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US
Government Margin Notes
Part #1 Foundations
The Context of US Politics
The US Constitution
Federalism
Part #2 Processes
Political Socialization
Public Opinion
The Media
Interest Groups
Political Parties
Voting Behavior
Campaigns
and Elections
Part #3 Institutions
The US Congress and Domestic
and Economic Policy
The Presidency
and Foreign Policy
The National Bureaucracy
The National Courts
Civil Liberties
and Civil Rights
Need Help with Your Course? Try These Resources!
National Budget Process (PDF)
A Portrait of America That Still Haunts,
Decades Later
Where the Racial Makeup of the US Shifted in the Last Decade
The American Abyss
Inequality.org works
on exposing the wealth gap.
Color of Change and Movement
for Black Lives have
crusaded for racial justice.
Republicans don't know anything
about their party. That's very bad for American democracy.
Big Lie
Healing Our Divide
(scroll down to this section)
US is polarizing faster than
other democracies.
Why Are Republican Presidents So Bad for the Economy? GDP, jobs
and other indicators have all risen faster under Democrats for nearly the past
century.
Republican Presidential Primary Satire
Super PACs 2012
Super PACs 2016 (PDF)
Habeas Corpus: The Guantanamo Cases (Online Video, 25 min)
One of our
oldest human rights, habeas corpus safeguards individual freedom by
preventing unlawful or arbitrary imprisonment. This documentary examines
habeas corpus and the separation of powers in the aftermath of the 9/11
attacks as the Supreme Court tried to strike a balance between the
president’s duty to protect the nation and the constitutional protection of
civil liberties in four major Guantanamo Bay cases: Hamdi v. Rumsfeld,
Rasul v. Bush, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and Boumediene v. Bush.
Rights
and Equal Protection Cases 1856-1948 (MP3 Audio Downloads, varying lengths)
Landmark United States Supreme Court decisions focusing on civil rights
and equal protection between 1856
and 1948.
Downsizing
the Federal Government
The Future
of Social Security (Online Video, 92 min)
New York Times columnist
and economist Paul Krugman
and Maya MacGuineas, president, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
and director, Fiscal Policy Program, New America Foundation, discuss
and decipher the difficult issues facing America's largest public program, Social Security. The discussion is moderated by Pulitzer Prize-winning Boston Globe columnist Tom Oliphant.
The Geography
of US Elections (Online Videos, varying lengths)
Led by Martin Lewis, this map-intensive YouTube course explores the geography of US elections (both past
and present)
and challenges the suggestion that we are simply divided into a Red America
and Blue America. It's really much more complicated than that. The course was first offered by Stanford's Continuing Studies program in 2008. (The original posts – "the course will last five weeks," "includes a debrief after the election," "begins in October," "a new lecture will be posted each Wednesday"
and etc – are still online. Ignore those. The course ended 2 years ago but all materials were left for public use.)
Supreme Court Nominations Not Confirmed
Reasons include "Senate opposition to the nominating President, nominee's views, or incumbent Court; senatorial courtesy; perceived political unreliability of the nominee; perceived lack of ability; interest group opposition; and fear of altering the balance of the Court. These nominations have been the subject of extensive legal, historical and political science writing, a selected list of which is included in this report." A Congressional Research Service (CRS) report for Congress. Opens directly into a PDF file.
The Supreme Court: Home
to America's Highest Court (Online Video, 85 min)
This video takes an unprecedented look into the Supreme Court, the role, traditions
and history of the Court featuring interviews with all the sitting and retired Justices.
Law professor Lori Andrews on personal privacy rights, how they are being eroded by social networks
and how personal information is often collected
and sold in
I Know Who You Are
and I Saw What You Did (67 min)
What
is the Electoral College? (video)
Do Political TV Ads Actually Work? (video)
The 12th
Amendment and The Electoral College (video – 25 min)
Thomas Neale of the Congressional Research Service talks about the 12th amendment of the US Constitution
and the creation of the electoral college.
Police Surveillance
and Technology (video – 29 min)
ACLU attorney Catherine Crump talks about police use of cell-phone location tracking as a widely used means of surveillance.
Future
of the US Postal Service (video – 31 min)
US Post Master General Patrick Donahoe talks about options for restructuring the US Postal Service (USPS), which has been losing $20 million per day of operation.
Negative Political Advertising (3-hour video)
Speakers talk about the impact of negative political advertising on the 2012 election, including the history of negative ads and how those ads affect people's views.
The Negative Consequences of Uncivil Political Discourse (PDF)
The Founding Fathers Guide to the Constitution (54-minute video)
Author Brion McClanahan on the US Constitution and his thoughts about the Founders original intentions, including current interpretations
Political Spin
and Media Coverage (44-minute video)
A panel discussion about political spin and media coverage of campaigns and politics
Political Ads (45-minute video)
Kenneth Goldstein on the latest technologies in customized political advertising used by political parties and election campaigns
What Do You Believe? (PDF)
Who's in Charge? (PDF)
US
Income Inequality Stats
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US states ranked from most to least income
inequality, 2018 |
This visualization re-imagines US Census data as
a neighborhood of 100 homes and groups the households by income,
2020. |
Median US household income by county 2021 |
How
wealth is divided in the US, 2022 |
What it’s like to live on $2 a day in the United States (PDF)
Median US Household Income by State
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