A Literacy Test for Presidential Candidates

Mr. Cain, like Ms Bachman, should be excluded from the race on the grounds they do not have a clue.

Bachman and Cain

(Jamestown, RI) - For years I have strongly opposed the idea of voting literacy tests, but alas I have come around. We need a literacy test, not for voters, but for Presidential candidates. Later it could be extended to all political candidates.

There should be a line of stupidity for candidates, which, when crossed, automatically excludes them from running. When a political aspirant puts his foot in his mouth in such a way as to expose his/her classic stupidity, like the old Gong TV show, a big bell should ring and they are ruled out then and there.

I offer two current examples. Michelle Bachman, a candidate for President of the Unites States, recently said:"Under President Bachmann you will see gasoline come down below $2 a gallon again." “GONG”; she’s out!!! Ms Bachman demonstrated stupidity beyond the pale.

Herman Cain said repeatedly, not once but repeatedly, regarding the unemployed folks in the country and in the Occupy Wall Street protest: “If you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself." “GONG”; he’s out!!!

Mr. Cain, like Ms Bachman, should be excluded from the race on the grounds they do not have a clue. Then again, what should be done with Republican voters in the audience who cheered at Mr. Cain’s comment? Perhaps a literacy test for voters might not be such a bad idea after all...

Salem-News.com Writer Joe Clifford, lives in historic Jamestown, Rhode Island, and has contributed a number of articles relating to foreign policy to newspapers in the Rhode Island area for years.

He graduated from Providence College where he earned an undergraduate and graduate degree. After a lengthy career as a high school teacher he turned to the study of US foreign policy, and then to writing, as a means of expressing an alternative perspective. His reading and research on foreign policy is broad and extensive, especially as the policy relates to the Middle East. His interest in foreign policy was inspired by the American misadventure in Vietnam. You can write to Joe at this address: jc21131@gmail.com