One of my pet peeves is the apparent pride exhibited by so many of the wet-behind-the-ears and the recently WBTE in their clueless

ess about anything that happened before they were born; as in, “Oh, I’ve never heard of that. I wasn’t born,” no matter how historically significant the “that” may be. To which I say “As if!” as in “As if your narcissistic belief, engendered by your nauseatingly doting parents, that the world didn’t exist until that remarkable day when you entered the world makes it true.” I wasn’t born in 1863, but I’ve heard of Gettysburg. (“Gettysburg?” For you youngsters, or ignorant U.S. Americans of any age, ask your grandmother, or better yet, Google it.) As I said, I have heard of it, and I’m sure as one of our smart readers, you have, but according to this recent article in U.S.A. Today, 17-year-olds haven’t. Only 43% of this group could identify the fifty-year period in which the Civil War occurred.

These stories have appeared so often in the last few years that they aren’t even news anymore, and are greeted with the same “been-there-done-that” ennui of the latest “new” movie about corporate greed. Late last year, Naomi Wolf, she of “earth tones” fame, penned a piece in the Washington Post in which she decried the fact that “[o]nly 45.9 percent of those surveyed knew that the sentence “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” is in the Declaration of Independence As is often the case with these mainstream media columns, they saved the best for the correction, in which they noted that they weren’t referring to high school students, but college students.

So young people are ignorant about history. What else is new? I’ll tell you what: the push by democrats in the Illinois legislature to extend voting rights to 17 year-olds. Like those films about corporate greed, I’ve seen this movie before, except the last time it actually was a silly movie, 1970’s “Wild in the Streets,” not a supposedly serious proposal by a supposedly serious legislator, Lou Lang (D-Skokie). On Tuesday, Mr. Lang’s proposed constitutional amendment, now known as HJRCA0029, passed the Illinois’ House Elections and Campaign Reform Committee, and now is on its way to the full House.

In support of his kiddie suffrage idea, he says that many 17-year-olds are “more knowledgeable about what’s going on in our world than many 50— and 60— and 70-year-olds.” Seriously, he said that. He must be basing this idea on his own personal experience, since he obviously hasn’t seen those ubiquitous stories about youngsters’ ignorance about history, civics and politics. He must not use the Internet. That’s the reason, according to Mr. Lang, that 17 year-olds know more than their parents and grandparents. That’s right: the Internet. That would be the same Internet where we learn the “truth” about 9/11 was that it was an inside job, or see nude pictures of the latest “American Idol” contestant. The take-home message is that Mr. Lang may not know how to use that new-fangled Internets that the kids think is all the rage, but he has clearly developed the ability, common among politicians, to state the laughable with a straight face.

He said something else that might be more telling about this bill. To quote one news report about it: “Senator Obama’s historic campaign for President has energized youth like no other in decades.” Democratic Representative Lou Lang of Skokie said. “We should leverage current youth interest in politics and help build a foundation for their long-term participation in elections.” Could their be a connection between the fact that young people are blissfully unaware of history and that an overwhelming majority of them support Senator Obama? Ya think? Please allow me to translate Mr. Lang’s remark: our probable presidential nominee is a rock star to millions of teens and twenty-somethings who previously never paid attention to any event more serious than Britney Spears latest trip to rehab. Thanks to his rhetorical skills, he has them whipped into a fanatical, emotional frenzy. His use of words like “hope” and “change” fills them with the self-congratulatory joy that their parents and teachers taught them was “self-esteem.” They know that they are “making a difference” by supporting him, even though most of them, like many of his more mature supporters, can’t tell you at gun point what that difference will mean as a practical matter. Who cares about that? Let them just get him in office. We’ll take care of that boring policy stuff.

Like the whole Motor Voter scam which was part of the democrats’ master plan to get as many illegal aliens to vote as possible, and their support for voting rights for felons, this baby ballot idea is all about getting more democrats elected. Mr. Lang obviously understands that voting democrat is like smoking: you need to start doing it when you’re too young and inexperienced to appreciate how much damage you’re doing to yourself and those around you.

Is ignorance or criminality a pre-requisite for voting democrat? No, but it helps.

**

Teri O’Brien is a regular columnist for The Chicago Daily Observer.