(#150-1) March 2 2015. Do voters have to be well-informed for democracy to work? Can it work if voters are just, plain, ignorant?

MOST AMERICANS SEEM TO BE UNAWARE

THAT U.S. HEALTHCARE IS MASSIVELY GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIZED. THIS IS VOTER IGNORANCE ON A TRULY EPIC SCALE. IT BOGGLES THE MIND—AND IT CERTAINLY BOGGLES THE POSSIBILITY OF A WORKING DEMOCRACY

It is scarcely news that we live in a profit-driven propaganda dominated economy—whether that propaganda be government, corporate, academic, or religious (and it can be hard to tell the difference at times)—and it is self-evident that such a barrage of deliberately misleading information must have consequences and result in a poorly informed electorate.

Nonetheless, I confess I am absolutely stunned at the above findings which illustrate a truly catastrophic level of ignorance—to the point where I have to question the source. However, the original work stems from a recent Economist/YouGove poll, and is presented by the highly regarded vox.com—so I’m forced to give these figures credibility.

This raises the issue of significance. Clearly, if these figures are representative of the reality, any U.S. debate about healthcare is pointless because voters are so ignorant of the facts that there is not even a basis for moving things forward.

This leads me to question the degree to which we are informed about  other matters. Are we, in fact, sufficiently cognizant of the issues to be competent to vote in any rational way—on anything?

In the absence of more data, I am reluctant to answer that question. It may be that Americans are particularly ignorant of healthcare issues—and are regular encyclopedias when faced with other issues of concern. There are numerous reasons to doubt that option—but I am shaken enough to prefer not to explore them today.

Alternatively, I could take the view that such a debate is academic because we no longer have a functioning democracy anyway—merely the trappings of one—since the ultra-rich now control the American political system entirely in their own interests.

I am far from alone in regarding this as the reality.

The following extract expresses the charitable view that vox.com takes of the above findings. I would like to think their interpretation is correct. I am far from sure that it is.

The way people in the policy community see it, this is totally backwards. Almost everyone who has health insurance in the United States gets help from the government to afford it. For the elderly, that's Medicare. For the disabled and the poor, that's Medicaid. For full-time workers it's the tax subsidy for employer-provided health insurance.

Some of what you see in this poll is a simple misunderstanding — older Americans either don't know what Medicare is or mistakenly believe they have "paid for" their benefits with earlier taxes.

But Americans who get insurance from their jobs are also benefitting from a massive government program. A program whose existence is hidden from sight but is nonetheless quite real and substantial.

VOR words 314.

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