New Poll: why our nation does stupid things

Forest's momma said, "Stupid is as stupid does." Forest wasn't able to be smart, but he was not stupid; he knew what love was, he was faithful and kind.


His "girl." on the other hand was a smart, go-go asshole.

Speaking of stupid, below is a quick recap of a recent survey taken from a d, WSJ article you can find by clicking the title. 


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Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?

Self-identified liberals and Democrats do badly on questions of basic economics.

By DANIEL B. KLEIN

Who is better informed about the policy choices facing the country—liberals, conservatives or libertarians? According to a Zogby International survey that I write about in the May issue of Econ Journal Watch, the answer is unequivocal: The left flunks Econ 101.

Zogby designed a survey which 4,835 Americans took.

A response was counted as incorrect only if it was flatly unenlightened.

One question - December 2008 poll: "Restrictions on housing development make housing less affordable." People were asked if they: 1) strongly agree; 2) somewhat agree; 3) somewhat disagree; 4) strongly disagree; 5) are not sure.

Basic economics acknowledges that whatever redeeming features a restriction may have, it increases the cost of production and exchange, making goods and services less affordable. There may be exceptions to the general case, but they would be atypical.

Therefore, we counted as incorrect responses of "somewhat disagree" and "strongly disagree." This treatment gives leeway for those who think the question is ambiguous or half right and half wrong. They would likely answer "not sure," which we do not count as incorrect.

In this case, percentage of conservatives answering incorrectly was 22.3%, very conservatives 17.6% and libertarians 15.7%.

But the percentage of progressive/very liberals answering incorrectly was 67.6% and liberals 60.1%. The pattern was not an anomaly.

Other questions: 1) Mandatory licensing of professional services increases the prices of those services (unenlightened answer: disagree).

2) Overall, the standard of living is higher today than it was 30 years ago (unenlightened answer: disagree).

3) Rent control leads to housing shortages (unenlightened answer: disagree).

4) A company with the largest market share is a monopoly (unenlightened answer: agree).

5) Third World workers working for American companies overseas are being exploited (unenlightened answer: agree).

6) Free trade leads to unemployment (unenlightened answer: agree).

7) Minimum wage laws raise unemployment (unenlightened answer: disagree).

Results:  Number wrong out of 8:

Very conservative, 1.30; Libertarian, 1.38; Conservative, 1.67; 

Moderate, 3.67; Liberal, 4.69; Progressive/very liberal, 5.26.

On the monopoly question, the portion of progressive/very liberals answering incorrectly (31%) was more than twice that of conservatives (13%) and more than four times that of libertarians (7%).

On the question about living standards, the portion of progressive/very liberals answering incorrectly (61%) was more than four times that of conservatives (13%) and almost three times that of libertarians (21%).

The survey also asked about party affiliation:

Those responding Democratic averaged 4.59 incorrect answers.

Republicans averaged 1.61 incorrect, and Libertarians 1.26 incorrect.

Mr. Klein is a professor of economics at George Mason University. This op-ed is based on an article published in the May 2010 issue of the journal he edits, Econ Journal Watch, a project sponsored by the American Institute for Economic Research.

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Its me, again.

This survey is significant.  Think about it. There is a profound answer to why much of what is going on in Washington, D.C. is irrational.  It is so, because the left is irrational. They are easily manipulated.

It is easy to say, those with poorer educations are the working families, hence democratic, but that makes no sense.  Look at the questions, they are asking for a common sense answer, not a college treatise. 

How can you think rent control does not lead to housing shortages? [It actually leg to the invention of the "condo."] How can you think raising the minimum wage does not reduce employment? No one living in the real world is so ignorant.

Anyone conscious knows if there is less of something, the remaining items will cost more.  Duh.

Think about this.  We are looking at the core of the problem in America. Our schools do not educate and our leaders manipulate.  Ignorant people are happy with printing money (Gee, its worth less - let's print some more!) and losing their freedom.  There is no talking to the dolts, as I am sure you have noticed.  Eventually, we have to get children into private schools so they can become useful citizens, but in the meantime, we have to overcome the dithering mob. I now understand having tests or property as requirements for voting.

As unenlightened as it may seem, we have to reign in the ignorant before they destroy us. This seems uncivilized, but, as the French say, one can be too civilized.

The ignorant are like a gangrene that will kill the body politic without radical treatment or, in the end, surgery. The days of reason are gone and we are looking at the addition of some twenty million new, ignorant citizens, many of whom can't watch a news program in English.  They are not stupid; they are, however, incapable of judging our complex culture.

Any sort of government where votes matter cannot stand where the voters are ignorant and uncaring, other than to grab more benefits. Our representative system demands, at least, some clarity of thought and a sense of tradition. Our politicians, on the other hand, think an ignorant citizenry is perfect if they have to put up with elections. 

Just don't forget, those who identified themselves as "very liberal/progressive" got 5.26 answers wrong out of 8! Be very afraid.