As long as the corporate media has the minds of our citizens locked up in the never never land of American Idol, Survivor, and CSI the United States Democracy is toast.

Americans choose to be blatantly ignorant about their government. When was the last time civics was taught in your local high school? And what are YOU doing about it?

Joseph Goebbels and Karl Rove proved that you can easily persuade the population to do about anything. Like invading Poland and Iraq respectively. A democratic population followed these jackals in lock step. All dissenters were labeled "unpatriotic". I'm quite sure the same will happen in Iran as the "October Surprise". The US population will follow the tune of the corporate media, as they don't want to be seen as unpatriotic. When in fact that's exactly what they will be for not standing up to the fascists running this country.

When the sole source of information to 30% of the population comes from Rupert Murdoch we're in deep shit.

By the way, didn't Bill Clinton champion and sign the Telecommunications Bill that allowed 5 multi-national corporations to control 85% of US media?

Yes the author is correct, the American people as a whole are ignorant....not dumb, just intellectually lazy!!

McCain will probably win because the average American wont get off his/her ass and educate themselves.

There are islands of hope, and we will still fight, but we cant convince people who are to lazy or to stupid to read books, network and get off their asses and get in the trenches.

Rebostar

Gaston OR

But, ignorance, for whatever reason, should never be confused with stupidity

Yes! But ignorance, if recognized yet left alone, does equate with stupidity. Knowing you don't know something isn't dumb, but knowing you don't know and yet not making an effort to remedy that situation is downright stoopid.

Other posters have suggested the same thing: many Americans seem to prefer the comfy chair of ignorance. They don't want anyone poking them with soft cushions, trying to prod them into thinking too much. (Okay, okay, the python metaphors are kind of weak...) They would rather trade their rights--by ignoring the responsibilities that come with them--in favor of handing over control of things to others.

And then, of course, they sit back and make fun of the "elites" who don't share their passive version of democracy.

As a member of the Stupid Community, I'm offended.

I on the other hand am smart enough to be your overlord.

Monte Carlo who said: "What Shenkman misses, though, is the larger picture, and, when you look at what American democracy has accomplished in the last forty years, it really is breathtaking. As recently as the early eighties, George Wallace was still a political power in the South; nowadays a politician like him is unthinkable. Our society, and, by extension, our government, have changed radically in less than a generation. Progress that might have taken other societies millenia has occurred here at breakneck speed."

This is a fallacious argument. Just after the civil war, the newly unified government put in place a vast array of civil rights legislation and institutions that have in many ways have not been equaled to this day. The US legislature did this against the will of the people of the South, for the most part, and even against the will of the president, who suffered an adminsitrative coup for championing the interests of white southerners. The legislature was also not responding to pro-black majorities in the North, since much evidence shows they were apathetic toward the issue, mostly burnt out because of the impact of the civil war, and also largely racist.

Because subsequent administrations bent to the will of the people--in the South, who wanted slavery, and in the north, who wanted the US to stop championing the rights of African Americans--Jim Crow reigned in the south for another century.

I won't even go into women's rights, or the rights of non white immigrants.

Schools only teach enough to get people to work at the jobs they are going to get. And more and more, highly skilled jobs are not there, so higher training is not needed. Being a 'nerd' who knows something is looked down on by many kids in school.

Entertainment is valued at a much higher level than education. Sports figures are valued much more than philosophers or writers or scientists or true political leaders.

Since everything in society is based on money, education is just a 'plus'... more a lifestyle choice than anything else. Training is all that is needed. The civil role of an educated and involved populace is not really desired. Only the rich and their 'experts' need pull the levers and lift the strings, you see.

Mass organizations that could play a role in certain kinds of education, like unions, have been decimated. Historical memory no longer exists.

Its the plan, boss, its the plan.

We do not have a democracy we have a representative republic. That is 536 people control the federal government. And once every two, four or six years we get to vote for a representative. With only 536 people involved it is easy to bribe them. If we had direct democracy then yes the people would have some control. With the internet we can have direct democracy if we want. And if the 536 bought off pols will allow it. LOL LOL LOL

and remind me of various indicators of just how much inequality we still permit today .... the southern public (black) school system, the inner city schools, and shortage public/county drug and alcohol detox and rehab beds, the shortage of other services besides the prison industrial complex.

It was good and important to get rid of all of those Jim Crow laws and then some ... it was good and important to get folks registered to vote and voting ... but if you look... we've got a f*ck of a long way to go, cause, no they ain't gonna be pulling themselves up by their bootstraps any time soon ...

It's time stop resting on those ancient laurels ... please