I didn't mean memorizing everyone, and I didn't mean every American should be a political expert, but believe it or not many Americans don't even know who their vice president is, or who the governor of the state they live in is, which are basic and important ones they should know. Myself, I don't have all members of congress memorized, but at least I know the names and a little about the more important people, and I know about Iraq and Afghanistan. I also can't name all of the past presidents, but my point is that too many Americans are on the extreme opposite end, ignorant and not caring about the Iraq war, and not being interested in what's going on in the world, but instead deep into the reality TV shows, celebrity news about some famous American movie actor getting arrested for something stupid or the like, and sports news, and they don't care about much else.
I'm not suggesting every American be an expert in global politics, just that they should know a few of the basic, important things about what's going on and not be ignorant. Heck, many kids right now from 18 years of age to their mid-20s aren't aware that there is talk in the US govt. about bringing back the draft (meaning serving in the military whether they want to or not) because of where we are currently fighting as well as where we might soon be fighting and going to war. Heck, they've been pushing back re-instating the draft for some time now, allowing people in their 40s to join the military for the first time voluntarily, something they don't typically do, simply because the military needs more troops quite badly.