For years the Europeans have made fun of us. They see Americans as rubes and cowboys. Gun toting buffoons unable to understand simple math or the English language. Look to any Trump supporter, Republican voter, or simply read any comment thread on an article or Facebook post about politics or guns and you might think they’re right.
We are constantly reminded of the superior educational system in Europe and how college is free. We’ve even been subjected to videos of toothless farmers huddled around a table in a café arguing about American politics with more skill and knowledge than most of our own cable news pundits. That ended today.
The Brexit vote in Great Britain should be a warning to everyone that when you give people the ability and the privilege to vote you better make sure they’re well informed and somewhat educated.
One of the more important statements from the founders of this country came from Thomas Jefferson, who said:
An enlightened citizenry is indispensable for the proper functioning of a republic. Self-government is not possible unless the citizens are educated sufficiently to enable them to exercise oversight. It is therefore imperative that the nation see to it that a suitable education be provided for all its citizens.
What Jefferson was getting at was, “If morons vote, we’re screwed.”
When an electorate is ignorant or many cases ill informed, they don’t take everything into consideration or understand the impact and consequences of their vote. So, what Jefferson was proposing, was to make sure that society assumes the responsibility of properly educating its electorate. If not, they may regret casting their vote. In some cases, sooner than later. The Washington Post reported that The British are frantically Googling what the E.U. is, hours after voting to leave it, writing:
Awakening to a stock market plunge and a precipitous decline in the value of the pound that Britain hasn't seen in more than 30 years, voters now face a series of economic shocks that analysts say will only worsen before they improve. The consequences of the leave vote will be felt worldwide, even here in the United States, and some British voters say they now regret casting a ballot in favor of Brexit.
"Even though I voted to leave, this morning I woke up and I just — the reality did actually hit me," one woman told the news channel ITV News. "If I'd had the opportunity to vote again, it would be to stay."
The Ring of Fire Network Ran a piece titled “The Kind Of Crap That Could Get Us An Orange President: Idiot Brexit Voter Didn’t Think His ‘Leave’ Vote Would Matter.” According to the article, a British voter named “Adam” appeared on the BBC to talk about his vote and the results of the Brexit. The apparently confused Brit said that he was shocked and afraid for getting the result he voted for. See video below.
“I’m a bit shocked to be honest,” Adam said. “I’m shocked that we actually have voted to leave, I didn’t think that was going to happen.”
My vote, I didn’t think was going to matter too much because I thought we were just going to remain, and the David Cameron resignation has blown me away, to be honest. I think the period of uncertainty that we’re going to have for the next couple of months, that’s just been magnified now — so yeah, quite worried.
Compounding the issue and what may be further proof that the voters in Great Britain weren’t entirely informed is the sad announcement from Google who reported a flurry of searches related to the ballot measure and even basic questions concerning the implications of the vote, after the voting ended. Eight hours after the polls closed, Google reported that searches for "what happens if we leave the EU" had more than tripled.”
Satirical writer for the The New Yorker, Andy Bororwitz wrote of the Brexit vote, “In the face of this startling display of national idiocy, Dorrinson still mustered some of the resilience for which the British people are known. ‘This is a dark day,’ he said. ‘But I hold out hope that, come November, Americans could become dumber than us once more,’” in a piece titled, “British Lose Right to Claim That Americans Are Dumber.”
Speaking of dumb, Donald Trump, who is idolized by the ignorant and uneducated, took a break from the campaign here at home to open a golf course. He was in Scotland during the vote and congratulated the Scots on taking "their country back" by leaving the EU. Scotland however, voted 68 percent to stay and they let Trump know via his favorite mode of communication, Twitter:
Here’s Trump’s wholly inaccurate congratulatory tweet:
And here are just a few of the responses:
And my personal favorite:
Educating and informing the electorate is complete opposite of what Republicans prefer, which is to under-fund education and deny the vote to the electorate. If Britain’s vote to leave the EU, which has already caused stock market and international panic, is any indication of what November is going to look like on this side of the pond, we’re in a lot of trouble.
It’s no wonder Donald Trump proudly says that he loves the poorly educated.
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