Most Americans Can’t Name a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Survey Says

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent landmark rulings on health care and immigration have made the nation’s highest court a topic at kitchen tables, coffee shops, and water coolers across the country.

But even with all that debate over the Supreme Court and its rulings, two-thirds of Americans can’t name any justices, according to a survey released Monday by FindLaw.com, a legal information Web site.

The most well-known member of the court was Chief Justice John Roberts, the survey showed. But even Justice Roberts could only be named by 20% of the respondents.

The most anonymous member of the court, according to the survey, was Stephen Breyer, with 3% of respondents naming him. Justices Anthony Kennedy (10%), Samuel Alito (5%) and Elena Kagan (4%) each were named by 10% or fewer of the people surveyed.

The survey showed that others–even those in much the media spotlight– were somewhere between little-known and obscure:

The study polled 1,000 American adults by telephone, according to FindLaw.com, a division of Thomson Reuters. The survey had a margin of error of plus-or-minus-three percent.

Elites want ignorant Americans. Easier to manipulate and to make them wards of the state (Rat voters).

That may be true but I don’t believe that it is at the root of why the American public at large is ignorant of their countries government.

Karl Marx said that “Religion is the opiate of the people”

Well today we have “Entertainment is the crack cocaine of the people”.

Today whether it is pro-sports, sitcoms or computer games the public has a cornucopia of cheap ever available entertainment to occupy their underdeveloped minds.

It isn’t that the Elite of our nation want to keep the people ignorant of what the government is doing it is that the people find the activities of government boring when there is a plethora of easy to understand entertainment easily accessible to their TV, computer or local arena.

Prior to the advent of radio the general public was engaged by politics because it was one of the main topics of conversation at the local tavern. Since then however with more and more homes having access to telemedia and thereby access to cheap entertainment, even in public gatherings the topic of conversation is most likely to some topic other than politics.

In today’s society many consider the subject of politics to be taboo because it has the potential to be the impetus to a passionate argument rather than a pleasant discussion. Where religion used to occupy this space in the past today politics is now the forbidden subject in polite society.

While the Liberal Left seems to work tirelessly to dumb down the masses I don’t think ignorance of who occupies the 9 seats on the Supreme Court is a major hurdle for them, I think the general public has consciously decided to ignore these facts on their own.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.