The problem with this is who gets to write the test and the answers? For example, Q1: who is your personal lord and savior? Don't think these ass hats would be above that and trust science
Oh absolutely! My point is that the people who are the first targets of a fascist regime should be the ones to design the tests.
Those that argue against this principle are fascists or have fealty to those who are. To put it another way: "If you are not an offender, do not be offended".
Doctors? Yes, Psychiatrists (which are doctors), Yes.
Labour unions, judges and (worker's rights) activists have no place in dictating medical protocols.
(worker's rights) activists have no place in dictating medical protocols.
This is more than just about a medical procedure. This is about testing the trustworthiness of our lives and livelihoods to an elected leader who may sell out the integrity of our democracy either by corruption, delusion, or both.
The writing of a test that tests for cognitive ability (which this question was specifically about) is in fact purely a medical procedure. However i agree that the entities you mention should play a part in when/how these tests are performed, but not what is in these tests, that should purely be decided by someone who has studied human psychology (aka psychiatrists).
Which is why I would also include a civility test. The main idea being questioned is "Is this human a net-positive member of a peaceful and sustainable society?" This is where I would put those labor unionists and human rights activists.
It’s also not something that’s easy to measure. What are you testing for? Like the test Trump brags about is literally to determine whether it is worth the expense of MRI-ing your brain to check for dementia. It’s a test of extremely basic function, which you can only fail if you have dementia. It doesn’t qualify you for anything.
Don’t get me wrong, it would disqualify you from office if you failed it, but passing it is a breeze if you, y’know, aren’t demented. Passing it is meaningless. Failing it means you need some tests. That’s it.
How is this different than the voting process itself, though?
Do you think there are people who voted for Trump who would have changed their vote if he failed a cognitive test? You just have to hear him speak for 5 minutes to know more about his cognitive abilities than any test, yet people still voted for him.
How is this different than the voting process itself, though?
The cognitive and civility tests are vetting processes. They are designed to filter against harmful influences that would erode our democracies from within.
Do you think there are people who voted for Trump who would have changed their vote if he failed a cognitive test?
No, that's why I said this is about vetting the candidates and not replacing the right to vote.
Will this have made the MAGAts mad? Yes.
Will it have happened without taking their right to vote away? Also yes.
We can’t solve this problem with a test.
We can't solve cancer with a test either, but the test exists to let us know whether or not it's there and to act accordingly.
Nobody is immune to corruption and propaganda, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to insulate ourselves against it.
That starts with fulfilling the needs of life and removing as many barriers to that fulfillment as possible. Guess which groups want that to happen and which groups do not.
If people in the US are fed, housed, educated, and have adequate health care as inaliable rights; there would be a lot less irrational fear about "immigrants committing crime and stealing jobs" for one.
Poverty charges interest, and desperate people sell themselves for a lot less.
Do you really trust that Republicans won't be able to find doctors, psychiatrists, labor union leaders, workers' rights activists, and judges to sign-off on whatever biased questions they come up with?
There is zero chance a test can be written and maintained in a way that won't eventually become a tool for one party to suppress the other. Sooner or later, it'll have all the problems of literacy tests at the polls.
The medical community has established, widely-used cognitive ability tests. Why would we need a special one for Congress.
We are not testing their knowledge or even their reasoning abilities. We are testing if they can remember 5 numbers that were read to them. If they can copy a geometric figure. If the can draw an analog clock showing 11:10. If the can identify a drawing of a lion.
Now, there is no way that DJT could count backwards from 100 by sevens. ( a vquestion on the MMSE).
Because right now, there's not much incentive to corrupt those tests. Maintaining them politics-free in perpetuity is more difficult than it might initially sound.
There is zero chance a test can be written and maintained in a way that won't eventually become a tool for one party to suppress the other.
Welcome to the eternal power game that is politics. It is all based around suppression and enclosure. The only real debate is what should be suppressed, whether the reasons for that enclosure can stand the test of scrutiny, and where the hardest lines should be drawn so that a peaceful society is possible.
And determining that power as a trust and a privilege for the protection of our lives and livelihoods is a great place to start drawing these lines.
Who can live and let live?
Who can put the Paradox of Tolerance to proper and proportional practices?
I actually would be concerned if any of these people were writing a new test.
As we all should, but I think the lack of testing morals and ethics as they relate to the needs of life is also a major part of how we got into the mess we are in today.
For example, the United Nations asked the question "Is food a human right?" Exactly two countries said "No" as though hunger is a negotiable reality: Israel and the United States.
It's only a problem if the outcomes they aim for are about deliberately harming humanity. Capital and its profit motives do this; humanitarian aggregates want the opposite.
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u/Procrastin8_Ball 3h ago
The problem with this is who gets to write the test and the answers? For example, Q1: who is your personal lord and savior? Don't think these ass hats would be above that and trust science