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Loading... Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voterby Rick Shenkman
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. Full review can be found at my website The myth of (the wisdom of) "The People" when it comes to politics. Unlike Susan Jacoby's much larger work, this book just deals with simple lack of intelligence. It doesn't get into the larger issues of antirationalism and anti-intellectualism. As for voter stupidity in a presidential election, let's hope that 2004 was the epitome. Not an intellectual book. Perhaps not as stupid post-election as I thought pre-election, although the passage of Prop 8 here in California does indicate that there are quite a few stupid people out there. Doesn't live up to what was promised on the book jacket: "Shenkman offers concrete proposals for reforming our institutions - the government, the media, civic organizations, political parties - to make them work better for the American people." Instead, the description should have read: "Shenkman spends considerable time on all the things that The People don't know, without devoting much time to what they should know or how to help reform society to gain this needed knowledge." Slate Magazine's political gabfest recommended a book called "What You Should Know About Politics... But Don't" and I'll be checking that one out. www.slate.com/gabfest 0.110 seconds to build listing no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0465077714, Hardcover)Levees break in New Orleans. Iraq descends into chaos. The housing market teeters on the brink of collapse. Americans of all political stripes are heading into the 2008 election with the sense that something has gone terribly wrong with American politics. But what exactly? Democrats blame Republicans and Republicans blame Democrats. Greedy corporate executives, rogue journalists, faulty voting machines, irresponsible defense contractors-we blame them, too. The only thing everyone seems to agree on, in fact, is that the American people are entirely blameless. In Just How Stupid Are We?, best-selling historian and renowned myth-buster Rick Shenkman takes aim at our great national piety: the wisdom of the American people. The hard truth is that American democracy is more direct than ever-but voters are misusing, abusing, and abdicating their political power. Americans are paying less and less attention to politics at a time when they need to pay much more: Television has dumbed politics down to the basest possible level, while the real workings of politics have become vastly more complicated. Shenkman offers concrete proposals for reforming our institutions-the government, the media, civic organizations, political parties-to make them work better for the American people. But first, Shenkman argues, we must reform ourselves. (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:03 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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