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> I don't know how to say this without sounding condescending, but
> I'll let it fly: how do we make informed decisions in a democratic
> society when so many are this fucking clueless?
>
> Miles
Without getting into the sticky question of what a "democratic society" is and who qualifies as one, I'll express my doubts that the US is the sort of democratic society in which widespread ignorance outside of the political class functions as an impediment to decision- making.
Like: what should the US' strategy be in central Asia as it attemps to outmaneuver Russia, maintain access to energy reserves, and conduct a war in Afghanistan? I have no idea what the typical American's answer to this is, but I bet it's 1) pretty stupid and 2) irrelevant. Most policy questions are like this. The fact that not too many people know the difference between co-ops and a public plan or what a CDO is just kind of assumed and not really seen as an impediment except in the sense that most people believe that if others were more informed, they'd have preferences more like the person in question.