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Why do midterm congressional elections matter? Congressional elections matter because they are often and have increasingly been a referendum on the president. So it is a kind of real test from real voters doing real voting about whether people approve of what the president's doing or disapprove of what he's doing. But then there's also an important question of who has control of Congress. If the president's party has control of Congress, the way it's been working in recent history is that means he's basically gonna get a rubber stamp for what he wants to do. If the president's party is not in control of Congress, that means there are gonna be more investigations into the executive branch. And that's of course what the legislature is supposed to do, but it means more investigations. | Why do midterm congressional elections matter US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
What we're going to talk about in this video is voter turnout, which is a way of thinking about, well, how many of the people who could vote actually do vote? It's often expressed as a number, as a percentage, where you have the number who vote, number who vote, over the number of eligible voters, number who could vote, who could vote. And this percentage varies pretty dramatically from region to region amongst various demographic groups. We'll talk about that in a few minutes. And especially if you think about even sometimes year to year, and from country to country. There's some countries that have mandatory voting where this number is a lot higher, other countries for what various reasons, this number could be a lot lower. And one thing for you to think about, if you're already a voting age, you might've already thought this, or if you're not voting yet, you will soon, what would drive you to vote or what would drive you to not vote? | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
We'll talk about that in a few minutes. And especially if you think about even sometimes year to year, and from country to country. There's some countries that have mandatory voting where this number is a lot higher, other countries for what various reasons, this number could be a lot lower. And one thing for you to think about, if you're already a voting age, you might've already thought this, or if you're not voting yet, you will soon, what would drive you to vote or what would drive you to not vote? Stay home or somehow keep you from engaging in this political process? Well, one thing that you'll often hear folks say is, does my vote matter? Does my vote matter? | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
And one thing for you to think about, if you're already a voting age, you might've already thought this, or if you're not voting yet, you will soon, what would drive you to vote or what would drive you to not vote? Stay home or somehow keep you from engaging in this political process? Well, one thing that you'll often hear folks say is, does my vote matter? Does my vote matter? And the typical response that you would get if you say that is, well, if everyone thought that, well, then democracy really won't function. So yes, your vote does matter. So that's the high level way of thinking about it. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
Does my vote matter? And the typical response that you would get if you say that is, well, if everyone thought that, well, then democracy really won't function. So yes, your vote does matter. So that's the high level way of thinking about it. But everyone thinks about this to a certain degree. And this idea of thinking about whether your vote matters, a fancy way of describing that is, you're thinking about your political efficacy. Political efficacy, fancy political science term. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
So that's the high level way of thinking about it. But everyone thinks about this to a certain degree. And this idea of thinking about whether your vote matters, a fancy way of describing that is, you're thinking about your political efficacy. Political efficacy, fancy political science term. But it's really just this idea of, what's my belief about how politically effective I can be when I vote? If I am in a battleground state, say Florida, where even presidential elections have turned on a few hundreds of votes in Florida, you might say, hey, I have high political efficacy. My vote does matter there. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
Political efficacy, fancy political science term. But it's really just this idea of, what's my belief about how politically effective I can be when I vote? If I am in a battleground state, say Florida, where even presidential elections have turned on a few hundreds of votes in Florida, you might say, hey, I have high political efficacy. My vote does matter there. But some folks who live in a state that might be strongly leaning towards one party or another during a presidential election, say a California that tends to go to a Democrat, or say a Texas that tends to go to a Republican, regardless of which party you are, you say, well, if I'm just one more Republican vote in Texas, does my vote matter? If I'm one more Democratic vote in California, does my vote matter? I would encourage you in both cases, your vote does matter, everyone believe that, then our democracy does not function. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
My vote does matter there. But some folks who live in a state that might be strongly leaning towards one party or another during a presidential election, say a California that tends to go to a Democrat, or say a Texas that tends to go to a Republican, regardless of which party you are, you say, well, if I'm just one more Republican vote in Texas, does my vote matter? If I'm one more Democratic vote in California, does my vote matter? I would encourage you in both cases, your vote does matter, everyone believe that, then our democracy does not function. Now, a related idea to political efficacy is this idea of, well, just how engaged are people? So I'll call that engagement. And this might be, well, how much do they care? | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
