Willfully Ignorant People are Hurting America

Willfully Ignorant People are Hurting America

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The other day I was reading an article in the newspaper. (Yes, I’m one of the dwindling number that still do that.) The
subject was Republicans in Congress and their continuing fight against
the Obama administration’s ruling that religion-affiliated employers
must cover women’s contraceptives in the health plans they offer. A CNN
poll released last Thursday found that half of all Americans aware of
the ruling said they oppose it, while 44% support it.

But here’s what really shocked me. Nearly 40% of those polled said they had not heard about the dispute.
Apparently they were too busy watching “Jersey Shore,” and missed any
mention of the controversy, which had only been covered by every
newspaper, magazine, radio news broadcast, network and cable news
outlet, comedy news show, church bulletin, facebook page, gossiping
housewife, skywriter, and crazy homeless guy with a bullhorn, almost
constantly for the last two weeks. How ignorant and/or out of touch do
you have to be to miss a news story that big?

I get
really angry when so many people say that “it doesn’t matter who gets
elected, because they’re all the same.” Well, guess what, folks—one
political party, the Republicans, wants to restrict your access to birth
control, and the other, the Democrats, wants you to have easy access to
contraceptives and other women’s health care. I’d say that’s a pretty
big difference.

If you snooze, you lose. That has never
been more true than in today’s politics, with so many Republican
candidates fighting to see who can be the most right-wing, and actively
working to roll back progressive ideas that most people have taken for
granted for years. It is vital that all voters pay attention to what our
lawmakers are doing, and make their opinions known so that elected
officials who stray way out of the mainstream will fear for their
re-election chances. You can’t just leave democracy in the hands of the
die-hard believers in the extreme wings of both parties.

The thing
that really bothers me is how easy it is for politicians to manipulate
their uninformed constituents into supporting measures that are against
their own interest. 98% of Catholics use birth control, yet many have
bought in to the bogus notion that the government is intent on taking
away their religious freedom. Millions of blue-collar workers were hurt
by the housing collapse, yet they still support the Republican Party
that wants to ease regulations on Wall Street and the big banks. Many
people support Tea Party candidates that espouse rigid small government
ideas, all while happily cashing their Social Security checks and
relying on Medicare for their health care.

You’ve all seen those Jay Leno segments
where he interviews random people on the street and asks them questions
about common things you would think everyone should know, such as, “Who
is the Vice-President?” That question seems to be too hard for most
people. However, they do know the names of all the characters on “Two
and a Half Men,” what Lady Gaga wore to the Grammys, and what Beyonce
named her baby.

So I don’t know what we have to do to
get folks to pay attention to important issues that greatly affect their
lives. Maybe Jersey Shore could do an episode where “The Situation”
gets “Snooki” pregnant because she couldn’t afford her birth control
pills…