This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
At any given moment in a modern democracy, 25-40 percent of the population seems to be brain dead concerning politics and government.
Adolf Hitler won 36.7 percent of the vote in the Weimar presidential election of 1932, leading President Paul von Hindenburg to appoint him chancellor. We all know how that worked out.
David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, garnered 38.8 percent in a 1991 runoff election for Louisiana governor against Edwin Edwards. (Edwards had been convicted of fraud, and a popular bumper sticker read: "Vote for the Crook. It's Important.")
In a recent poll, 25 percent of Americans and 45 percent of Republicans thought that President Barack Obama was born in another country, despite repeated debunking of that ridiculous canard.
Now that the document refuting this goofiness has been released, it will be interesting to see the next poll.
Anyone who remains a birther should seek treatment from a psychiatrist for paranoia.
Rupert Murdoch and his Fox News started this circus sideshow. We'll see if they're good enough Americans to shut it down and strike the tent for the benefit of the republic.
We've got far more important things to worry about.
George K. Watt
Salt Lake City