MSNBC Panel On Congressman Speaking Like High Schoolers: 'Dumber, Or More Populist?'

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A study released last week of the vocabulary and sentence structure of Congressional floor speeches had some information in it that was troubling for many: the average Congressman speaks at the literacy rate of a high school sophomore. On MSNBC today, Chris Jansing's panel put up a fair argument for why this is happening and why it is okay' when the general public is the audience, making complex issues accessible is key.

RELATED: Study Shows Congress Speaks At The Literacy Level Of High School Sophomores

Jansing began by asking panelist Krystal Ball whether the change was an indication that Congress was 'dumber, or more populist?' Ball thought the key to understand the change was 'who the audience is': in the past, 'Congress was the audience,' as the members attempted to convince each other to change their votes. 'Now they are thinking, 'this is going to go out in a YouTube video.''

Panelist David Winston argued that the change in vocabulary was not a bad sign. 'You're dealing with fairly complex ideas,' he argued, 'communicating ideas in a complex way is probably not a good strategy.' Jansing also noted that many of the lowest-ranking members of Congress were also highly educated, many with doctorates: 'it's not like these folks are dumb.' Ball noted that some' particularly lowest-ranking Rep. Mike Mulvaney' 'wear it as a badge of honor,' as it makes them more approachable to their constituency. 'More and more the audience is the public,' she noted. Winston agreed, citing the famous quote, 'sorry this letter is so long, I didn't have time to make it shorter.'

The segment via MSNBC below:

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• It's about populism.  Average Americans have gotten it into their heads that people who are educated, rich, well spoken, etc. are detestable.  People like to have representatives that they can relate to.  In some ways, they are right, we shouldn't want our country to be ruled by a small elite class that believes they know what's best for us better than we do, and will run the country in a way that makes them more powerful.  But we have to remember that these people ARE trying to run the country, and we can't have a bunch of idiots like Maxine Waters and Rand Paul running things. We need to have a good mixture of authentic people and elites to keep the balance.

• Republicans seem to have discovered that they must use words that are too syllables or less, and limit the sentences to something that can fit on a bumper sticker, for example, FREEDOM, tax and spend, drill baby drill, global warming is a hoax, you lie, pro-life, etc. If they deviate from these rules, their simple minded base becomes confused and hostile, and will call them elitist or RINO. To say that congress talks at a sophomoric level is being generous, it might be the republicans talk at a 7th grade level, and the democrats at least sound like high school graduates.