A couple of years ago, I read an article encouraging readers to take the time to research and know the answers to a few basic questions about our local, state and federal governments. I have kept it in a box with my other “someday” projects.

However, the recent election cycle and the protests that ensued really encouraged me to get my house in order and be able to nail down answers to questions about my governments that are truly rather important. I have been fascinated by the various “interviews on the street” on TV of people, some of them protesters, who don’t even know what the issues are they are protesting about when asked.

In carrying this further, I also realized I am a member of at least 10 organizations, to include my church and other business, veteran and home organizations. I am a firm believer that people should not complain about issues when they don’t take the time to educate themselves and get the whole impartial story.

Commit to arming yourself with information that impacts you and your family and the result may be we all become good citizens while upholding our own individual (but well-informed!) point of view.

Here are the questions:

Who is the President, VP, Governor and Lt Governor and their parties?

Who is in the President’s Cabinet?

Who is the Attorney General and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?

Name three pieces of current significant legislation and three cases that are to be argued before the Supreme Court.

Who are your Senators, both federal and state and what are their parties?

Who is your House Representative, both federal and state and what is their party?

Who are the members of your local government?

What are the first four freedoms of the First Amendment?

What is the federal debt, the federal deficit, and the federal deficit the year prior?

How much does Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid consume and what is their projected growth over the next 10 and 20 years?

How many workers are there for every person dependent on the government for financial support?

What is sequestration? What is gerrymandering?

I hope you enjoy this exercise. Smart phones can actually  enable us to become smarter, when we take advantage of the mini computers we have at our fingertips.