Should all voters in America be required to pass a basic civics class?

Should all voters in America be required to pass the same basic civics test (administered in English) that legal immigrants seeking U.S. citizenship are required to pass? That is what former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo proposes at Big Government.



Tom writes,

This proposal is blatantly “pro-immigrant”: it says native-born citizens should live up to the same expectations we have for new citizens. What’s wrong with that?

Of course, if implemented this proposal will not end all voter ignorance. But it would be a giant step in the right direction. It places equal weight on the responsibilities of voting as on the right to vote.

...It is neither racist nor elitist to say publicly what every rational person believes privately — that if you don’t know anything about a subject, you ought not to raise your hand or cast a ballot on the matter.

It is already widely accepted that not voting on issues or candidates you have not studied is a mature and sensible decision: it is called “under-voting” and millions of voters do it. We deliberately skip over an issue or a race, a bond issue or a judge retention question, where we admit ignorance and choose not to dilute the votes of voters.

Read more here.