Dakota Beacon

Chicken Little warned us decades ago. “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”

            “Republicans Roll Out ‘Tidal Wave of Voter Suppression’: 253 Bills in 43 States.” Salon.com, 2/27/2021

            “Republicans Considering More Than 100 Bills to Restrict Voting Rights.” The Guardian, 1/28/2021

            “How GOP-backed Voting Measures Could Create Hurdles for Tens of Millions of Voters.” Washingtonpost.com, 3/11/2021

            “Republicans Advance More That 100 Bills That Would Restrict Voting in Wake of Trump’s Defeat.” NBCnews.com, 2/5/2021

            “More Than 100 Bills That Would Restrict Voting are Moving through State Legislatures.” CNN.com, 2/2/2021

The internet is full of sinister headlines. Just as Chicken Little’s warning in the fable was false, so too are the sensationalized messages of the phony news media. The media messaging, however, serves a subtle purpose. These messages intend to soften public sentiment in favor of the House Democrats’ H.R.1. More about “softness” in a moment. First, what is H.R.1?

As a “fix” to bogus allegations of “voter suppression,” House Democrats on March 3 passed a sweeping election reform bill, H.R.1 (For the People Act), which would federalize elections taking local control away from states. This bill would allow same-day voter registration and expand early voting. The bill will most likely fail in the Senate.

Rules governing the conduct of elections, which are constitutionally entrusted to the various state legislatures, should remain the prerogative of the states.

H.R. 1 would micromanage the election process at the federal level imposing unnecessary, unwise, and unconstitutional mandates on the states. It would reverse the decentralization of the American election process essential to our liberty and freedom. It would implement nationwide the worst changes in election rules that occurred in 2020 and further damage or eliminate basic security protocols. Given the vulnerabilities and security weaknesses in the U.S. registration system, HR 1’s automatic registration threatens to make this problem much, much worse.

            Now, to the “softness” of the electorate. Every four years during the presidential campaign season it is appropriate to review not only the candidates, but the voters. Polls over the last twenty-five years confirm a disturbingly high level of cultural illiteracy among Americans. Young adults possess less cultural literacy than that found among naturalized citizens.

            Continuing surveys by the National Endowment of the Humanities, US Department of Education, American Council of Trustees and Alumni surveys of liberal arts universities, and by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute point to an increasingly high rate of cultural illiteracy.

            Many high school graduates and young millennials know precious little about American history and its founding principles compared to earlier generations of comparable age. Moreover, although English is the American “lingua franca,” today it seldom functions as a common bond. Many people, including adults, have a nominal proficiency in spoken and written English and are generally not readers. Literature, especially classical literature, is foreign to them.

“The Myth of the Rational Voter” by Bryan Caplan (Princeton University Press, 2007) develops the central idea that voters are worse than ignorant. They are irrational and this is the soft spot politicians love. People vote accordingly. It is little wonder that less-than-rational voters fall prey to establishment politicians. Professional politicians advocating bad policies are selected by voters influenced by fallacious reasoning, cognitive biases, emotional appeals, and outright lies. Consequently, unscrupulous politicians and bureaucrats determine the kind of light bulbs we must use, the kind of cars we must drive, the size toilets we must flush, and how many trillions of our dollars they will obligate. Hearing the smooth phrase “it’s for the people” mesmerizes voters.

If Caplan is right that the rational voter is a myth, then a great deal of published research based on a rational voter is wrong. In that case, it would seem wiser that the ignorant refrain from voting rather than have their vote imperil the culture and foist upon us idiotic policies like H.R.1.

As voters consume soft political Pablum such as free markets are evil, big business is bad, tax the rich, and government solves problems best, voters play into the hands of devious politicians. No complaints, please. In our democracy the citizen has the freedom to speak with ballots even if the intellectual understanding behind the vote is vacuous. The feds should not screw up the system any worse than it is.

Two quotes summarize alternative views and these views are not contradictory. H. L. Mencken once quipped, “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” Alternatively, Winston Churchill famously observed, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).