[pepsionice]

Oh I would disagree...you can have some folks who will rattle off their two senators, and then fifteen additional Senators, along with a dozen Congressmen, and the whole Supreme Court.

In that 1968, no one could remember that many names, but they could remember the starting line-up of the St Louis Cardinals or the Detroit Tigers.

[zeugma]

We'll have to disagree. Most of the folks I talk to these days are every bit as clueless as they have been for the past 30 years. Their interests will occasionally spike, but they have no solid grounding in their beliefs. Most have no real idea why they believe what they do. They have no clue whatsoever about who John Locke was, much less why he's important. They may have heard, of the Federalist Papers (though few have read them), but they have no idea what the Letters from a Federal Farmer are, much less what the arguments were between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists.

A relative few may know the names, but couldn't really tell you much about them other than "R Good, D Bad" or vice versa depending upon their party.

From my perspective, things are looking up mainly for one reason. I'm getting old enough that I no longer am sure that it will all come crashing down around my ears before I pass on.