With candidates entering the stretch run in election 2016, the current presidential campaign certainly ranks as one of the most vicious and error-prone in the history of national politics.

Mudslinging and vicious personal attacks have replaced fact-checking and substance in the race for the White House. With the two major party candidates dominating the news coverage - and campaign spending - Gary Johnson, the Libertarian third-party candidate, is forced to depend on the occasional news interview to get his message out.Foreign policy is not a Johnson strong point, evidenced by the two major blunders that unfortunately gained him the most national attention.His first whiff was in not knowing the relevance of the Syrian city of Aleppo. The second came when he drew another blank after being asked to name his favorite foreign leader."I guess I'm having an Aleppo moment," Johnson said in the second brain-freeze moment.Johnson's weakness on foreign affairs, however, puts him in step with most of the Americans he wants to represent as president.One recent poll showed that 70 percent of the U.S. population do not know what the Constitution is, and 6 percent don't even know when Independence Day occurs.Newsweek recently gave 1,000 Americans the U.S. citizenship test which is administered to all immigrants who apply. Sixty-three percent did not know that there are nine chief justices in the Supreme Court, and 29 percent could not name Joe Biden as the vice president.Our deficiencies in current and world events start at an early age and follow through high school. Among 18- to 26-year-olds who attend or have attended a two or four-year college, the average score on the survey was just 55 percent, which is a failing grade.A study by a George Washington University researcher showed that 25 percent of U.S. high school students who were bound for college couldn't name the ocean that lies between California and Asia, 80 percent didn't know that India is the world's largest democracy, and most couldn't point out places like Israel on a global map.When asked what countries the U.S. is bound to protect or where U.S. troops are stationed around the world, few could provide an answer.A survey report by the Council on Foreign Relations and the National Geographic Society "revealed significant gaps between what young people understand about today's world and what they need to know to successfully navigate and compete in it."In many cases, school curricula and not the students can be blamed.A separate 2012 survey conducted by the nonprofit education company World Savvy, along with the International Baccalaureate Organization, showed that 48 percent of students between sixth and 12th grade didn't learn anything in the classroom that would help them better understand global issues.The report also showed that a staggering 63 percent of high school students admitted to never discussing world events in the classroom at all.With rising tensions across the Middle East, the Korean Peninsula and Ukraine, many of us realize that the world is a very dangerous place.We must understand that Russia, China and North Korea are serious nuclear players. Even Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union's last leader, has voiced concern, saying, "I think the world has reached a dangerous point."Although things are happening on the other side of the world, Americans can't become ignorant or oblivious because they may not be feeling a direct impact.The many global flash points make this election the most crucial election of our lifetime when it comes to foreign affairs.By Jim Zbick |

tneditor@tnonline.com