Edwin Van Woert
Description
America, the land of the free. Thomas Jefferson, a Founder of the new Republic, if not an active framer of its basic law, had abiding faith in the a
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bility of free people to govern themselves. That faith was based on the notion that the electorate would remain knowledgeable and bring that knowledge to active participation in the processes of democracy. Neither Jefferson nor James Madison, the Constitutions basic author, could have envisioned the malthusian progress of science with the resulting leaps in the progeny of science, technology. This progress threatens to overwhelm the fundamentals of governance, since advanced knowledge requires advanced comprehension on the part of voters, jurors, and governors themselves (in fact, all participants in the process). Have Americans, Edwin Van Woert wonders, abdicated their responsibilities in not learning how to think in the context of modern knowledge?
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