A good test - even in Arizona

Who vetoes bills?  
 a )  President pro tempore

b)  Speaker of the House

c)  President

d)  Vice President

What do we call the first 10 amendments to the Constitution? 

a)  The inalienable rights

b)  The Declaration of Independence

c)  The Articles of Confederation

d)  The Bill of Rights

What ocean is on the east coast of the U.S? 

a)  Atlantic

b)  Indian

c)  Pacific

d)  Arctic

   Really?  The Arctic Ocean on the east coast of the U.S?  The first ten amendments called “the inalienable rights?” Is this a joke? 

   Not when we laugh at videos of people giving such questions.  Not when Jay Leno made a staple of these mistakes.

   It isn’t a joke when a shocking majority of high school graduates can’t differentiate between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Forget knowing that the first ten amendments to the U.S Constitution are the Bill of Rights.  It is downright scary that there are adults who barely know that Barrack Obama is the president and don’t know that that Joe Biden is the Vice President, let alone what the Vice President does and that he doesn’t veto bills.

   How can we function as a society and as a democracy, wherein we all supposedly do our part and have a say, with this ignorance? 

   This is why I think Arizona is right.  Yes, I’m saying that Arizona, which has attempted over and over to enact draconian laws against undocumented immigrants, doing everything possible to make it clear that these people aren’t welcome and to drive them away, is right. 

   While Arizona has gone way over the top in how it deals with those attempting to enter this country, I do agree with its new law concerning an aspect of the process for becoming a new citizens.  The new law requires the high school graduates pass the same test that new citizens are required to take.  The test will include questions like those above from the 100-question civics test given to immigrants, and students must correctly answer 60% or more of them in order to pass and graduate. 

   This requirement makes a lot of sense, given the astonishing ignorance evident among our citizens.  Plus, it has the nice bonus of beginning to take the sting out of the state’s rightfully ugly reputation, putting its citizens and new citizens on an equal footing.