(November 7, 2023 at 8:31 pm)The Grand Nudger Wrote: Requiring politicians pass the sorts of competency tests floated for voters doesn't seem, to me, to prevent voters from also informing themselves. It just sets up a situation where a person whose knowledge does matter, because their votes do matter, because they have votes we don't even have in the first place, must be competent.
We don't (or at least we like to think we don't) hand cops a gun and a badge when they walk in off the street either. We wanna make sure they really know camel. We don't let high school grads operate on hearts. You have to get different sorts of licenses to drive different sorts of vehicles, ffs.
We demand more of Cletus than we demand of the people we empower to make life or death decisions. It's ludicrous.
All that is true, but it still relies on the good will and honesty of the politician. They know they're doing wrong in many if not most cases.
I don't trust pols. I want the electorate to be educated in order to more quickly smell the skunks.
