Is it really useful to have a person vote who is dumb? Wouldnt it be more like a popularity contest for those people?

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In America, yes. Other places I can't answer for.

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Gimme a minute to read through Jay's latest observations...

Yes. It isd supposed to be a democracy. Change that if you want, but don't you dare call it a democracy anymore. Intelligence is a very subjective thing, to use such a blanket word as 'dumb' can lead to some very dangerous ideas for the health of a democracy.

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First, I think it's a popularity contest for many people, even those who are not "dumb", however you choose to define it. Do you mean having a low IQ, or just making bad choices? There are people who are very smart who do things that turn out to be very dumb. And then, we might imagine, for example, that people with low intelligence vote for politicians who make policies that are good for them (for example, promoting the use of easier language), whereas very smart people vote for politicians who favor the use of difficult language (obviously not true, but I'm just thinking of an example). In that case, would you really want to exclude people with low intelligence?

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As above, so below

The idea behind voting isn't about using the populace's intellect to arrive at the best decision; it's about a person's right to have a role in the decision process. Rights are not related to intelligence.

Good answer Delvo!

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Gimme a minute to read through Jay's latest observations...

Sure, otherwise nothing would ever pass a Congressional vote!

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I think a better question is, should dumb people be allowed to post?

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Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum,
þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon,
hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.

I thought the USA was supposed to be a Democratic Republic - nitpicking maybe, but not quite the same things as a Democracy

From www.answers.com also:

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But only in a representative democracy do the voters actually have a role in the actual decision making process of what the governing body does. What we have is a representative democracy, where the real decision-makers are chosen on the basis of whoever is most convincing at saying "trust me".

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"Final answer?"

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The Devil offered me power. I told him I preferred aperture.

There could be a multiple choice quiz on each ballot with the questions on each ballot selected at random from a large pool of general knowledge questions. Your votes on that ballot would be multiplied by the number of correct answers you chose. To prevent people from waiting until late in the day and getting lists of questions and answers from their friends, afternoon ballots would have randomly generated math problems.

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Life is like a box of chocolates. All of your choices are bad for you.

Whose gunna make the decision about who's dumb??

Let's vote on it.

Which would affect those with math blocks. Well done!

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Gimme a minute to read through Jay's latest observations...

I think the electoral poll options should be

1.Apple
2.Banana

and when the votes are counted, the government can be chosen at random by a drunk parrot.

I liked that proposal a lot, but then I'm biased.

Seriously, though, are you sure that math skills correlate well with electoral sensibility?

...Or should they be rated?

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"All your bias are belong to us." Ara Pacis
"A witty saying proves nothing." Voltaire

I find this a bit offensive actually and I completely agree with Jens on how to define 'dumb'. There are people with an IQ of 90 who can take apart and rebuild a TV with only looking at it, everybody has their own skill and I rarely would call somebody dumb.

Also, a person with an extreme high IQ can have an extreme low EQ. Now when it comes to voting, I think both are important..and besides: Freedom is a good thing, who are you to say that somebody doesn't have the right to vote?