I’ve come to the conclusion that the greatest threat to the  United States is ignorance.

Ignorance is a term that has lots of negative connotations, so I’d like to clarify what I mean. If you followed the link, you’d see that the definition of ignorance (according to dictionary.com) is: “the state or fact of being ignorant; lack of knowledge, learning, information, etc.” (I guess now you don’t have to follow the link!).

When you call someone ignorant, it’s often taken to mean stupid, or unsophisticated. This isn’t what the word means (although it may be what the person using it meant). As I use it here, it simply means lacking knowledge, learning, or information. All of us are ignorant in some ways; there are so many things in the world that I don’t know or understand. In fact, I don’t think that it’s possible to be completely knowledgeable about all subjects.

That being said, one of the main reasons our economy is in the toilet is due to our own ignorance. In California, this is most evident in our ballot proposition system. This system allows regular voters the ability to mandate the lowering of taxes and the raising, or freezing, of spending. In principle, this sounds great… democracy in action. Unfortunately, those who vote for, or against, these measures, aren’t well versed in economics, public policy, or financial and demographic forecasting.

This leaves us with restrictions on increasing property taxes, for example, with mandatory spending on schools at limits that are only affordable if taxes are able to be raised as population increases. It leaves us with overcrowded prisons, because we voted for a three strikes law, and “war on drugs” laws, that lead to huge numbers of new prisoners, but we voted against the building of new prisons (”not in my backyard!”) and the funding of adequate rehabilitation programs to help those released from prison avoid going back.

Currently, we are in the midst of a health care crisis. We need to overhaul the system with sweeping changes that can dramatically alter the way health care is done in this country, but we spend valuable time arguing about stupid things that are actually clearly spelled out if you do some research. For instance, this story about the government appointed “death panels” that will decide whether or not Grandpa is worth keeping alive or should just be euthanized is pure unmitigated bullshit. If you read the actual legislation, these “death panels” are nothing more than a clause that authorizes payment to health care providers who provide “Advance Care Planning Consultation”; in other words, advice and assistance to help people understand and choose their own “end-of-life” plans (e.g. preparing wills and trusts, determining whether or not “life support systems” should be used to prolong your life, etc). This service isn’t mandatory, and the decisions that are made are your own decisions; all the legislation is doing is providing coverage for the service, so you don’t have to pay out of pocket for it. It’s no different than providing coverage for a medical specialist who covers hospice care. But don’t take my word for it, read it for yourself.

And that leads me to the crux of the issue. It’s incumbent upon us, as citizens of a democracy, to educate ourselves about the issues and mitigate our own ignorance. Before you vote for anything, you should understand what the issue is, what problems the legislation attempts to solve, what problems it may create, and how much it will cost. You should try to understand what the economic ramifications will be, either way. It’s easy, for example, to say that the health care bill will cost a trillion dollars, so we shouldn’t do it… but what will it cost if we don’t? Won’t we still spend a large amount of money, under the current system, providing care for the uninsured at emergency rooms across the country? What about the economic impact of people getting seriously ill because they couldn’t afford the less expensive preventative treatment? Doing nothing is not necessarily the least expensive option, but this is where the debate should happen, not arguing about fictional death panels.

So next time you get ready to weigh in on an important issue, please do yourself, and the rest of us, the favor of researching the issue to the best of your ability. Don’t just repeat the latest story you read on Facebook.