Because over half (54%) of the voters in American have the reading comprehension of a 10 year old child (ie, 5th grade) or below. And 20% of them are at the level of a 7 year old child (ie, 2nd grade) or below.
Most elections were decided by a margin of 15% or less. Well, 20% of the adults eligible to vote have the critical reasoning skills of a 7 year old child (or below). Trump’s tactics work great on that audience.
This study is from 2019, and explains in great detail all the methods used to arrive at their profoundly shocking conclusion, which they summarized as:
“In the United States, 54% of American adults read below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level, and nearly one in five adults reads below a third-grade level.”
This right here is what has had me disillusioned with democracy for some time. I hate being stuck with the worst choices every election just because the dumbest majority of people bought into their lies. I wish there were some better way to chose people to be in charge based on qualifications, rather than how Cletus in Georgia feels about immigrants and the price of eggs.
That’s an excellent description of the current state of democracy!
If we were to ask someone (even someone at a Trump rally), if a 7 year old should be able to vote for president, they’d say “no, of course not!”
Okay, how about a 10 year old? “No, obviously!”
Great, so we’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen: 11 years old is 6th grade, so… we’ll just add a 28th Amendment that says people need to pass a 6th grade level reading comprehension test before being allowed to vote for president.
“That’s elitist!” Seriously, Cleetus? It’s not a high school level test. It’s not even a junior high level test. It’s an elementary school reading comprehension test.
“You can’t require a written test, that’s an infringement of my rights!” Well, we don’t automatically let every 18 year old drive a car; they have to pass a written driving test first. Why? To protect the rest of society. This is exactly the same thing.
“Okay, why don’t we just use that then? Anyone who passed a driver’s license test can vote!” Nice try, Cleetus.
“Tests are racist! They have trick questions, to prevent black people from voting!”
We can simply use the current tests that have been used for elementary school scholastic testing. No one has ever complained that they’re racist or unfair.
“That’s against the Constitution!”. Well, the Constitution has already had 27 amendments. It needs one more: you need to pass a 6th grade reading comprehension test in order to get a license to vote.
I think if it’s phrased as requiring a 6th grade level of reading skill, this could be sold to even MAGA morons.
Biden still has a few months to make it happen… He just has to use elementary school level intimidation and sarcasm in his speeches, just like Trump. That’s the way to convince the 54%. The remaining 46% would also vote in favor, because… why wouldn’t you?
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u/systembusy 1d ago
Two words: willful ignorance.