I would encourage you in both cases, your vote does matter, everyone believe that, then our democracy does not function. Now, a related idea to political efficacy is this idea of, well, just how engaged are people? So I'll call that engagement. And this might be, well, how much do they care? So beyond does my vote matter, there is a notion of do I care? There are certain elections where you might really like one candidate or might really dislike another candidate. You might think, hey, there's some big issues on the table that really affect my life, so I might be more engaged. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
And this might be, well, how much do they care? So beyond does my vote matter, there is a notion of do I care? There are certain elections where you might really like one candidate or might really dislike another candidate. You might think, hey, there's some big issues on the table that really affect my life, so I might be more engaged. Or frankly, the various candidates or the various political parties or community organizations might just be better at engaging the population. Now, a third dimension beyond whether people believe their vote matters or how engaged they are in the issues or the candidates is the structure around voting itself. What state laws are there around voting? | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
You might think, hey, there's some big issues on the table that really affect my life, so I might be more engaged. Or frankly, the various candidates or the various political parties or community organizations might just be better at engaging the population. Now, a third dimension beyond whether people believe their vote matters or how engaged they are in the issues or the candidates is the structure around voting itself. What state laws are there around voting? And how easy or how hard is it to vote? So for example, if there's a big window of time where people can vote and if the polling places are really accessible, especially if they're available on, say, a holiday, then it might be easier for people to actually go to vote. But on the other hand, if they aren't that accessible or if it's on a day where a lot of folks might need to work or certain demographics might need to work, well, they might be less likely to turn out. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
What state laws are there around voting? And how easy or how hard is it to vote? So for example, if there's a big window of time where people can vote and if the polling places are really accessible, especially if they're available on, say, a holiday, then it might be easier for people to actually go to vote. But on the other hand, if they aren't that accessible or if it's on a day where a lot of folks might need to work or certain demographics might need to work, well, they might be less likely to turn out. You also have laws around absentee ballots or people being able to vote ahead of time. The easier it is logistically to vote, the more accessible it is, you're gonna get a higher turnout. Now, political scientists don't just study voter turnout to understand the past. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
But on the other hand, if they aren't that accessible or if it's on a day where a lot of folks might need to work or certain demographics might need to work, well, they might be less likely to turn out. You also have laws around absentee ballots or people being able to vote ahead of time. The easier it is logistically to vote, the more accessible it is, you're gonna get a higher turnout. Now, political scientists don't just study voter turnout to understand the past. They look at the past to try to make predictions about the future. At the next congressional election, the next presidential election, as they're trying to figure out which way it might go, you can't just survey people alone and say, well, are you gonna vote for this candidate or that candidate because you also have to think about how likely are they to vote. And that likelihood could be based on various factors. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
Now, political scientists don't just study voter turnout to understand the past. They look at the past to try to make predictions about the future. At the next congressional election, the next presidential election, as they're trying to figure out which way it might go, you can't just survey people alone and say, well, are you gonna vote for this candidate or that candidate because you also have to think about how likely are they to vote. And that likelihood could be based on various factors. It might be based on their age. It might be based on their race. It might be based on their education level. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
And that likelihood could be based on various factors. It might be based on their age. It might be based on their race. It might be based on their education level. And to appreciate that, let's start taking a look at some data. This chart right over here shows voter turnout by sex and age in the 2008 US presidential election where the blue bars are males and the red bars are females. And then you could see that in the different age groups. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
It might be based on their education level. And to appreciate that, let's start taking a look at some data. This chart right over here shows voter turnout by sex and age in the 2008 US presidential election where the blue bars are males and the red bars are females. And then you could see that in the different age groups. And so pause this video. It's just fun to look at these things. What takeaways are there here? | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
And then you could see that in the different age groups. And so pause this video. It's just fun to look at these things. What takeaways are there here? Well, you can see that if you look at all of the eligible voters, total 18 years and over, that women had a higher voter turnout than men. 60.4% of eligible women voted, only 55.7% of men. Think about why that might be. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
