Americans have become not only ignorant about their own country and its political affairs but also have been blind to the impact of five factors that contribute to this ignorance. The influence of family, the media, education, popular culture, and one's own environment are the five sources that have caused the people of the United states to be ill-informed about political affairs.
             "NEWSWEEK recently asked 1,000 U.S. citizens to take America's official citizenship test. Twenty-nine percent could not name the vice president"(Romano). Many families in the United States derive their main source of information on political matters from their own family members and their family's opinions. They rely upon their family's political party preference or what they learned about politics at home to make their political decisions. But these opinions are not necessarily being based upon what is best for the country but instead are based upon family tradition, such as whether the family identifies with being a democrat or republican, with being a conservative or liberal, or even with being of the middle class, the poor, or of the wealthy of society. Americans have taken for granted that they live in a democracy, and we have become ignorant about our own country because "we suffer from a lack of information rather than a lack of ability" (Romano.
             The media is obviously the first place most people think to turn for information on political affairs. What most Americans have not realized is that the prominent news networks most widely watched today are controlled. "We are heading towards an election, what they learn about the candidates will be what the media shows them tells them, decides not to show, not to tell" (Outfoxed). Fox News is one of the most popular twenty-four hour news networks watched for political opinions and for all-around information on politics. To the public's surprise, several former employe...