Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter | Rick Shenkman

Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter | Rick Shenkman | Something to Think About

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Just How Stupid Ar...

	Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter Rick Shenkman Basic Books, 2008 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 42 reviews view larger image
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Levees break in New Orleans. Iraq descends into chaos. The housing market teeters on the brink of collapse. Americans of all political stripes are heading into the 2008 election with the sense that something has gone terribly wrong with American politics. But what exactly? Democrats blame Republicans and Republicans blame Democrats. Greedy corporate executives, rogue journalists, faulty voting machines, irresponsible defense contractors-we blame them, too. The only thing everyone seems to agree on, in fact, is that the American people are entirely blameless. In Just How Stupid Are We?, best-selling historian and renowned myth-buster Rick Shenkman takes aim at our great national piety: the wisdom of the American people. The hard truth is that American democracy is more direct than ever-but voters are misusing, abusing, and abdicating their political power. Americans are paying less and less attention to politics at a time when they need to pay much more: Television has dumbed politics down to the basest possible level, while the real workings of politics have become vastly more complicated. Shenkman offers concrete proposals for reforming our institutions-the government, the media, civic organizations, political parties-to make them work better for the American people. But first, Shenkman argues, we must reform ourselves.

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Just How Stupid Are We? by Rick Shenkman

As an immigrant of the 1950s, and now a naturalized citizen, the book was an eye opener for me from the perspective of history of our country. Being a political "junky" and a moderate, it was reasonably possible for an individual like me to predict the future of the country from the last 50 years of experience. That prediction is being mercilessly confirmed by the current events. The narrative of Mr. Shenkman was very educational for a reader in terms of our country's history and allows one to delve into what has gone wrong with our political system, although the author has been relatively subtle and scholarly in his approach. He has stopped a step short of calling a spade "A Spade" when approaching the political and financial leadership of the last 50 years. From the perspective of a reader like me, I would have enjoyed reading the book even more had he done so in no uncertain terms.

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Something to Think About

This book offers some explanations of why intelligent people have some very un-intelligent (read Stupid) ideas about politics and political candidates. It is well written, organized, and easy to read. I thought it was interesting.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

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