Posted on 01/14/2011 9:38:50 AM PST by Stoutcat
Looks like our elected officials are failing at all sorts of things. Latest on the FAIL list is knowledge of the Constitution. Since many are required to swear (or affirm) an oath to uphold that document, you’d think that they’d know a bit about it. But then again, you might also think that most U.S. citizens would know at least a bit about what’s in the Constitution, right?
But you’d be wrong on both counts, of course. As HotAir reports:
“The bad news: the general public gets an F, with just a 49% average on the 33-question civics test. The worse news: those who identified themselves as public officeholders scored an average of five points worse than the general public…”
But before you scoff too hard at our officials, here’s a warning: it’s actually a challenging quiz! I zoomed through and expected to get 33 out of 33 correct. To my mortification, I missed three questions!
Here’s the link. You take the quiz and then see how smart you feel. On the other hand, you’re sure to do better than our elected officials.
You could hardly do worse.
The safest answer is "the wrong thing", but that wasn't one of the choices.
I too missed 3 questions, but I had been debating between the answer I gave and the right answer. In fact I even changed one from the right to the wrong answer. I was pleased to find there was no effort to sell me something as there are on some of these quizes.
The answer is which combination is MOST LIKELY TO BE TAKEN by a government, not which combination is MOST LIKELY TO WORK.
Therein lies the trick.
(Public choice theory, continuous application of failed Keynesianism, etc.)
Average score for this quiz during January: 73.8%
You can take the quiz as often as you like, however, your score will only count once toward the monthly average.
Yes... I am smarter than my Congress.
The real problem is not that they don’t have the correct answer during a test.
Both politicians and pajama posters have excellent resources to verify or research questions about the Constitution in the course of making decisions.
It’s that THEY don’t want to follow what it says.
Do you disagree because you think that solution would not work, or because you don’t think a government would be most likely to follow that policy?
96.97% I missed one.
Any score over 60% proves unelectability.
You wouldn’t be able to delude yourself and the public sufficiently to get elected. The other guy will.
Missed the Puritans question and the final question.
I know I’m smarter than Congress, but am I smarter than a 5th grader?
28 OF 33. 84.85% Not too shabby.
A keynesian would want to see increased spending. I would not. I recognize that "pumping money into the economy" would seem like a good thing, but I believe that this would block successful entrepreneurs from solving problems in a better, more market-friendly manner. For long-term growth of productive industries, and for a decrease in the national deficit, I would oppose a Stimulus.
I would want taxes and spending decreased. But that's apparently incorrect.
Here is my score:
You answered 27 out of 33 correctly — 81.82 %
Average score for this quiz during January: 73.8%
I think enough of us missed No. 30 to lodge a complaint. And like you I made a dumb mistake on one other.
You answered 31 out of 33 correctly — 93.94 %
Average score for this quiz during January: 73.8%
Missed 4.
Gee, you’d think they understand what they promised to protect.
My thoughts exactly!
33) If taxes equal government spending, then: Their correct answer:
D. tax per person equals government spending per person.
But government taxes and spending can be equal without tax and spending "per person" being equal in any given year. The question assumes that governments can only raise funds through taxes which excludes interest and rents, etc.
The question was not what SHOULD they do but what WOULD they be most likely to do.
It should be evident to anyone paying any attention at all that what they are most likely to do is NOT what they should do!
30 out of 33.
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