Quote Originally Posted by Thorne View Post
I wish I could say you're wrong, but the more I see of "average" people the more saddened I am by their general lack of education and intelligence. And I'm talking about college students here, not just people on the street. The American education system has failed the American people, badly. The handwriting is on the wall, but the "average" American can no longer read it!
Hah! I wasn't meaning the average individual intelligence, just the ratio of an individual's capacity of understanding to everything that is understood. Since that ratio is very very small, even amongst the brightest, the average person's knowledge on any random subject is going to be abysmal. Combine that with group psychology, and you see why large groups tend to make awful decisions. The few people who do know about that particular subject get drowned out by the vast seas of those who don't. That said, there is a lot that could be done to raise the average person's awareness and ability to think critically about common issues.

I think the modern equivalent of the Visigoths are speaking Spanish these days.
Eh. The U.S. has always been a country of immigrants with a regularly shifting face. This isn't the first time there has been an immigration backlash and it probably won't be the last. The same doom and gloom predictions that are circling now were circling then.