The book I read was Just How Stupid Are We? By: Rick Shenkman. And this book is about how ignorant our American voters have become and how it has affected our political system and how it weakens the American people’s voice and our democratic government today. The book opens up talking about the up and coming election of the time of the book and how the American voter believes whole heartily that there is something extremely wrong with our American political system. And of course the Democrats believe it’s the Republicans to mostly blame. And on the other side the Republicans say it’s the policies of the democrats at fault of this American political pitfall. But they can all agree and believe on the fact that the American people …show more content…
Because we are the ones who elect the people in the offices of the government that make these policies, which we the people who in the first place elected them to make these policies, complain about them. But it’s most likely and sad that the average American person doesn’t understand this concept. And Rick Shenkman explains that the people are not paying attention to our American politics and as time goes on people are listening watching and even acknowledging less and less and he says that they should be paying more attention more and more. Saying that technologies like television has somewhat and have dumbed down the American people’s intelligence in politics and dumbed it down to the basest level of our American politics. When we should become smarter because the politics and this system is becoming more …show more content…
And I also learn that the older to get the more conservative you are making the voting processes almost useless because it’s much sided towards the conservative beliefs. Also learned that the younger people are a lot less likely to watch or read the news and keep up with today’s problems and information so the younger people are basically voting blindly in the elections. And when this Politian that is in office that makes a policy that is failing or plainly just dumb these voters or non-voters that went into this vote blind or just simply did not vote, go on and go on, on how the government is ruining our American politics. So this book and what it says is really relevant in todays and even many years ago and to come
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Show MoreIn closing, this book informs us on how the Republicans went crazy and Democrats became useless, and how it’s become a problem. The books unfolds the faults of the Republicans and Democrats “behind the scenes”, and made me more aware of the parties today.
In chapter one, Fiorina begins with a powerful quote from Pat Buchanan’s 1992 speech at the Republican National Convention, “There is a religious war…a cultural war as critical to the…nation…as the cold war…for this war is for the soul of America” (Fiorina et al. 1). Using several other quotes, he illustrates the belief that the nation is torn between personal morals and extreme conservative notions. He then states his belief that these sentiments are complete nonsense, and exaggerations. There is no culture war according to Fiorina, no war for the soul of America. Describing the culture war as a myth caused by lack of information, misrepresentation of facts by activists, and selective media coverage. He suggests that Americans are essentially bystanders avoiding the cross fire between the left and right wing activists. Furthermore, he contrasts that it is the American choices that are polarized due to politicians, thus creating the appearance of a politically polarized society. Finally, he concludes the first chapter by outlining his argument in the following chapters. Fiorina does an exceptional job hooking the reader with his first chapter, the quotes and various examples of how America is portrayed as polarized are effective in swaying the audience to agree and then he shocks the reader by debunking all previous statements with his personal beliefs and outline for how he plans to prove his argument.
Paragraph One Paraphrase: (Because) the American government is not unified. (For example) there is a split between Republicans and Democrats. (For example) the American public is split as well. (For example) this division goes into major issues, like the Keystone Pipeline.
means that no matter who wins, most Americans will be dissatisfied with their leader. This
American politics have long revolved around the Grand Old Party and the Democratic Party. Arguably every conflict can be drawn back to the exacerbation of these two discordant parties. Both entities refuse to approach middle ground because it would hinder the respective party’s prestige or disobey ideals held for the past two centuries. Being a noted Democratic advocate, forty second US president William Clinton speaks at the Democratic National Convention. Because he employs rhetorical strategies, such as antithesis and procatalepsis, the partiality in his speech not only extols the Democrat’s persona but also degrades the Republican’s image.
Americans have become so engrossed with the rhetoric of political parties that many are unable have real discussions about “freedom, fairness, equality, opportunity, security, accountability.” (Lakoff p.177) The election of 1828 gave birth to the “professional politician” it demonstrated how “ambivalence” on issues, how image and the right language or narrative can influence voters. Partisanship did increase competition and empower voters to a greater degree, but it has also divided Americans and obstructed communication. As one historian declared the “old hickory” killed the ideal of nonpartisan leadership. (Parsons p.184) For better or for worse American politics were forever be changed in 1828.
In the book’s prologue, Brands sets the stage for the rest of the story. In it, he makes comparisons between the 1890’s and the 1990’s and does so convincingly, comparing the lawlessness of Chicago in the 1890’s to that of Los Angeles in the 1990’s, or comparing Tammany Hall boss Richard Croker with former Washington D.C. mayor Marion Barry, both of whom being Populist heroes who rose to positions of power despite of the obviousness of their corruption. It is within these comparisons that the reader can draw on some of Brands’ conclusions: that the end of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw Populist movements gain traction, (the Progressives in the 1890’s and the conservative movement in the 1990’s,) that both those who saw America in a state of decline and those thought the country had the potential to be prosperous during these time periods were right, and that, in the end, America had and still has a resilience that can steer the country through a great deal of adversity and still come out on top.
The chapter’s biggest point is in tracking differences between past eras and the rise of Republicanism to show the changes. For example, they use party organization during the Jim Crow era to compare and show how party organization grew tremendously with the rise of the Republican party. They also show how party attitudes and beliefs converged to have two major political parties with little to no factioning. In previous chapters they showed how Democrats in the south's, while claiming the name of Democrats, were ideologically very different from Northern
The society that we have today is amplified in both Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and Anthem by Ayn Rand. Both stories take our society and distort it until they have a dystopian society with an overbearing government. The people in these books lack education and and are forbidden from learning and asking questions. These books show the close relationship between government and education.In these books and in real life, an oppressive government leads to an uneducated society.
Shenkman, R. (2008). Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter. New York: Basic Books.
Weakness: I found this book slightly tiring and hard to follow at some points simply because I am not used to reading such strictly informative and political pieces. Strengths: The teachings in this book are highly relevant for today’s world. America currently faces issues involving lack of education, suffrage, and political ignorance among many. None of these issues have gone away, nor have any of these issues been fully resolved. There are many valuable lessons that lie in this book and I recommend that others take time to read it as well as learn from
One of the greatest problems America faces is the uninformed voter. Jonah Goldberg wrote an article in which he said, "The ignorance of the typical American when it comes to politics is often staggering." He does not mince his words in saying that he believes that normal people of society are not fit in knowledge to the extent of making a just decision of who should act as President. He is not the first to believe this however. The notion that society must be protected from itself when it comes to electing officials goes back to Ancient Greece.
I am responding to Micheal Schudson’s essay titled “America’s Ignorant Voter”. He makes several arguments against whether America having relatively ignorant voters poses a problem to our society, and whether it’s becoming worse over the years. One of the arguments he poses as to why Americans seem so clueless about political matters is due to the complexities of our nation’s political institutions.
This essay “Idiot Nation” is seen as a voice for the people. The author Michael Moore is communicating what the people think to the government. He gives for examples of how to take action. This only emphasizes his argument.
American journalist and writer, David Remnick, expressed the country’s deepest concerns on the Presidential Election in his New York Times article, “An American Tragedy.” Published precisely after Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, the compelling article voiced how utterly distraught Remnick felt about the pressing events and mediated what he felt Hillary supporters, immigrants, and all threatened people felt towards Trump. He began his article on a doomful and defeated note addressing his title and main argument: Donald Trump’s election and presidency are an American tragedy. He presented his “revulsion and anxiety” toward the presidency, the “miseries” we could potentially look forward to, and how the course of events