Bill O'Reilly Complains About Americans Being 'Self-Absorbed and Ignorant'

[okaawhatever]

2. Very important paragraph in the first link:

For years, Stanford communications professor James Fishkin has been conducting experiments in deliberative democracy. The premise is simple: poll citizens on a major issue, blind; then see how their opinions evolve when they’re forced to confront the facts. What Fishkin has found is that while people start out with deep value disagreements over, say, government spending, they tend to agree on rational policy responses once they learn the ins and outs of the budget. “The problem is ignorance, not stupidity,” Hacker says. “We suffer from a lack of information rather than a lack of ability.” Whether that’s a treatable affliction or a terminal illness remains to be seen. But now’s the time to start searching for a cure.

You should read the first link. It's amazing what the statistics show about Americans understanding of things. The numbers on the budget explain a lot.