Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter
Fifty percent of Americans can name four characters from “The Simpsons,” but only two out of five can name all three branches of the federal government. No more than one in seven can find Iraq on a map. Just how stupid are we? Pretty stupid.

In Just How Stupid Are We?, best-selling author Rick Shenkman takes aim at our great national piety: the wisdom of the American people. American democracy is as direct as it's ever been—but voters are misusing, abusing, and abdicating their political power. At once a powerful indictment of voter apathy and political indifference, Just How Stupid Are We? also provides concrete proposals for reforming our institutions—the government, the media, civic organizations, political parties—to make them work better for the American people. But first, Shenkman argues, we must reform ourselves.

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Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter
Fifty percent of Americans can name four characters from “The Simpsons,” but only two out of five can name all three branches of the federal government. No more than one in seven can find Iraq on a map. Just how stupid are we? Pretty stupid.

In Just How Stupid Are We?, best-selling author Rick Shenkman takes aim at our great national piety: the wisdom of the American people. American democracy is as direct as it's ever been—but voters are misusing, abusing, and abdicating their political power. At once a powerful indictment of voter apathy and political indifference, Just How Stupid Are We? also provides concrete proposals for reforming our institutions—the government, the media, civic organizations, political parties—to make them work better for the American people. But first, Shenkman argues, we must reform ourselves.

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Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter

Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter

by Rick Shenkman
Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter

Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter

by Rick Shenkman

eBook

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Overview

Fifty percent of Americans can name four characters from “The Simpsons,” but only two out of five can name all three branches of the federal government. No more than one in seven can find Iraq on a map. Just how stupid are we? Pretty stupid.

In Just How Stupid Are We?, best-selling author Rick Shenkman takes aim at our great national piety: the wisdom of the American people. American democracy is as direct as it's ever been—but voters are misusing, abusing, and abdicating their political power. At once a powerful indictment of voter apathy and political indifference, Just How Stupid Are We? also provides concrete proposals for reforming our institutions—the government, the media, civic organizations, political parties—to make them work better for the American people. But first, Shenkman argues, we must reform ourselves.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780465012572
Publisher: Basic Books
Publication date: 05/12/2009
Sold by: Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format: eBook
Pages: 256
File size: 269 KB

About the Author

Rick Shenkman is the editor and founder of the History News Network and Associate Professor of History at George Mason University. New York Times best-selling author of five history books, including Legends, Lies&Cherished Myths of American History, he appears regularly as a commentator on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC. Educated at Vassar and Harvard, Shenkman is an award-winning investigative reporter and the former managing editor of KIRO-TV, the CBS affiliate in Seattle. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

http://howstupidblog.com

Table of Contents

Author's Note xi

1 The Problem 1

2 Gross Ignorance 13

3 Are the Voters Irrational? 37

4 The Importance of Myths 53

5 Giving Control to the People 67

6 The Power of Television 81

7 Our Dumb Politics: The Big Picture 117

8 Our Mindless Debate About 9/11 129

9 We Can't Even Talk About How Stupid We Are 141

Coda: Hope 171

Epilogue 185

Acknowledgments 217

Sources 219

Index 229

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