Dumbing Down Politics

If in the past 15 years you have found it easier to understand America's politician's speeches, I feel obliged to tell you, you have not been getting smarter, congress has just been getting dumber. According to a report by the Sunlight Foundation, a foundation, "that uses the power of the Internet to catalyze greater government openness and transparency, and provides new tools and resources for media and citizens, alike" (SunlightFoundation), members of congress currently speak at the vocabulary level of high school sophmores. 

Congress...is that you?

When I first heard this statistic, I was appaled. Our great country's prominent politicians speak like a bunch of 15 year old girls? That is not acceptable! Politicians should be highly educated, well spoken individuals, that's why we elect them to be responsible for our country! There is a certain amount of trust that goes along with being smart that politicians such as Barack Obama, graduate of Columbia, or George Bush, graduate of Yale (mind his grades) receive. 

Therefore, our congressmen should definitely not speak at the level of high school sophmores, right? 

Rep. Mick Mulvaney, (R-S.C) speaks at a lower grade
level (7.9) then any other US Congressmen,
yet he graduated with honors from Georgetown U. 

Wrong! As I contemplate it more and more, perhaps it is not such of a bad thing. Politics should be comprehendible for all Americans, no matter how large their vocabulary. 

Although, it is not clear if congressmen are dumbing down their vocabulary on purpose, as it may seem to be a bad thing, it may not be so bad at all. 

What do you think? 

Click HERE to learn more about this topic!

Blasting Bloomberg

"At our nation’s founding, African-Americans were held in bondage. Those without property could not vote. Catholics could not hold office. Women could not vote or hold office. And homosexuality was, in some places, a crime punishable by death.Throughout our history, each and every generation has expanded upon the freedoms won by their parents and grandparents. Each and every generation has removed some barrier to full participation in the American dream. That work is not over. Far from it… Last week’s referendum banning same-sex marriage (amendment one) shows just how much more work needs to be done to ensure freedom and equality for all people.”
                                                                                                              -Michael Bloomberg

When UNC Chapel Hill asked New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to deliver the commencement speech for the graduating class of 2012, they most likely did not anticipate him slamming North Carolina's newly instated Amendment One. North Carolina Amendment One (often refereed to simply Amendment One) bans all same-sex unions of any kind in the state of North Carolina. 

There has been a huge divide on the subject of Bloomberg's comments; Were they appropriate, were they not?  In fact, I took the liberty of finding a message board on this topic with comments from real Americans, here are some I'd like to highlight:

"Mayor Bloomberg....do us all a favor....keep your opinions in NY. The rest of the country could care less what you think....Your city is a mess..." -Tea Party United

"I don't care what side of the issue you're on, but Bloomie should stay in NY, and dictate his views to his sheeple. The rest of the country doesn't care what he thinks. Rule your little fiefdom as you wish. They like being ruled up there. Liberty is a foreign concept to them."

"I guess bloomberg & obama go the same spa!"

If you want to read moreof these ridiculous comments,which are much more offensive than anything that came out of Bloomberg's mouth at UNC  click here.

Were Mayor Bloomberg's comments appropriate? In my point of view, yes. Yes because there is never an inappropriate time to preach equality. Yes because Bloomberg has a right to preach his opinion no matter what college he is at. Yes because commencement speeches are traditionally supposed to refer to the future and inspire young minds, and Bloomberg's speech accomplished both. 

And above all of that, if they are college grads anyways, they were more likely to vote against amendment one as proved by these graphs from buzzfeed.com. The first graph displays the percent of people over 25 with a bachelors degree or higher by county. The darker green counties the are the counties with a higher volume of college grads. The second graph displays which counties voted for and against Amendment One. The green symbolizes the "yes" counties and the red symbolizes the "no" counties. 

Pretty shocking right? It seems that counties with a higher volume of college grads are the counties that voted against the equality of gays.

Nonetheless-everyone- leave Bloomie alone!