Civic Responsibility

At the end of Chapter 9 there is a Bonus Exercise that asks you to research and analyze the 2009 debate over the healthcare public option. If you were actually to complete that exercise, it would take quite a bit of time and effort. Do you think that completing such an exercise would be time well spent or time wasted? If well-spent, why? If time wasted, why? Is there any issue on which you think a comparable amount of time and effort would be worthwhile? As a critical thinker, do you believe that citizens have an obligation to be informed on topics of current interest? If yes, why, if no, why not?