Punxsutawney Phil has a prognosticating brother, Punxsy Pol, whose specialty is politics. Pol emerged from his burrow today, one day in advance of Pennsylvania primary elections, and predicted six more weeks, months, years and even decades of bad government.
Pol has it easier than Phil when it comes to gazing into the future. Where Phil has all the vagaries of weather to consider, Pol need only count on an uninformed electorate.
Thomas Jefferson wrote often on the vital relationship between informed voters and the protection of freedoms. Jefferson wasn’t referring merely to knowing something about the candidates and the issues, but also knowledge of a nation’s history and general intellectual enlightenment.
Dolts and morons, the ignorant in general, make poor voters.
This helps explain why progressives in education teach little in the way of legitimate history, and instead flavor it with a twist based on the causes of the times.
All these misinformed school children typically grow into easily manipulated voters.
The current crop of voters tends to get half of its mission correct. They vote out of some sort of misguided sense of civic duty, but can’t take time in advance of elections to learn about candidates for whom they will vote.
I would periodically write of this during my newspaper career. Simply voting, without knowledge, is not fulfilling one’s duty.
If you doubt me on this matter, do a little experiment tomorrow. Ask a few people you know who voted to recite the list of candidates for whom they voted.
You likely will have a few solid responses and a lot of wavering on something as basic as recalling a name.
Ask for platform issues on which the candidates ran and you are likely to receive a blank stare.
Some will say these are only primary elections so it’s no big deal. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Clever liberals have found that they can cross over and influence Republican primaries by voting for candidates most likely to lose a general election to the Democratic candidate.
And the big money Soros-type liberal backers flood money into the campaigns of these lesser Republican primary candidates for much the same reason.
This doesn’t work – at least it shouldn’t – if the voters are educated on the candidates and the issues.
Alas, such is not the case. There’s still a little bit of time to acquire some election knowledge in advance of the trip to the polls tomorrow. Hopefully some of you will use that time wisely.
Sam Ross Jr's site 