ELECTED OFFICIALS ARE DUMB!!!!

Elected officials score lower than the general public on civic literacy and history! Also, college educated students scored only slightly higher on average than people with less formal education. In addition, more college education (while it did fail to make people smarter) it does make people more likely to hold leftist points of view on social and political issues.  

From the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI)

"All survey respondents were asked whether they have ever engaged in any of 13 different political and civic activities. These included, for example, registering to vote, signing a petition, contacting a public official, publishing a letter to the editor, and whether they have ever been elected to a government office.

Among the 2,508 respondents, 164 say they have been elected to a government office at least once. This sub-sample of officeholders yields a startling result: elected officials score lower than the general public. Those who have held elective office earn an average score of 44% on the civic literacy test, which is five percentage points lower than the average score of 49% for those who have never been elected. It would be most interesting to explore whether this statistically significant result is maintained across larger samples of elected officials.

The elected officeholders come from the ranks of Democrats (40%), Republicans (31%), Independents (21%), and those who say they belong to no party or indicate no affiliation (8%). None were asked to specify what office they held, so the proportion in which they held local, state, or federal positions is unknown.

Not all officeholders do poorly, of course. Some elected officials rank among the highest scorers. But the failure rate on the test among those who have won public office is higher (74%) than among those who have not (71%). Officeholders scored lower on all sub-themes of the test: political history, cultural institutions, foreign relations, and market economy.

In each of the following areas, for example, officeholders do more poorly than non-officeholders:

•Seventy-nine percent of those who have been elected to government office do not know the Bill of Rights expressly prohibits establishing an official religion for the U.S.
•Thirty percent do not know that “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are the inalienable rights referred to in the Declaration of Independence.
•Twenty-seven percent cannot name even one right or freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment.
•Forty-three percent do not know what the Electoral College does. One in five thinks it either “trains those aspiring for higher political office” or “was established to supervise the first televised presidential debates.”
•Fifty-four percent do not know the Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war. Thirty-nine percent think that power belongs to the president, and 10% think it belongs to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
•Only 32% can properly define the free enterprise system, and only 41% can identify business profit as “revenue minus expenses.”

On some questions, Americans who have held elected office do better than Americans who have not. They are a little more likely, for example, to recognize the language of the Gettysburg Address (23% to 21%) and to know that the question of whether slavery should be allowed to expand into new territories was the main issue in the Lincoln–Douglas debates (25% to 20%).

Officeholders and non-officeholders find it equally difficult to identify the three branches of government. Only 49% of each group can name the legislative, executive, and judicial."

IN ADDITION:

"The average score for the college graduates who took ISI’s American civic literacy exam was 57%, an “F.”

"Thirty-six percent of college graduates cannot name all three branches of government, required knowledge on the U.S. citizenship exam. Remarkably, that is the same percentage of first-time citizenship applicants who answer this question correctly."

BTW, I missed ONE. I disagree with question #29's answer. Two others are "iffy", but overall it's a good quiz. That means I scored 40 points higher than most college educators and elected government officials!

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Epler Effect Breaks Its First Ever Exclusive Story

Toothless Aggression:
Is it just me or are the rights of hard working people in this country getting crushed? I don't want to sound like a crazy lefty who thinks the world is out to get them, but have you noticed employers are getting away with more now than in the past few years? We have all heard about the company who fired its employees for being smokers,(see Alton Blair's post "You Will Be Next" here on the Effect.) and the Atlantic City casino that told its wait staff (all female) they must not gain weight or they will be fired. I have learned from a very reliable source that another casino in Iowa is considering firing employees for not having proper dental work done. I cannot believe a company who doesn't offer a free dental plan that would cover 100% of the dental work required to meet compliance would require such a thing. I remember a few years ago it was enough to show up for work, do a good job, and get along with your boss and those people were considered excellent employees. Now it appears we are basing performance on looks and style.What do you want to bet (pun intended) Crest has people working on its assembly line who are missing teeth. I don't know what can be done about these companies overstepping their bounds, but we better have some sort of plan in place because it's getting worse everyday. I know what your thinking (that's right I'm psychic) "why don't these people sue" right? Well, unfortunately the people mostly being targeted are hard working people who are making under $15,000 a year and can't afford dental work much less a lawyer. I am in contact with the source of this story so any serious suggestions would be appreciated.

Alton Blair
This is an Epler Effect Exclusive

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They Walk Among Us

IDIOT SIGHTING: I work at a local Casino in security. We recently held a fire drill and set off smoke at a location in the casino. People refused to leave their slot machines even while smoke was curling around them. Do these people have a problem or what?

IDIOTS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: I live in a semi-rural area. We recently had a new neighbor call the local township administrative office to request the removal of the Deer Crossing sign on a local road. The reason: "too many deer were being hit by cars" and he didn't want them to cross there anymore.

IDIOTS IN FOOD SERVICE: My girlfriend went to a local Taco Bell and ordered a taco. She asked the person behind the counter for "minimal lettuce." He said he was sorry, but they only had iceberg. And he was a chef!

IDIOT SIGHTING: I was at the airport, checking in at the gate when an airport employee asked, "Has anyone put anything in your baggage without your knowledge? To which I replied, "If it was without my knowledge, how would I know? He smiled knowingly and nodded, "That's why we ask”.

IDIOT SIGHTING: The stoplight on the corner buzzes when it's safe to cross the street. I was crossing with an intellectually challenged person next to me asked if I new what the buzzer was for. I explained that it signals blind people when the light is red. Appalled, she responded, "What on earth are blind people doing driving?!" She was a probation officer

IDIOT SIGHTING: I know an individual who plugged her power strip back into itself and for the life of her couldn't understand why her system would not turn on. She works at a local hospital no less.

IDIOT SIGHTING: Friends of mine arrived at an automobile dealership topick up their car; they were told the keys had been locked in it. They went to the service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the driver's side door. As they watched from the passenger side, they instinctively tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked. "Hey," they announced to the technician, "its open!" To which he replied, "I know - I already got that side." This was at the Ford dealership.

......and they walk among us ... and REPRODUCE

Jitjorgi1

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