Lippmann

            I feel that the class discussion yesterday really opened my eyes to how many people are uninformed about large issues in our country.  I really agree with Lippmann’s point of view about being skeptical of the public’s ability to make decisions.  I remember in high school I watched a video in one of my classes about the last election.  In the video, the interviewer asked random people on the streets of Washington DC simple questions about it.  The questions were extremely simple such as who the vice president running with each candidate was, as well as the current vice president (who was Dick Cheney at the time).  I was shocked when the vast majority of the people interviewed did not know the answers to these questions.  The interviewer then asked each person if they were planning to vote in the next election and almost every single one of them said yes.  I found this similar to the whole Occupy Wall street situation.  It seemed like the people in that video did not really know what they were protesting for.  Therefore, after thinking about these two things I really identify with Lippmann in that expecting the general public to be able to make effective decisions is unrealistic.  I think it is better to have a select few educated individuals to be in charge.  I mean if people do not even know who the vice president of the country is how can we expect them to be capable of making such decisions?