Dumbing Democracy Down

In the latest issue of National Review, Jonah Goldberg calls for something that I've long thought should be mandatory, a voting test (sub req):

This may be a hint about what America really needs. If more voters isn't the answer, how about fewer? Left-wing mythology has led liberals to push for an ever-expanding franchise. Even now, there's a movement afoot to lower the voting age to 16, on the assumption that social policies will be much improved under the influence of people who think MTV's Pimp My Ride is the bomb. But in a rational society, it would go without saying that young people are less wise, less informed, and less qualified to make important decisions.

Take that insight a step further. Obviously, the policy of not letting very young people vote is arbitrary, and is unfair to the few hypereducated and precociously wise teenagers out there. Well, what about grown-ups caught on the other side of that line? There are millions of adults just as unqualified to vote as your typical teenager. The wisdom of the masses is depressing indeed. Numerous polls have found a majority of Americans unable to name a single branch of government. And in 1987, 45 percent of adult respondents to one survey thought that Karl Marx's dictum "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" could be found in the U.S. Constitution. No wonder liberals think there's a gusher of votes out there for them.

Now, the instinct of the engaged and informed political junkie (i.e., the type of person most likely to be reading this article) is to say, "O my stars and garters! There are a lot of morons out there!" But in truth Americans are very smart about the things they care about, and ignorant about the things they don't. So why should those who don't care about voting be harangued to vote? I don't get to vote on who should make it into the Rose Bowl, so why are we so desperate to get the input of people who know less about government than I do about football?

Poll taxes and property requirements would discriminate against the poor. But what would be so awful about a simple test of civic knowledge? Choosing the questions would be contentious, but the debate would itself be wonderfully educational. For starters, I'd suggest the test questions immigrants must answer in order to become U.S. citizens. They are so very vanilla--How many branches of government are there? What are the branches of government?--and yet they'd set a pretty high bar for many, if not most, Americans.

Seems like a reasonable requirement. We don't let someone drive a car until they can demonstrate a knowledge of the rules of the road. And if you think voting doesn't hurt others like bad driving does, remember that I'm represented in Congress by Keith Ellison. Ouch.

Before Lefties get their undies in a bundle about this idea and start screaming about "disenfranchisement," they should consider Goldberg's conclusion:

A voting test would send the signal that it's a valued accomplishment to be an informed citizen. It would allow politicians to aim their appeals ever so slightly higher than the dumbed-down, Rock the Vote gutter. Would such a reform make conservative policies more likely? I don't know, and that's really not my chief concern. But I predict that shrieking and screaming from the Left would reveal which side thinks its success depends on voter ignorance.

C'mon Lefties. If you're the smart ones, the reality-based community and all that and we're just a bunch of mindless drones who take our marching orders from talk radio and Fox News, then you should welcome such a test. Shouldn't you?