more on that whole voting thing

Been thinking a bit about voting in this country. The problem is that there are too many dumb people voting who don't have a clue on the issues and/or don't care enough to pay adequate attention to the world around them to make intelligent choices. But is there a way to keep those people from voting without disenfranchising a huge number of deserving voters?

Something that comes to mind is some sort of knowledge test. You know, basic questions like who your governor, two senators, and representative are. But this might not do much since people who vegetate in front of the boob tube for hours each night could get that from the election season ads. So maybe a few more, like having to name any five foreign heads of state. Easy enough but it'd probably stump some, and anyone that out of touch with the world is not someone who ought to be determining the course of America.

But this is still probably too easy and people could just study some newspaper ad or flyer for a few minutes and figure out what they need to know to vote. So it wouldn't accomplish its purpose. Back to the drawing board I guess...what's likely though is that the problem is embedded in the culture and can't be solved quickly and easily by such methods as a literacy test of sorts. Oh well, one can dream aloud right?