The 'Education' of a Democracy

Sen. McCain is attacking Sen. Obama because the latter has not visited Iraq and Afghanistan until now. Obama's capability to be the 'Commander-in-Chief' is being called into question by McCain and the puppet media.
Had Senator Clinton become the democratic nominee, the Republican machine would have gone all out in trying to convince the American public, men and women, that a woman could not be a commander-in-chief.
Which raises some relevant questions.

• Why is the minimum age for voting 18 years but the minimum age for drinking alcohol is 21? A vote has much more significance than consumption of alcohol, but the legal structure says that youngsters should wait to turn 21 for alcohol but can vote much earlier.
  
• Why is it that the U.S., which declared itself Independent in 1776, has not had a female President or Vice President in its history? Mrs. Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India for many years and defeated Pakistan in the 1971 war and Mrs. Golda Meir was the Prime Minister of Israel and defeated the Arab countries in the 1973 war. Women have proven that they can lead countries during war time and be tougher than the men they faced. Margaret Thatcher was a tough Prime Minister of the U.K. in the eighties. Even 'macho' countries like Nicaragua have had female leaders.
• Why is the U.S. system designed to make it nearly impossible for a viable third party to emerge?

The fundamental issue, at the end of the day, is the education of citizens in a democracy. Whose responsibility is it to train citizens

• to be inquisitive,
• to ask questions
  
• to collect data
• to analyze data
• to voice their opinions, but be open to challenges
• to cast their votes
• to protest irregularities, and so on?
  

Perhaps citizens should undergo periodic mandatory 'educational' testing prior to obtaining voting privileges, similar in process to obtaining a driver's license.