Expectations and Reality

Do you think the Founders of this nation considered the prospect of an ignorant electorate with no vested interest in society electing equally ignorant representatives to the highest positions in the federal government?

I think that a flawed assumption of the founders is the assumption of an informed electorate. I think that there was an assumption of basic literacy. I think the Founders incorrectly assumed that the electorate would have an understanding of economics and history. Clearly this is lacking in today's America. Listen to the expectations from voters that the president is responsible for and should fix high gas prices, that the government should provide most if not all basic services, and that everyone is essentially owed a base standard of living. There is little to no sense of history, how we got where we are as a nation, mistakes we made as well as things we did right. This makes for an electorate susceptible to the latest political snake oil salesman promising government programs and benefits well outside the bounds of government responsibility and government's ability to pay.

The political class is not in much better stead than the voters they court. When presidential candidate Barack Obama cites the Roosevelt/Churchill/Stalin meeting at Yalta as an example from history that validates his ridiculous idea to meet unconditionally with the leaders of Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela. the clear axis of evil in the world and clear enemies of the United States, something is a little amiss in how we have implemented the ideas of the Founders. Maybe someone should point out to Barack that the United States, Great Britain, and The Soviet Union were allies in World War II and that the meetings in Yalta set the table to open a second front against the Germans. It was funny in "Animal House" when John Belushi asks the question "was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?". It is not that funny when the likely democratic presidential nominee confuses who was fighting who in the second world war.

Somehow I think that Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, and Adams has higher expectations of our political leaders and for the electorate in general. We may have a hard time finding a lot of voters who know the relevance of Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, and Adams. I wonder if Barack Obama knows that they were on the same team?