We Americans define ourselves in very unique ways – from “Don’t tread on me” to the rise of the new Tea Party Movement, which is running on a platform of willful ignorance in next week’s midterm elections.

Christine O’Donnell, who is the most obviously ill-advised member of the Tea Party, is simply the purest inclusion of the politics of proud ignorance. She couldn’t name a Supreme Court decision she agreed or disagreed with, not even Roe vs. Wade. There is no way she could be confused with an above average high school student. Her ignorance, therefore, makes her authentic–the holy grail of latter-day American politics: she’s a real person, not like those phony politicians. In that sense, she — and the lifeboat filled with other Tea Party know-nothings — follow in the wake of our leading exemplar of ignorant authenticity.

When I say that O’Donnell and all of the Tea Party/Republican candidates in this year’s election cycle are ignorant, I contend that because I don’t think they are even capable of explaining why they believe what they believe. Few of them have any real background in history, law, religion, or science.

There is much to be discontent with regarding the direction the country has gone, but our response should not be reverence for ignorance or simplistic solutions. Being angry and scared is not good enough reason to elect people who are barely better than the people we vote against.  Ignorance will not help us in the battle against global warming. Ignorance did not protect America against terrorism. Self-centeredness (which seems to be what the modern Republican Party is all about) will not lead us to be competitive with the Chinese, Indians and Brazilians, among others, in the coming century. Now is not the time to be silly and uninformed, no matter how “satisfying” and “authentic” that seems to be.

It’s strange. On one hand Americans are wringing their hands over test scores of our students. On the other hand, we celebrate ignorance. The specter of an ignorant or indifferent populace has long haunted democracy.

In 1748, Montesquieu stated that the tyranny of a principal in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy. Moreover, James Madison warned, a popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps both. Furthermore, President John F. Kennedy declared in 1963 that, “The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.”

Despite numerous eloquent warnings, however, political ignorance has mushroomed. We often display very skewed expressions of what it means to be an American.  Somewhere in the pursuit of happiness we bury our intelligence and common sense for this patriotic illusion of freedom of expression.

The Republicans were steering the country when the U.S. economy begun to fall apart, resulting in the crisis the country has been facing over the last several years, and they made the decisions that eroded the wealth, health, strength and well being of the American economy, its people and image.

I’d like the Republicans to explain to us how they can adopt “Don’t tread on me” while at the same time history has proven time and time again that’s exactly what conservatives do to people once they are in power: tell them how to live and overstep boundaries, then cry foul when they falsely perceive those boundaries have been overstepped.

 The reality that President Obama has to put up with so many Tea Party know-nothings explains why he couldn’t achieve some of his goals such as, “don’t ask, don’t tell,” close Guantánamo, or do away with Bush-era renditions, tribunals, wiretaps, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

A lot of Americans were expecting President Obama to turn things around by twisting a wand and uttering the famous words “Abra Cadabra” or declare “Open Sesame” like in the old Arabian Night’s movie, or better yet it may be the rubbing of the proverbial “Genie latern” and having any three wishes! Whatever their thoughts, it is quite clear that their expectations have been and are, unrealistic and as such could not be met by any government facing a similar set of circumstances, be they Democrats or Republicans!

 The saddest part is that Americans seem incapable of separating Obama’s actual actions from the miserable times we are living through. Here’s hoping that our collective misery doesn’t result in victories for clearly unqualified candidates. There is an old saying: “Things could always be worse.” If some of these people are elected, they will be. Thomas Frank’s best-selling 2004 book “What’s the Matter with Kansas?” lamented that uninformed voters were easily tricked into voting against their “real” economic interests.

 The question that every American should ask themselves is, what will we gain by returning to the flawed politics and policies of the Republican era? The answer however, comes back clear as crystal! Nothing but the same old, same old! The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, while the middle class remains transfixed in their middle “classity,” not recognizing that, considering the new world dynamics, unless radical changes are made to how everything functions now, then what is to come will be worse than what has been! Wake up America and “smell the coffee.” The only choice for a forward movement in the economy, real growth and sustainable recovery, is to allow the Democrats to continue to build on the foundation that they have laid since assuming leadership in February 2009.

The writer is Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at The University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio.