If you want to see a hodge podge of idiots that are roaming around our country, totally self absorbed and incomprehensibly satisfied with remaining ignorant the rest of their lives, all you have to do is watch Jay Leno's 'Jay Walking' segments on the Tonight Show. Here are just a few of the snippets:
What country would you find the Panama Canal? (Answer given: China)
Who was the first man on the moon? (Answer given: Louis Armstrong)
Who was the first president of the United States? (Answer given: Benjamin Franklin)
Can you name any of the Ten Commandments? (Answer given: Freedom of Speech)
What was the Gettysburg Address? (Answer given: I don't know the exact address.)
What countries border the U.S.? (Answer given: Australia and Hawaii)
Define 'inebriated'. (Answer given: You've been promoted.)
What's the D.C. in Washington D.C. stand for? (Answer given: Da Capitol)
Now, I understand that they cherry pick the most ignorant of the lot for humor's sake. But I have done a little expirement on my own and asked some of these same questions of people I know or have just met. Sometimes I ask a waitress or someone who is assisting me at a store. It is mind boggling what people don't know or haven't taken the time to know. If there are people out there who don't know what countries border the U.S. or who don't know where the nation's capitol is located or what it's called, then there are people out there who do not perform due diligence in knowing the most important issues that face our country today. They more than likely do not study the candidates who will go to their City, County, State and Federal government offices to make decisions on their lives, freedoms, liberties and privacies. And then, they VOTE.
History is a roadmap to our future. Yet, people take no interest in it. They have no clue that it is important to know who our first president was. Not only that, it is vastly more important to know what he was, what drove him, and what he penned onto paper that allows us to delve into his thought processes so we can see what kind of country he truly envisioned when he went to war and risked everything for a new way of life. The same goes for all our founding fathers.
It's important to study geography and know what countries border our own. It's vastly more important to know what their political system is, how they view us, and whether or not they are allies who respect our laws and our citizens. When one can't even answer the most obvious question of where is the Panama Canal, I feel our society is lost already. It is an answer that is indicative of the mindlessness that makes up America today.
There are people we call celebrities who have made millions of dollars in this country and live lavish lifestyles that the vast majority of us will never be able to visit, much less experience. Yet, they tweet hatred for this country and disdain for the common man. However, everyone wants to know about Snooki and Paris Hilton and Reese's baby bump and Alec Baldwin's next meltdown and what is Kim Kardashian up to now. It's pathetic. Most every American can name the people I just listed, but they can't tell you who the first president was??!! They can't tell us what countries border our own? They can't name even ONE of the Ten Commandments?
No wonder we have a Congress and Senate full of Republicans and Democrats that have come to believe they can rule us, instead of represent us. No wonder we have had a litany of presidents over the last hundred years who have acted as if they were emperors and not leaders. As long as We the People have a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage and some mundane job to go to every day, nobody seems to care that our freedoms and liberties are being eroded as topsoil during a flash flood.
Our nation is chock full of people who don't want to be educated about the things that matter. They want to be educated on how to use the ipad and the iphone and the latest computer gadget and follow their favorite peeps on Twitter; but forget about what a caucus is or why we have primaries. I'm appalled at how many people out there actually believe things from the government are free. Free medical care, free food stamps, free housing. There's no such thing as free government stuff. The government taxes its people to get the money it has. And the more 'free' stuff it gives out, the more taxes it feeds on to bring it in. Nobody ever became wealthy by being taxed, or by being taxed more. This is a fundamental that everyone should know. But very few do. Even in my own State of Texas, hardly anyone is aware that the Lieutenant Governor has immensely more power than the Governor does, and this goes back to Reconstruction...but I doubt anyone even knows what that is. The race to watch in Texas is NOT the Governor's race. It's the Lieutenant Governor's race. But, do you think the media will tell anyone that? Hell no. They are just as guilty in that they might not even know it.
The problem with America is not with Congress or the Senate or even Barak Obama and the Supreme Court. None of them would even be where they are if it weren't for us; the voter. They are there because Americans, on the whole, are stupid when it comes to how government works, how ours was even set up and by whom, what history has to say about the direction we're headed, and even what each candidate that directly affects them is really like. The stupidity of Americans is where the problem lies. Or, maybe it isn't that. Maybe it can be boiled down to the fact that Americans have grown lazy and apathetic. Regardless of which it is, as I will lean toward stupidity, we have the government we voted for. And, until the citizenry of this country wakes up, it will only get worse and worse. So, if you want to look at the problem with this country, travel no further than your bathroom mirror. It will be looking right back at you.