Budd Margolis

“According to New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, “The United States has less than five percent of the world’s population and nearly one-quarter of its prisoners. Astonishingly, if the 2.3 million incarcerated Americans were a state, it would be more populous than 16 other states. All told, one in three people in the United States has some type of criminal record. No other industrialized country comes close.”
― William Cooper, How America Works... and Why It Doesn't: A Brief Guide to the U.S. Political System

“Moreover, America’s inequality is worse than other wealthy nations. The Gini coefficient is a common measure of a country’s inequality. It measures inequality from 0 (perfect equality) to 1 (complete inequality). According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in 2017, “the Gini coefficient in the U.S. stood at 0.434.” This number “was higher than in any other of the G-7 countries, in which the Gini ranged from 0.326 in France to 0.392 in the UK, and inching closer to the level of inequality observed in India (0.495).”
― William Cooper, How America Works... and Why It Doesn't: A Brief Guide to the U.S. Political System

“The Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania has conducted the Civics Knowledge Survey since 2006.76 The 2022 findings include the following jaw-droppers: •   “Less than half (47%) of U.S. adults could name all three branches of government (executive, legislative, judicial) … One in 4 respondents could not name any.” •   “Over half of Americans (51%) continue to assert incorrectly that Facebook is required to let all Americans express themselves freely on its platform under the First Amendment.” •   “1 in 5 (22%) incorrectly thinks that it is accurate to say that under the Constitution a president can ignore a Supreme Court ruling if the president believes it is wrong.” •   “Nearly 1 in 3 people (32%) incorrectly thinks that a judge has the prerogative to force a defendant to testify at trial.” •   “Asked what it means when the Supreme Court rules 5–4 in a case, just over half (55%) correctly chose ‘the decision is the law and needs to be followed.”
― William Cooper, How America Works... and Why It Doesn't: A Brief Guide to the U.S. Political System

“When asked unprompted to name the protections specified in the First Amendment:77 o   One in 4 respondents (26%) said they can’t name any or don’t know o Freedom of speech was cited by 63% o Freedom of religion was named by 24% o   Freedom of the press was named by 20% o Right of assembly was named by 16% o   Right to petition the government was named by 6%”
― William Cooper, How America Works... and Why It Doesn't: A Brief Guide to the U.S. Political System