part: If you can't answer at least half of these questions correctly, you must stay home on election day. It's not personal, you're just killing America and everything it stands for. Educate yourself and come back better equipped next time. An idea so radical it just. might. work.
I started out trying to be fair and balanced (whatever that means) until I realized no matter what questions I picked, everyone would accuse me of playing favorites for the other side. So you get the questions you get. (For the record: I picked a few questions on civics and U.S. history, a few relevant to foreign policy, then turned to the major domestic topics -- guns, abortion, immigration, and the economy.) Select the best answer to each question, then click the grade button. You are shown your score and the average score of all test takers so far (the latter assuming the server I'm using isn't in the grips of some maintenance crisis). Your score will then be added to the database.
Again, if you can't answer at least half of these 21 questions correctly, don't vote. Can't stress that enough. It's for the good of the country. A kind of political apoptosis operating on the honor system. You remember honor, don't you? It's what America used to be about, before it turned into a freak show.
We're all counting on you.
Good luck!
UPDATE: As some of you have mentioned, it would be nice to see the quiz answers. So the answers are now provided after your quiz is graded.
UPDATE 2: A few more tweaks.
UPDATE 3: Major restructuring. Now with an extra credit question!
UPDATE 4: Quiz now lists your wrong answers with your grade.
UPDATE 5: I'm no longer tracking your score (the server I was using died). The average was running about 51%.
The LabKitty 2016 Voter Self-Disqualification Quiz
♥ Answer 50% Correct or Don't Vote ♥
(* pick the smallest number larger than the exact amount)
("SS" = Social Security; "Defense" includes VA and DHS)
Extra Credit
>What does the designation AR-15 refer to?
ReplyDeleteThis is wrong. Its the designation given to it by the designer. It means Armalite Rifle Model 15. It predates the M16 which is actually based on the AR15. This question is shit.
From Wikipedia:
DeleteIn 1963, Colt started selling the semi-automatic version of the [M16] for civilians as the Colt AR-15...
I believe the answer is accurate.
Also, dude: SPOILER
Also from Wikipedia:
DeleteIn 1959, ArmaLite sold its rights to the AR-10 and AR-15 to Colt.
...
Colt marketed the AR-15 rifle to various military services around the world. After modifications (most notably the relocation of the charging handle from under the carrying handle to the rear of the receiver), the redesigned rifle was adopted by the United States military as the M16 rifle.
At any rate, perhaps "a semi-automatic version of the automatic M16 rifle, available for civilian purchase" would be a more appropriate phrasing. The difference between automatic and semi-automatic is not insignificant.
Fair point. I fixed.
DeleteI love the idea of limiting the franchise using the honor system and I hope the concept goes viral. This has just the right balance of cheekiness and acceptability to potentially get some kind of foothold in our culture and actually get people THINKING about the lowest-common-denominator problem in democracy, rather than just throwing up their hands and saying there's nothing we can do.
ReplyDelete16/21 btw, wish it told me what I got wrong.
> ...wish it told me what I got wrong.
DeleteGood suggestion. I now provide answers after your quiz is graded. Cheers.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/01/12/no-we-dont-spend-1-trillion-on-welfare-each-year/
ReplyDeleteThe trillion dollar figure ($1.03 trillion, technically) comes from a study of means-tested assistance by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service which was requested by the Senate budget committee in 2011. Mike Konczal (the contributor of the Washington Post piece you link) disagrees that many of the programs characterized as "welfare" by the CRS qualify as such. Were we to exclude these programs, the figure would be much lower (around $200 billion).
DeleteFor example, he asks how a low-income taxpayer clinic qualifies as welfare. Well, Mr. Konczal, it qualifies because a) use of the service is means-tested and b) taxpayers pay for it. That's the very definition of the word. Your fight is not with the CRS, or with me; it is with the dictionary. Additionally, there are many costs associated with welfare CRS *didn't* include. Expenses for police and EMS are disproportionately generated by poor neighborhoods, yet I don't see anyone demanding this revenue be *added* to the tally.
I don't doubt Mr. Konczal has good intentions but he obviously has an axe to grind (indeed, he is pushing back against those on the right using a trillion dollar price tag as a rallying call for welfare reduction). I have no axe to grind other than trying to raise the level of political awareness of voters. However, I will concede the amount refers not only to federal expenditures but also includes those at the state and local level (which comprise a substantial chunk of the total) and the wording of the question should have made that explicit. I fixed.
17/21, from Sweden. I wish it told me what questions I got wrong. Now I had to go through the entire list and check it manually against the answers.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great suggestion. I will look into adding this...
Delete