Thoughts after Grading AP Government Exams

Collegeboard, who runs the Advanced Placement programs, invites me down every year to be a reader for the AP US Government Exam. As I graded the essays, two thoughts occurred to me.

1. A shocking number of students seem to be prepared to accept a dictatorship. The question I was reading for asked why bureaucracies had control over key areas of policy in our country, and a very large percentage of students wrote that it was better to have a small group of unelected officials running the important things in our country because large groups of elected officials just argue and get nothing done. These leaders of tomorrow, those students who learned all about government for a year, feel a small number of unelected people should be running our nation- that's a scary thought to me and shows how much groundwork has been laid in these students minds by those who want to take away our liberties and freedoms.

2. A shocking number of students also felt that a small group of unelected officials were better able to protect the interests of the People than elected officials. Now, I know students are cynical, and they don't understand Federalist 10, and they don't understand that factions and special interests arguing with one another is actually good. In their minds, they think that the People would be served better if there was one politician in control of government, who did what he/she thought best, ignored special interests and factions, and imposed his/her will on people who don't follow along. Again- students wrote these ideas, on paper after paper, demonstrating that the left has indeed won the minds of students and that our next generation might do some scary bad things once they fully exercise their right to vote.