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The warm and the vertical

November 24, 2008

Why it's not such a great idea to give the government more to do:

US elected officials scored abysmally on a test measuring their civic knowledge, with an average grade of just 44 percent, the group that organized the exam said Thursday.

Ordinary citizens did not fare much better, scoring just 49 percent correct on the 33 exam questions compiled by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI).

The ordinary folks didn't fare much better, but it's not their job, for heaven's sake.

Among the questions asked of some 2,500 people who were randomly selected to take the test, including "self-identified elected officials," was one which asked respondents to "name two countries that were our enemies during World War II."

Sixty-nine percent of respondents correctly identified Germany and Japan. Among the incorrect answers were Britain, China, Russia, Canada, Mexico and Spain.

Did we give up when the Canadians bombed Pearl Harbor?

Asked about the electoral college, 20 percent of elected officials incorrectly said it was established to "supervise the first televised presidential debates."

Maybe this is why Vice President-elect Biden thought FDR came on television in 1929 to discuss the stock market crash.

It just goes to show that former Ways and Means Chairman Thomas was on to something when he said ($link):

"Don't think in this business that you're dealing with the best and the brightest," he said. "You're dealing with the available and the willing. One of the basic criteria is usually warm and vertical. That's optional in some instances."

Indeed.

Via Marginal Revolution.

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