American National Government

Hey y'all, and welcome to our second podcast episode on the executive branch ! Our discussion today is about the bureaucracy (aka, the administration or administrative state ). We're often not too familiar with this term or how it applies to our lives, but really the bureaucracy is the biggest portion of our government with over 4 million people working in this area to support the executive branch...

Hi folks, and welcome back to our podcast with this week's focus on the executive branch ! This episode launches into Article II with a full discussion of the presidency, including the qualifications, powers, and amendments that have centered on that position. The episode will also cover issues like what happens when there is a transition following presidential death, the unlisted (unenumerated) p...

Hello everyone, and welcome back to our discussion on Congress . In this episode, we are going to move past the formal structure of the House and Senate (or their basic job duties) to talk about the more controversial issues: redistricting/gerrymandering , the age of Congress members , and polarization . There's a lot changing as of 2026 on districts and we continue to face an older and more divid...

Hiya folks, and welcome to our first episode on Congress ! I know, I know... it's so terribly exciting that you just couldn't wait to listen to this! While Congress is not the sexiest topic, this is the branch of government that the Founders said the most about, so it's good for us to at least walk through the high points. What this episode will focus on is the structure, leadership, and duties th...

Hello friends, and welcome to episode 14 on interest groups ! We are again returning to the realm of collective action with a focus on groups that exist outside of government but that work to affect public policy. Whether those groups are economic, ideological, or focused on foreign/international policy , they will all work to inform, lobby, and affect campaigns. This episode will explain more abo...

Hi everyone, and welcome back from the midterm and either fall or spring break! We're returning to our discussion of national politics after that test and a few days off, and we begin discussing what are known as collective action politics. Collective action is really thinking about group actions rather than how we behave as political individuals. Our initial topic is political parties : we'll cov...

Hello everyone, welcome to our final podcast episode before the midterm exam ! We are continuing our discussion on news and social media with a focus on fake news , media bias , echo chambers , and the levels of trust we have in resources like national news, local news, and social media. This episode is heavy on definitions and examples, so there's a lot of explaining but I also offer suggestions...

Hello all, and welcome to the first of our two episodes on news and social media ! In today's episode, we're going to talk about the basics: concepts like mass media , news media , and social media as well as investigate our use of different news sources like newspapers, radio, television , and the internet/social media . Unsurprisingly, social media is more and more where we get our news... at le...

Howdy all, and welcome to our second episode on voting and elections ! In this episode, it's all about the elections baby: the primaries, the generals , and the special elections (as well as that whole invisible primary process). The rules for Congressional elections are quite different than what we do for the presidency--with that office, we run through primaries and caucuses , the national conve...

Hello again all, and welcome to episode 9 which includes our discussion on voting ! In this episode, we're going to focus on two key topics: voter turnout , aka who shows up to vote (and who doesn't), and voting rules and procedures , or the processes we are required to follow to vote. Our review of turnout data is interesting to say the least... we can see some big differences in turnout based on...

Hello students of American National Government, and welcome to our Week 5 podcast episode on public opinion ! In this marathon episode (yep, it's just under an hour), we cover all things public opinion-related: concepts like polling (and how to do it well), polling resources like Pew and Gallup , the factors that affect and influence public opinion (particularly socialization , generational effect...

Hey everybody, and welcome to Week 4 and our discussion of civil rights ! This is one huge topic and given that we're going to focus on key concepts: civil rights, public discrimination, private discrimination, equality of opportunity, equality of outcome , and state action . It's important to understand what types of discrimination are and are not allowed under existing law... and that's often go...

Hi folks, and welcome to episode 6, the continuation of our discussion about civil liberties and the Bill of Rights ! In this episode, we'll continue our rather crazy journey looking at the status of our rights today by working through the remaining amendments ( Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth ) as well as the limitations we experience in terms of those rights in times of c...

Welcome back everyone to episode 5 in our series on American National Government! Episodes 5 and 6 are all about our civil liberties , aka our fundamental individual rights . This podcast is all about the first portions of our Bill of Rights as well as the rights we find in the Constitution itself ( habeas corpus , ex post facto protections , and limitations on bills of attainder ). In this conver...

Howdy all, welcome to our fourth episode on American National Government! In this episode, we are going to spend all of our time talking about federalism , or the way we balance power between the national government and state governments. We'll briefly touch upon separation of powers and checks and balances , but federalism is our primary concern. The slides this week talk about how our Constituti...

Hiya everyone! Welcome to our first really in-depth week of material on the Constitution and federalism ! Today's episode is going to hone in on the Constitutional development process, with discussion of a few major historical events (such as the Boston Massacre and the Constitutional Conventions) as well as the major negotiations that went down between the large and small states (regarding repres...

Hey everyone, and welcome to our second podcast episode on American National Government! In this episode, we finally get into the real meat and potatoes of this course, and we begin with democracy . In particular, we define it (and learn about different methods of defining ) and then this episode covers features of American political culture such as our party divisions and individualism . The fina...

Hello everyone and welcome to our podcast on American National Government! In this first episode, we will get an introduction to this course and in particular to the course Canvas site. Some of the most critical tools you will need to navigate this class are the Weekly Roadmap Pages which are discussed early on. We will spend about 15-20 minutes on that as well as the other parts of the Canvas sit...