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It sucks how uneducated about basic things US voters are. The Affordable Care Act is probably the most impactful law passed by Democrats in the recent past. In

It sucks how uneducated about basic things US voters are. The Affordable Care Act is probably the most impactful law passed by Democrats in the recent past. In a survey of 2000 voters, a staggering thirty-five percent did not know [1] that the ACA and the colloquial "Obamacare" were the same thing. Bizarrely, an additional number didn't know that 'Obamacare repealed = ACA repealed'. I cannot blame either party for playing political football when dealing with this sort of electorate. ---------------------------------------- [1] https://www.npr.org/2017/02/11/514732211/obamacare-and-affordable-care-act-are-the-same-but-americans-still-dont-know-tha https://www.npr.org/2017/02/11/514732211/obamacare-and-affor...

mjevans 4y ago
I can. People are so focused on not disenfranchising voters (like actually happened / might still happen against marginalized segments of the population), that they don't wonder, what is _empowering_ a citizen as a voter? I DO support a basic civics and mathematics test, on a recurring basis, for voters. HOWEVER, that's only with the catch that failing or opting out of the test creates benefits designed to encourage the citizen to pass the test in the future. A benefit like, access to public education to work on that math skills and civics awareness. Or possibly someone is disabled (often silently, dementia is a real issue!) and the voter tests might be one of the places it's discovered.
- ownlife 4y ago
  A democracy is not a system of government in which the government's power derives from the people who know calculus. It a system wherein power comes from the people, period. Also, literacy tests were ruled unconstitutional in Oregon v. Mitchell.
  - mjevans 4y ago
    Please do not put words in my mouth. Calculus is currently an AP / college subject, not a required public education one.
    - ownlife 4y ago
      Fair enough.
ransom1538 4y ago
"The national uninsured rate in the United States has reached an all-time low of 8%". Given this, I would say 92% US citizens don't care. Most people get insurance from work, family or are of the 120 million Medicare/Medicaid patients. On the other hand, if the US population wasn't health care insured (like Europe believes) - they would know each word of those bills.
- GeneralMayhem 4y ago
  The ACA made life much, much better for people who are insured. Most of what the ACA did was tell insurance companies that they had to actually pay for things once in a while - e.g., getting rid of "preexisting condition" excuses - so that their product would be just a bit more predictable and less of a scam.
- quadrifoliate 4y ago
  > Given this, I would say 92% US citizens don't care. That's what is so mind-boggling to me. The US as a whole spends more on healthcare than any other OECD country, and the fact that most people in the electorate don't care about this is kind of depressing.
scarface74 4y ago
Or a senior citizen on Medicare complaining about they don’t want government run healthcare.
pyuser583 4y ago
The Democrats were absolutely massacred for passing it in 2010. Even Massachusetts elected a Republican Senator! Even now I don’t think the Democrats gain much from bringing it up,

mjevans 4y ago

I can. People are so focused on not disenfranchising voters (like actually happened / might still happen against marginalized segments of the population), that they don't wonder, what is _empowering_ a citizen as a voter? I DO support a basic civics and mathematics test, on a recurring basis, for voters. HOWEVER, that's only with the catch that failing or opting out of the test creates benefits designed to encourage the citizen to pass the test in the future. A benefit like, access to public education to work on that math skills and civics awareness. Or possibly someone is disabled (often silently, dementia is a real issue!) and the voter tests might be one of the places it's discovered.

ownlife 4y ago
A democracy is not a system of government in which the government's power derives from the people who know calculus. It a system wherein power comes from the people, period. Also, literacy tests were ruled unconstitutional in Oregon v. Mitchell.
- mjevans 4y ago
  Please do not put words in my mouth. Calculus is currently an AP / college subject, not a required public education one.
  - ownlife 4y ago
    Fair enough.

ransom1538 4y ago

"The national uninsured rate in the United States has reached an all-time low of 8%". Given this, I would say 92% US citizens don't care. Most people get insurance from work, family or are of the 120 million Medicare/Medicaid patients. On the other hand, if the US population wasn't health care insured (like Europe believes) - they would know each word of those bills.

GeneralMayhem 4y ago
The ACA made life much, much better for people who are insured. Most of what the ACA did was tell insurance companies that they had to actually pay for things once in a while - e.g., getting rid of "preexisting condition" excuses - so that their product would be just a bit more predictable and less of a scam.
quadrifoliate 4y ago
> Given this, I would say 92% US citizens don't care. That's what is so mind-boggling to me. The US as a whole spends more on healthcare than any other OECD country, and the fact that most people in the electorate don't care about this is kind of depressing.

scarface74 4y ago

Or a senior citizen on Medicare complaining about they don’t want government run healthcare.

pyuser583 4y ago

The Democrats were absolutely massacred for passing it in 2010. Even Massachusetts elected a Republican Senator! Even now I don’t think the Democrats gain much from bringing it up,