8 | JANUARY 21 • 2021 

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The Year of the Citizen
L

ast month, U.S. Citizenship and 
Immigration Services revised the 
civics questions for the natural-
ization test for the first time since 2008. 
There are now 128 questions, up from 
100. Answering 12 out of 20 
correctly is one of the many 
steps for anyone applying 
to become a United States 
citizen.
Here are a few of the 
questions and their official 
answers, followed by my 
righteously wrong responses. 
To be clear: (a) I love America more than 
any other country in the world; (b) exactly 
for this reason, I insist on the right to crit-
icize her perpetually; (c) I’m paraphrasing 
James Baldwin and not recommending 
these for anyone actually taking their nat-
uralization test; (d) all of the above.

28. Why does each state have two 
senators?
• Equal representation (for small states)
• The Great Compromise (Connecticut 
 Compromise)
By design, the Senate is undemocratic. 
It constitutionally underrepresents some 
Americans in favor of others. In 1790, 
Pennsylvania had about seven times as 
many people as Delaware. California now 
has 70 times the population of Wyoming.
The Senate and Electoral College both 
favor rural, white Americans by orders 
of magnitude, so it is incumbent upon 
diverse metropolitan constituencies to 
align and advocate for their interests.

53. How many seats are on the 
Supreme Court?
• Nine (9)

The 2008 answer was “Visit uscis.gov/
citizenship/testupdates for the number of 
justices on the Supreme Court.” Perhaps 
it was wishful thinking by the outgoing 
administration that the number of justices 
remain unchanged.
The Supreme Court is, ultimately, if 
not electorally, accountable to the body 
politic; it is in the realm of possibility that 

additional justices could be necessary to 
ensure that accountability.

116. Name one U.S. military conflict after 
the September 11, 2001, attacks.
• (Global) War on Terror
• War in Afghanistan 
• War in Iraq

In the months leading up to the 20th 
anniversary of 9/11, we should be eval-
uating the consequences of the attacks 
and the country’s response. The question 
doesn’t say “military conflict justified by,” 
but we can’t overlook the extraordinary 
cost of the military industrial complex, 
nor the Patriot Act’s infringement on civil 
liberties, the persistence of Islamophobia, 
the reality that the country’s greatest terror 
threat is homegrown.

129. What is the moral difference, if any, 
between a civilian and a citizen?
• A citizen accepts personal responsi-
 bility for the safety of the body politic, 
 defending it with his life, a civilian 
 does not.
Actually, that’s from Starship Troopers, 
the 1997 film featuring bugs more charis-
matic, but less deadly than the one we’re 
currently battling.

Here’s the real question:
70. What is one way Americans can serve 
their country?
• Vote 
• Pay taxes 
• Obey the law 
• Serve in the military
• Run for office
• Work for local, state, or federal 
 government

OK, that’s a start — and a timely remind-
er for law abidance. Today, less than 12% of 
American adults “are involved in military, 
public and national service at the local, 
state and federal levels” combined, accord-
ing to Brookings. (In 1945, 12% of the pop-
ulation served in the armed forces.) 
For the other 88% of us, what — beyond 
W-2s and I Voted stickers — might citizen-
ship look like?

Weeds. Not weed, though marijuana 
legalization is as good an example as any. 
The weeds are those local and regional 
meetings, hearings, conferences, surveys, 
reports, etc., where our fellow citizens make 
decisions that affect our lives. 
To get into the weeds, I recently joined 
the Detroit Documenters, “citizens and 
civic actors; creators and collaborators; rep-
resenting a broad base of intergenerational, 
diverse communities … democratizing 
news & information at the local level.”
At detroit.documenters.org, you can find 
everything you never knew you were look-
ing for. The Great Lakes Water Authority, 
which services 4 million Michiganders, vot-
ing to purchase East Lake Baptist Church 
for $440,000 more than its appraised value. 
The 30,000 side lots available for purchase 
through the Detroit Land Bank Authority 
and resident Joanne Warwick’s frustration 
at being unable to purchase one in her 
neighborhood. @couponchess live tweeting 
the Belle Isle Park Advisory Committee.
You can see all the agencies’ upcoming 
meetings and add them directly to your 
calendar. It’s like the old saying goes — 
whether you think you have a stake in 
the Detroit Regional Convention Facility 
Authority or you don’t, you’re right.
So, yes, happy new year, new president, 
new senate majority, new vaccines, new 
normal.
And, yes, volunteer, donate, recycle, shop 
local, buy stamps, clean up after your dog, 
return your shopping cart, give pedestrians 
the right of way, check out library books and 
return them more or less on time, mask up. 
Just remember that all politics is local and 
2020 is hindsight. 

Ben Falik

VIEWS

DANA DELL

Windsor native Jeff Dell after being naturalized as 

a U.S. citizen on Dec. 11, 2020.

