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Americans are Ignorant to be Trusted with Preserving Democracy
Democracy establishes a form of government where the supreme authority belongs to the people and may exercise it either directly or through their elected leaders under a credible electoral system. There are two types of democracy which include direct and representative or indirect democracy. In a direct democracy, the people are the ruled and the rulers at the same time. The people create laws, implement them and make decisions based on the laws. Representative democracy is where people elect delegation or representatives and give them the authority to run the government. Because people rule via the representatives, such form of a system is referred to representative democracy. Almost all nations in the world practice the representative democracy. The United States is the first nation in the modern history to embrace a democratic constitution. Perpetually since the notion of democracy turned out to be a stimulation rather than a threat or fear, political players have claimed that citizens should be well-informed for it to purpose well (Hochschild n.p). However, Americans are too ignorant to be trusted with preserving democracy.
The Majority of the people of America are basically too hopelessly uninformed to choose the type of intelligent resolutions that are essential to reserve a democratic system that is healthy. Of late, there have been several articles suggesting the level of Americans’ ignorance concerning democracy.

Observing the tone of the articles, currently, America is not only suffering from a prevalence of obesity but a widespread stupidity. This bipartisan disregard for the common people has been an endless theme of political thinking for more than 2,500 years. Since the early stages of a common rule in olden Athens, the competency of the ordinary person to govern the country has been questioned by criticizers of democracy. Lacking the distinctive intelligence or the gained learning obligatory for dispassionately arbitrating policy, the multitudes instead are motivated by their personal short-term interests or passions (Atlee n.p). That worry appears fitting today. President Donald Trump was elected because adequate voters admired his vow to shatter the system.
Some supporters of the “too dumb for democracy” opinion have engaged the presumably and higher non-partisan route of impartial science; a fact revealed to me by an editorial interestingly entitled: “People aren’t smart enough for democracy to flourish, scientists say.” The learned elite feared that charismatic and cunning demagogues would take advantage of the ignorance of the masses in order to acquire sole authority for themselves (Somin n.p). Democracy is thought to be regulation of the persons, by the individuals, and for the public. But so as to rule efficiently, the people require political understanding. If they recognize nothing or little about government, it turns out to be challenging to hold governmental leaders answerable for their actions.
Political unawareness in America is widespread and deep. The recent government shutdown contest provides some worthy example. Though Obamacare is actually at the focus of that battle and considerable other current political controversies, 44 percent of the Americans don’t even comprehend it is the law. Some eighty percent, as per the Kaiser’s recent survey, claim they have received only a little or nothing at all concerning the controversial coverage exchanges that form a major portion of the regulation. The shutdown disagreement is just the newest demonstration of an enduring political struggle about federal spending. However, a majority of the citizens have a very little notion of exactly how federal expenditure is actually dispersed. Public ignorance isn’t limited to facts about particular policies. It also spreads to the primary government structure and the manner it operates. A survey carried out in 2006 established that just 42 percent could even mention the three subdivisions of the national government: the judiciary, the legislative and the executive. There’s also much confusion and ignorance about such issues as which administration officials are accountable for what matters. Widespread ignorance isn’t a fresh phenomenon. Political awareness has been at almost the similar low degree for decades. However, it’s striking that awareness levels have increased very slightly, if any, regardless of rising educational accomplishment and the amplified availability of data through the cable news, internet, and other contemporary technologies. Meaning, democracy is at risk when placed in the hands of the ignorant American masses.
Donald Trump notably declared, “I love the poorly educated” and everybody knows the reason. People who are ignorant concerning the fundamentals of democracy are perfect grist for a dictatorship. I was reminded when I went through the most recent civics study steered by the “Annenberg public policy center”. The statistics express for themselves. Merely 26 percent of Citizens can mention all three arms of government that is judicial, legislative, and executive. 33 percent cannot name either branch of government. Just 14 percent recognize that liberty of the media is assured by the primary Amendment; 37 percent cannot name one of the human rights guaranteed by the Amendment (Hochschild n.p). Though there is no empirical evidence that Trump’s slight path to winning was tilled by the less educated; By the way, Barack Obama secured presidency two times with the similar electorate. Nevertheless, somebody with authoritarian characters, once embedded in authority, is perfectly situated to exploit public ignorance. It’s simple to step on democratic standards when so limited Americans value and recognize the democratic rules. Therefore, it is easy for Donald Trump to attack Judiciary, Journalists, or immigrants when a majority of the Americans are unaware of their democratic rights guaranteed in the constitution.
The source of the ignorance is the failure of public schools. Generally, the public institutes are dying at what the country’s founders perceived as education’s utmost basic purpose; that is organizing young persons to be thoughtful citizens who could value democracy and liberty as well as resist the pleas of demagogues. Essentially, the schools do not teach civics any longer (Polman n.p). In the past, there existed social studies which bound students to recognize the three branches of government, the essentials of voting, and the self-governing values entrenched in the constitution. Thus, to solve this problem, the courses such as civics, literature, and history should be reintroduced as it could cultivate awareness of democratic activities and a confidence in democratic morals. However, there will still be a grim realism that some generations have now been lost and there’s a large electorate that’s potential putty in the leadership of a demagogue who recognizes as minute as they do concerning constitutional norms. Thus, even if the curricula is amazingly overhauled, the lost generations need to be educated about their democratic rights guaranteed in the constitution.
Works Cited
Atlee, Tom. “Is the Public Well-Informed Enough to Be Trusted with Democracy? – Random Communications from an Evolutionary Edge.” Random Communications from an Evolutionary Edge – Tom Atlee’s Transformational ThinkPad, 20 Jan. 2018, www.tomatleeblog.com/archives/175327873. Accessed 21 Feb. 2018.
Hochschild, Jennifer L. “If Democracies Need Informed Voters, How Can They Thrive While Expanding Enfranchisement?” Home | Scholars at Harvard, 2010, scholar.harvard.edu/jlhochschild/publications/if-democracies-need-informed-voters-how-can-they-thrive-while-expanding-en. Accessed 21 Feb. 2018.
Polman, Dick. “An Ignorant America Endangers Democracy: National Interest: Lifestyle: WHYY.” WHYY, 13 Sept. 2017, whyy.org/articles/an-ignorant-America-endangers-democracy/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2018.
Somin, Ilya. “Democracy and Political Ignorance.” Cato Unbound, 19 Feb. 2015, www.cato-unbound.org/2013/10/11/ilya-somin/democracy-political-ignorance. Accessed 21 Feb. 2018.