Every day we hear about this congressperson or that governor who made a silly mistake that made them look uninformed. The ignorance that has been filtering through Washington DC and at the state level has either grown in recent years or the spotlight on them has grown brighter, but either way it points to a problem with our elected officials.
Why are so many of them ignorant?
SOPA/PIPA was a good example of this ignorance as Washington tried to impose legislation that most experts felt was a huge security mistake (not to mention the whole Big Brother component) and that fight isn't over yet. If our politicians were better educated, would things be better?
Should elected officials be required to go through special college-level courses before (or during) their terms? It's a concept that has been discussed before and seems to make sense on some levels.
All too often, we see politicians receiving on-the-job training about the basics of government. Some are well-versed in politics, but then have intellectual challenges on things such as foreign affairs, economics, and science.
For example, Hank Johnson famously worried that Guam might capsize.
What would it take to better-educate those who run the government? Ideas and the ability to communicate them are often the deciding factor. George W. Bush was president, for example, and could definitely have used some help from an education perspective.
Dan Quayle. No need to elaborate there.
For the most part, they're coming from good schools, but that does not mean they received sufficient education. Is it enough?