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American History and Civics test for Political Office?

Should public officials have to take a test in American History and Civics to run?

  • Extensive test. They should be experts on the Nation they lead.

    Votes: 9 32.1%

  • Morderate, generalized test. Need to be reasonably knowledgeable.

    Votes: 2 7.1%

  • No Test.

    Votes: 15 53.6%

  • Other.

    Votes: 2 7.1%
  • Total voters
    28
Beaudreaux said:
Doctors and lawyers are licensed by the state to practice their profession, Firefighters are trained for their own safety, but politicians are elected by people that can't even balance their own check books or know the difference between a country and a continent. As long as politicians are elected, and not hired through an application process that requires prerequisite qualifications, we will get what we've always gotten, politicians. The politicians staff are the ones that have to go through the application process and have to have the requisite civic qualifications. That was my point about the staff being the receptacle for civic knowledge, not the politician. Plus, most people that are actually smart enough to be the type of politician that fit the requirement of the thread title, wouldn't want to be a politician, because they're smart enough to stay as far away from politics as possible.
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Yeah... I get all that. We were asked what we wanted to happen. I answered. You don't agree. Fine. I think it would be good and benefit the country and the political process. You apparently don't. Fine.
 
Bodhisattva said:
Yeah... I get all that. We were asked what we wanted to happen. I answered. You don't agree. Fine. I think it would be good and benefit the country and the political process. You apparently don't. Fine.
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It's not that I disagree. It's that I don't think it would be possible. If this was a requirement, we would end up with nothing but lawyers in Congress. And IMHO, we have too many lawyers in Congress as it is.

I'm not trying to irritate you. Just trying to discuss the topic.
 
Beaudreaux said:
It's not that I disagree. It's that I don't think it would be possible. If this was a requirement, we would end up with nothing but lawyers in Congress. And IMHO, we have too many lawyers in Congress as it is.

I'm not trying to irritate you. Just trying to discuss the topic.
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I am not irritated. I was just being succinct, I guess. Sorry if I sounded flippant.

There are a lot of business owners and people of other professions in there as well, though I don't know the percentages.

It won't happen... of that I am sure so there really isn't much to worry about either way.
 
Painter said:
I've noticed that many of our Politicians holding national office are severely lacking in knowledge in Civics and American History.
Most of the idiotic things I have seen are coming from the Right. But I am sure there are examples from the Left too.

I feel that a person should have to pass basic High School American History and Civics questions in order to run for office.
Having a High School diploma is not good enough. I want to see them actually tested.

I do not want people in charge of our Government and our Nation's future who think that the founding fathers eliminated slavery, or who think that America was founded on the Christian Religion.
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Not exactly. I do however support educational training and federal certification in political ethics and corruption for office seekers.
 
This is a good question. I voted "Other" because I'm not sure yet.

I do think that politicians should be informed and have an understanding of what they do. Unfortunately, any time there's a new form of rules like this, those in charge of it could easily corrupt it as well.

But I do think that if more elected officials were educated in some form of Political Philosophy, then it could send a message to voters to get educated on these issues. Not only for the sake of educating our elected officials - but even more importantly, educating our voters who vote in these elected officials.
 
I think it's a decent idea, actually -- you know it looks terrible when some Congressman from who-knows-where comes on and says things that aren't historically accurate, while other members look on in horror.

It wouldn't be too much to ask, and it would certainly avoid faux-pas like Congressmen claiming America's never lost a war or something, which is of course offensive to the veterans of those wars as well as anyone who actually cares about the history of the United States.
 
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