Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth about the American Voter (edit title)

Remi Logan edited the table of contents of Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth about the American Voter 2 weeks ago.

• Author's Note xi
  1 The Problem 1
  2 Gross Ignorance 13
  3 Are the Voters Irrational? 37
  4 The Importance of Myths 53
  5 Giving Control to the People 67
  6 The Power of Television 81
  7 Our Dumb Politics: The Big Picture 117
  8 Our Mindless Debate About 9/11 129
  9 We Can't Even Talk About How Stupid We Are 141
  Coda: Hope 171
  Acknowledgments 185
  Sources 187
  Index 197

Remi Logan edited the first sentence of Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth about the American Voter 2 weeks ago.

• Maggie: Truth! Truth! Everybody keeps hollerin' about the truth. Well, the truth is as dirty as lies.

Remi Logan edited the summary of Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth about the American Voter 2 weeks ago.

• "Americans of all political stripes are heading into the 2008 election hungry for change, convinced that something has gone terribly wrong with American politics. Democrats and Republicans after different explanations for America's unhappy state: Republicans blame Democrats for waging partisan attacks on the war in Iraq and almost every other aspect of Bush's agenda. Democrats, in turn, blame the Bush administration for its lies, manipulations, and secrecy. But Democrats and Republicans do seem to agree on one thing: However far we've fallen, the American people are entirely blameless.

  "In Just How Stupid Are We?, the best-selling historian 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 their political power and neglecting their responsibilities. 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. As a consequence, today's voters are far less equipped than their grandparents were to grapple with the challenges facing the nation--and thus far more susceptible to soothing myths, bumper sticker slogans, and raw emotional appeals.

  "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."

Shelfari edited the description of Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth about the American Voter Saturday, August 1 2009.

• Politicians tell us constantly that they trust the wisdom of "The American People." New York Times best-selling author Rick Shenkman explains why we shouldn't--at least when it comes to politics. 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.

Shelfari edited the contributors of Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth about the American Voter Wednesday, July 22 2009.

• Added a contributor: Richard Shenkman: (Primary Author)