Daniel An

Political Science 001

5/15/15
What Citizens Should Know
In order to qualify to vote, citizens should garner some knowledge about the history of
the United States and pass a written test. Foreigners are no exception. Since foreigners may
suffer due to inevitable language barriers, they should all be permitted to take tests that are in
their own language. All the potential voters should be able to answer a set of questions related to
important policies, trends in the United States, and knowledge of important people in United
States history then and now.
Citizens should be knowledgeable about important policies, such as, the Constitution, Bill
of Rights, and other relevant acts. The constitution should be something thats ingrained into the
citizens mind, as it deals with the basis of the government. With the constitution being the
foundation of the United States history, the citizens can vote, while also being able to question
anything that they feel is unconstitutional regarding anything they vote for. The Bill of Rights is
also necessary to study because it gives the citizens of the US the right to do stuff, in which the
government cant interfere. By knowing what these things they are free to do without the
governments interference, they can be more free and knowledgeable voters. Another policy they
should be aware of is the Civil Rights Act of 1964, because this is the act that many people base
their lawsuits. If these people feel like they are being treated in a discriminatory fashion due to
their race, many people can use the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to support their claim. In the same
way, if voters feel like the policies that the government is making seems to go against what the
Civil Rights Act says, then they can have the option to not vote and let the voting process end

with not enough votes to support the policy. By having the citizens being more knowledgeable
about the policies, it is actually for their own benefits, due to being able to distinguish whether a
policy is unconstitutional or discriminatory due to race.
Citizens should study the important trends in history in order to get an idea of what to do
and what not to do. By studying past failures or successes, people can make better decisions
when voting. For example, if we were to see past accounts of government intervention in welfare
programs and the positive impact it had for people during those times, the citizens would be able
to make smart, knowledgeable decisions on whether or not to support the new policies that may
bear a resemblance to those past accounts. Similarly, studying trends in American history can
also help avoid a certain type of policy or go against a person who has beliefs that dont go well
with historical accounts. For example, President Herbert Hoover and his conservative ideals led
to an economy that was bad into worse. Although its not all of the conservative ideals that
essentially worsened the economy, but one of the key points which was issued by Herbert
Hoover, the Smoot-Harley tariff, was the highest tariff ever that worsened Americas agony.
Therefore, in situations of recessions, the citizens can make sagacious decisions and prevent
voting for high taxes during these periods because of the negative parallel it has in United States
history.
It is vital for the citizens to know who their senators, Presidents, and mayors are.
Knowing the important people around them who make great impacts on society can also lead to
the citizens gaining more knowledge about a certain legislature or policy. If a citizen knows their
mayor and supports him/her, the citizen would be able to distinguish whether or not a certain
policy is good for that mayor or not. This can either be a good or bad thing. However, most

human beings wouldnt choose to be corrupt because most are minorities who lead simple, yet
harsh lives. Therefore, they would make prudent decisions, instead of for their own greed.
With some sort of historical knowledge, such as past policies or trends, and some
contemporary knowledge, such as of those important figures today, citizens should be able to
make more prudent, rather than rash decisions. The citizens with these things in their mind
should be able to assess on what policy would be the best for the country. Therefore, this will not
only benefit the citizens (being more knowledgeable), but it will also benefit the country by
having knowledgeable citizens making clever decisions in order to make the country better.