Hopeless Conversation

I have a Facebook 'friend,' a second cousin who lives in the rural community where I spent part of my boyhood. I avoid discussing politics in the community because I know it is predominantly Republican. It isn't that I don't want an intelligent debate. It is because the odds of an honest discussion are impossible. Why so?

Many Americans lack the knowledge and skill necessary for intelligent discussion about their government and citizen responsibilities.

I submit that most Americans had not visited the U.S. Constitution since their school days when the subject was mandatory. I offer that the only thing many citizens address is their right to vote. As to whether they are sufficiently knowledgeable about issues and candidates, I submit they are woefully inadequate and politically illiterate.

The democratic theory rests on the assumption that all people are equal and that they all deserve the right to vote. A society populated by uneducated people who have failed to study the issues and candidates is unlikely to produce acceptable or suitable results.

The fact is that most adults stop learning at a young age, and their competence wanes after that. 

I wrote a book, How to Select an American President, that reviews American history and considers the resumes of all the past Presidents. I define the job of a U.S. President from which I derived knowledge, skill, proficiency requirements, physical and mental health, and character. I accomplished this as an average American with a bachelor's degree in college. The difference in my life is I kept studying and learning to keep pace with my work requirements.

Having studied the U.S. government and working as a consultant to the Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services, I gained hands-on experience and knowledge.

I had an epiphany, and it wasn't assuring. I realized that the U.S. Federal Government, State, and Local governments are complex organizations. Without citizens devoting life-long attention and learning to engage their government, they will fail in their duty and responsibility to guide and direct government as their instrument.

I wonder, do citizens have the intellectual and time capacity to attend to their responsibilities to manage their government and control their society as envisioned by our founding Fathers? 

In an attempted conversation with my rural cousin, who was isolated in his village all his life, he can't do anything more than name-calling and repeat slogans from Republican bullies.

What percent of Americans are like my "dumb" cousin? It is a horror to answer that and to think that our nation is at stake resulting from that.