Last Bastion of Stupidity

So, how stupid are the american voters? Every single country that supported the US invasion and has had major elections since the war in Iraq has voted out the ruling party or has in some way voted against them (see today's article about Sharon on CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/02/sharon.referendum/index.html)

Is voting for an ally of America political poison these days overseas? You bet it is. The question is, if all these 'ferriners' see the folly of thier leaders' ways, does the average american voter? Does Joe Sixpack - your friendly neighbor with the "God Bless America" bumper sticker on his Ford Windstar really know the political landscape? Can he see through the bullshit and vote for a guy who's going to at least try to make a difference in the world? Can he see past the nationalistic, jingoistic, proverb-spouting republican campaign machine?

My conclusion, sadly, is no. We DU'ers, though I myself am only one month old, have a passion for the Democratic cause and care to seek our news and information from other sources. The Lambs of America just watch thier Nightly News, read thier Local Paper, and Occasionally Watch CNN (when something Important is going down) We are different than the rest of America (and it's the one thing that unites us with the Freepers) We care about our politics, our vision, our view about how the world should be.

The Last Bastion of Stupidity is America. But it's not because Amercians are stupid. It's because they watch thier impartial news and they think everything's ok. We toppled a Bad Man, and that's Good. We may have Hostages, but that's ok, because one of them Freed Himself. If the rest of us could just see past the bullshit - we'd all be alot better off.

Sadly, I don't think this'll happen. We'll keep watching our Survivor and our Apprentice and our Real World vs. Road Rules and think everything's going A-OK in the world - meanwhile an ultraconservative Christian Cabal is slowly stripping our rights away in the name of Security.

I think they are just really single minded and not able to weight cost benefit. Let's vote on the abortion issue or against gay marriage and not care about issues that actually affect our lives. Getting Saddam out of power was good. Was it worth it? Doesn't matter, it was good to get Saddam out of power period. I don't understand it but I see it all the time.

pre-emptive war strongly suggest ignorance or apathy of American voters if not stupidity? And being ignorant/apathetic about pre-emptive war is stupid IMHO.

It's pig-headed or maybe living in denial and having a superiority complex. Too many people know the war was a bad idea but now they want to circle the wagons and really support the troops and the dumbazz president that got us in there.

as black or white... this or that... many are very uncomfortable with gray areas - and given that the world is complex most issues reside in gray areas.

to know about all these scandals..Don't you think they would be a little curious to know whats happening.

Talk to the average Joe on the street and he is clueless. Worse yet, talk to some old guy like my dad who only watches Fox news - he's WORSE than clueless. The sheeple believe what they want to believe. They want to believe that America is the greatest country on earth and the defender of democracy around the globe - hell who wouldn't want to believe that. They want to believe that people hate us because they are jealous of us. Truth is, most Americans are ignorant of other cultures. Unlike the rest of the world, Americans aren't big on traveling abroad. I have travelled extensively abroad, and I can say that I learned a lot about America through my travels.

As an aside, my husband just came from the gas station where he got intimidated by a redneck in a pickup over his John Kerry bumper sticker. You see, out here in the Republican Hinterland of metro Atlanta to have a Kerry bumper sticker on your car is considered treason. Not joking. It means you're not supporting the president in a time of war. To the folks around where I live, it brands you as an American-hating hippie. The average person in my county has a high school education or less. Intelligence is suspect. Out of my class of 21 5th graders not a single one has a parent who WENT to college - much less graduated from college. About half the parents of kids in my class are high school dropouts. This is the America I live in. Ignorance is bliss.

I've been wearing the T-shirt and have thus far not recieved any flak for it. But I have been reluctant to put the bumper sticker on my car because I work for a major Defense Contractor and I'm afriad of how this will affect my career track.

And I live in Kerry's home state! Where are you from?

Edit: Oops. You're from Georgia. Y'all are much braver than I.

Republicans circa late 60s:

Don't y'all worry your pretty lil heads about these matters, and we'll make sure you always feel good.....

American pubic:

Duh-uh..... ok......
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In all fairness, much like other deals with the devil, the republicans *have* held up their end of the bargain..... just ask toby keith, for example......

You give a monkey a gun, and the monkey shoots somebody, you DON'T blame the motherfucking monkey.....

I work with "intelligent" people every day. I start a conversation about something concerning politics and they look at me like, "Huh?". The people I work with have NO CLUE what is going on in this country and if it hadn't been for me, they'd all be a lost cause. Fortunately, they have me to keep them informed now and they're coming around.

I think this may have a lot to do with the fact that I work with people who are so busy trying to eek out a living, working two and even three jobs, though, that they simply don't have the time to research the issues and find out the truth about things. One lady's husband was laid off a long time ago and she's got two children. She works two jobs and so does her husband in an effort to make up for lost income. She's told me that they honestly watch NO news and couldn't possibly have time to read about current events.

And how can you, really. When 2 people are working 4 jobs - who wants to go home and watch the Fake News? Moreover, who wants to go out and scour Europoean, Russian, Middle Eastern and Austrialian newspapers on the web to get a different perspective on what's going on in the world?

We're all lucky. We care, AND we have the time to care. That's why I think our cause is lost. It takes alot of work to be educated and aware of the lies of our President. But most Americans simply don't care... How do we make them?

a lot of these people have enough time to, say, watch every f***ing stupid "reality" TV show there is.

They think they know everything because of what thier Pravda tells them and they do not want to dig for information. Just because you age doesn't mean you know everything there is to know.

and Reagan twice.

And Bush the First once.

That's STUPID!