THIS is what's wrong with this country...

So I get back from Lunch today, and the guy who sits across from me (good guy, Progressive, Democrat, John Stewart fan) asks me if I was one of the 1% of Americans who could name all nine Supreme Court Justices.

So I look at him like he asked what 2 + 2 was and rattled off, "Roberts, Alito, Thomas, Scalia, Kennedy, Kagan, Sotomayor, Ginsberg and Breyer." And then, just to show off a little, I added, "And if you want me to go back a little, "Souter, Stevens, O'Connor, and Rehnquist." Now, I did have to admit that I couldn't go farther back but, now with a few more co-workers egging me on (yeah: we're wierd that way) I did manage to up with "Warren, Burger, Marshal and Taft."

And which point I got a little pissed off...

1%?!  Seriously?!

So he hooked me up with this link to an MSNBC article citing that statistic.

And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, I read:

Despite all the media attention, a national survey by FindLaw.com, a legal information Web site, found that nearly two-thirds of Americans can't name any of the nine members of the Supreme Court of the United States. In fact, results show that only 34 percent of Americans can name any member of the nation's highest court, and only one percent can correctly name all nine justices.
 

And if I wasn't in the office, I would have lost my shit over this.  Because, IMHO, the Supreme Court of the United States of America is the single most powerful and important branch of the Government in terms of both protecting our rights and freedoms and in making social progress.  It is the last line of defense against the Right Wing tyranny that encroaches more and more on our rights with each passing Bill, and seeks to keep freedom from those whom [the Right] decide are "less equal than others," to quote George Orwell.

Now, OK, to be fair, being able to name the Supreme Court Justices doesn't mean you know JACK about the Constitution, Civics, Civil Liberty, Freedom in general or Public Policy. (I mean... I'd bet you a Coke that William could name all nine, so... There you go!)  It's just that considering the oft used, and sadly effective, scaremongering Conservative trope about Activist Liberal Judges (despite the fact that the majority of ACTUAL judicial activism comes mostly from Republican appointees) and how effective it is at getting both the Bible-Humpers' and Libertarians' panties all in a twist, you'd think these fools would at least know WHO SOME OF THESE JUDGES SUPPOSEDLY ARE.

I truly had no idea that the voting base of this country was so detached from things. So UNinformed, in addition to being consistently MISinformed.  As far as I'm concerned, the potential appointees to the SCOTUS are not only my NUMBER ONE voting issue, but actually outweigh ALL OTHERS. Now I should point out that it's highly unlikely that a Nominee could have a Supreme Court nomination that I'd LOVE and policies that I'd HATE.  It's just not really a very feasible hypothetical. But if I had to weigh all of the various issues and considerations, I submit that potential SC Nominations would be weighted at 50% and all other issues would be ranked and weighted within the remaining 50%.

Remember:
1) Lifetime term.
2) Absolute ability to strike down laws that the system fails to.
3) The ability to do this without regard for any political consequences.

Hey: The RIGHT knows how important the SC is! They've made it a voting issue, even though 2/3 of American couldn't name a single justice!

I still have trouble believing that.  My friend (the guy sitting next me at work) told me that I'm too optimistic, and think way to highly of people.

I told him that it must be "this guy I sit next to at work," skewing the average of my perception.

ANYWAY... Here're some fun quizzes for you guys to take.  Just for fun. Please try and report your results. Mine are as follows:

Could you pass the US Citizens Test?

I did, with 90%. I missed the number of Amendments (I could narrow it down to just one of two answers, but then guessed the wrong one) and the Powers of the Federal Gov't question.  (I actually KNEW the answer, I just over-thought it, and talked myself out of it.) (Don't do that!) LOL

Personally I think that every politician and citizen that has even a single anti-immigrant bone in their body ought to take that test, and if they can't pass (or beat the score that the average LIBERAL gets) they ought to STFU about it!

And here are a few appropriate ones from SPORCLE, with my scores...

Name the Presidents
(44/44, with 8:13 to spare, top 27.1%)

Name the Vice-Presidents
(28/47, with time expired, top 33.7%) (A bit of guesswork there, I'll admit).
 
Name the Supreme Court Justices
(39/117, with time expired, top 42.5%) (A shit-ton of guesswork on this one, but it does give me more hope than the MSNBC article!)
 King and Queens of England (cause I'm such a Patriot. LOL)(41/41, with 4:35 to spare, top 32.1%) (Hint: Five first names and a knowledge of Roman Numerals will get you about 80% of them!) Anyway... if you feel like taking the challenge, try 'em out and post your scores.