Today CNN announced that L. Z. Granderson will start writing columns for CNN. As his first column, Granderson wrote that ignorant people should be prevented from voting. In order to do this Granderson says everyone who wants to vote should be forced to take a test similar to the citizens test which is given to anyone who wants to be a U.S. citizen. I realize that this is only Granderson's opinion; however, I do not support his idea. I have three reasons for opposing this idea. First, this country has already tried that option. Second, blame the media for people being uninformed or misinformed. Third, it most likely will not work.
In the 60's our government tried this option. At that point it was called a literacy test. That was bad then, this would be bad now. I understand Granderson is not trying to push for literacy tests; however, I think just about anyone who reads his column will think about literacy tests. They may also fear that this is just an attempt to keep certain voters (mainly Republicans) from voting in elections. As a result, some people will claim that this is just an effort to make it easier for President Obama to get reelected and for other Democrats to get elected.
Second, I blame the media for part of the problem of people being ignorant, misinformed, and uninformed. Yes, some politicians mislead people and try to scare people by making outreagous claims. However, it is the media's job to tell people when politicians are misleading them.
It is also the news media's job to examine policy ideas. On this issue I will use Paul Ryan's budget. Ryan's budget has been out for about two weeks. During that time period a number of media outlets have discussed Ryan's budget in terms of his youth, his cuteness, and his courage. What does Ryan's youth or cuteness have to do with his budget? Aside from youth, cuteness, and courage the news media has said the budget will cut $6 trillion from spending and will drastically change Medicare and Medicaid. However, many media outlets have failed to discuss what the Ryan budget will do. When I talk about what the Ryan budget will do I am talking about the deficit results of Ryan's budget.
Yes, Ryan's budget seems to cut $6 trillion from spending. However, at the same time Ryan's budget will add $5.7 trillion to the debt over 10 years. It will not balance the budget until about 2030. Until that time it will add $14 trillion to the debt. At the same time Ryan's budget will raise taxes on 90% of the population. This is important in that if people know the full story of Ryan's budget it is possible that many people would dislike the budget. So, it is not just about people being ignorant it is also about the media not informing people.
Third, giving a citizens test to decide if one can vote may not work. The fact that someone knows the length of a Senate term does not mean they are informed about political issues. Also, just because someone does not know all the specifics of a particular issue it is not necessary that they are uninformed about political issues. In the article Granderson tried to use the example of people stating they wanted to cut defense spending while being under the mistaken opinion that defense spending took up 30% of government spending. Defense spending only takes up 19% of spending.
I am willing to admit that I did not know that the Defense Department spending only takes up 19% of spending. However, I am not uninformed about military spending. It is just that my support of cutting military spending is not based on the percentage of spending given to the Defense Department. It is based on the fact that I am aware of the fact that the Defense Department is spending money on items that military branches do not want or do not need. There are many people who base their opinions on issues on things other than percentages or amounts. Therefore, preventing people from voting because they may not be aware of a particular idea or number may not prevent uninformed people from voting. In addition, it might actually prevent well informed people from voting.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/04/12/granderson.ignorant.vote/index.html 
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