As we move with  some trepidation to tomorrow's election, here are some questions concerning  elections and politics

1. What prominent British leader had  this  important insight more than a half a century ago about modern politics:   “The whole art of Conservative politics in the 20th century,, is deployed to enable wealth to persuade poverty to use its political freedom to keep wealth in power.”

a. Tony Blair

b. Aneurin Bevan

c. Gordon Brown

d. Harold Wilson

2. Low voter turnout in the U.S. compared to other developed countries in usually attributed to

a. a two stage system of having to register to vote and later vote

b. voter apathy

c. holding elections when popular sports events are on television

d. lack of an educated electorate

4.Campaign financing regulations vary greatly through the world.  For example, electoral commission estimates  of  all  costs  of  the  last national elections in Britain, with strict financing laws, were $91 million, and in Japan, with  much  more lenient regulations, of $780 million.  Estimates of the total costs of the U.S. 2012 elections, with virtually real regulation ,was

a. one billion dollars

b. three billion dollars

c. seven billion dollars

d. nine billion dollars

5.  Among developed countries, a signficant number use systems of proportional representation.  Such systems are considered a more advanced form of democracy because they  permit

a. minority parties to gain representation in legislatures when they reach a percentage(five percent usually) of the total vote

b. give voters the opportunity to make a number of choices, insuring that they will not, by voting for the candidate they most prefer, help elect the candidate they least prefer

c.  often lead to coalition governments more representative of the whole electorate than "winner take all" elections

d. all of the above

 Below are the correct answers to October's Marxist IQ

1.c

2.b

3.d

4.d

5.c