LogFAQs > #893939445

ParanoidObsessive posted...

And to be fair, requirements WOULD disenfranchise a segment of the voter base (it would have to, considering that's the entire point of having those requirements), and it wouldn't be a random sampling (ie, the tests would almost certainly skew towards higher education levels and higher affluence, which goes right back to the idea of the lower class being discriminated against by "the rich", not to mention scenarios like with the SAT where the argument is that the questions skew culturally to older, whiter families and bias against more ethnic communities and newer immigrants). And then you'd almost certainly run into the problem of activist groups who are opposed to the idea of such poll tests going out of their way to steal or access poll questions in advance and distribute them digitally so voters could cheat their way to passing grades to get the vote, which opens up entirely different cans of worms.

However the chips fall now, I'm relatively certain that once a system went in place nearly everybody would make more effort to inform themselves and thus that alone would lead to a dramatic shift in our government. Keep in mind that the questions *only* evaluate a basic understanding of the candidates rather than something like an IQ test.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

If anything, the one sweeping change that might actually improve the political morass that would be acceptable to a majority of the populace might be to outlaw political ads and campaign tours, in an attempt to minimize the influence of pure propaganda on elections, with each candidate being required to submit their credentials, qualifications, and official political stances to public scrutiny, so that people can intellectually evaluate and compare candidates without the existing PR spin machine turning the whole mess into a popularity contest more than a political race.

I'm not sure that campaign ads really have the impact they once did, considering the influence of things like social media and agenda-driven news outlets which are more trusted sources. However, given the current state of things, campaign ads might be the *only* time when an echo chamber is invaded since under ordinary circumstances all of the opposing opinions can just be ignored. In theory, anyway, it could cause somebody to re-evaluate a position.
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