What takeaways are there here? Well, you can see that if you look at all of the eligible voters, total 18 years and over, that women had a higher voter turnout than men. 60.4% of eligible women voted, only 55.7% of men. Think about why that might be. What beliefs might women have around their own political efficacy relative to men? Maybe they're more engaged. Maybe there's issues on the table that they care more about. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
Think about why that might be. What beliefs might women have around their own political efficacy relative to men? Maybe they're more engaged. Maybe there's issues on the table that they care more about. And then if you look by age group, that trend tends to be true. It's most pronounced at the younger age groups, but then things get more and more equal as we go to the older age groups. The only place where that trend breaks down is in 75 years and over. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
Maybe there's issues on the table that they care more about. And then if you look by age group, that trend tends to be true. It's most pronounced at the younger age groups, but then things get more and more equal as we go to the older age groups. The only place where that trend breaks down is in 75 years and over. And then you also have the general trend that older folks are more likely to vote. Once again, why is that? Here's another interesting chart. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
The only place where that trend breaks down is in 75 years and over. And then you also have the general trend that older folks are more likely to vote. Once again, why is that? Here's another interesting chart. This is voter turnout by educational attainment for the same US presidential election, 2008. So you can see that on average, across all education levels, you have this voter turnout around 58.2%. But the more educated people get, the more they're likely, or at least in that election, the more likely they were to actually vote. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
Here's another interesting chart. This is voter turnout by educational attainment for the same US presidential election, 2008. So you can see that on average, across all education levels, you have this voter turnout around 58.2%. But the more educated people get, the more they're likely, or at least in that election, the more likely they were to actually vote. The more educated people are, they might feel more engaged, they might have a better belief that their vote is effective, so they have a belief around political efficacy. This is voter turnout in the 2008 US presidential election by race and ethnicity. And so here you see that in that election, white voters had 64.8% turnout, black voters, 60.8%. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
But the more educated people get, the more they're likely, or at least in that election, the more likely they were to actually vote. The more educated people are, they might feel more engaged, they might have a better belief that their vote is effective, so they have a belief around political efficacy. This is voter turnout in the 2008 US presidential election by race and ethnicity. And so here you see that in that election, white voters had 64.8% turnout, black voters, 60.8%. And you can see Asian and Hispanic voters were much, much lower. What does this say about political engagement? And what does it say about their beliefs around political efficacy? | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
And so here you see that in that election, white voters had 64.8% turnout, black voters, 60.8%. And you can see Asian and Hispanic voters were much, much lower. What does this say about political engagement? And what does it say about their beliefs around political efficacy? And to see trends over time, I'm going to go to the site of fairvote.org, which is a really great nonpartisan nonprofit that is trying to think about how do we get a better democracy? So this diagram right over here shows voter turnout rates from 1916 to 2016. And there's two different lines here. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
And what does it say about their beliefs around political efficacy? And to see trends over time, I'm going to go to the site of fairvote.org, which is a really great nonpartisan nonprofit that is trying to think about how do we get a better democracy? So this diagram right over here shows voter turnout rates from 1916 to 2016. And there's two different lines here. The top one is in presidential elections. This is the 2016 presidential election. And this bottom line right over here is in midterm elections. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
And there's two different lines here. The top one is in presidential elections. This is the 2016 presidential election. And this bottom line right over here is in midterm elections. So this is where there isn't someone running for president. Why do you think that there's such a big gap here that pretty consistently, you have a much higher voter turnout in this, depending on what year you look at, but say in 2016, you have a 60% voter turnout, while in the midterm election of 2014, you didn't even break 40%. You had a little under 36% voter turnout. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
And this bottom line right over here is in midterm elections. So this is where there isn't someone running for president. Why do you think that there's such a big gap here that pretty consistently, you have a much higher voter turnout in this, depending on what year you look at, but say in 2016, you have a 60% voter turnout, while in the midterm election of 2014, you didn't even break 40%. You had a little under 36% voter turnout. Why do you think you have this big gap? Well, you could probably turn to these ideas of political efficacy and engagement. One thing that people talk about around congressional seats is that there tends to not be a lot of turnover around it. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
You had a little under 36% voter turnout. Why do you think you have this big gap? Well, you could probably turn to these ideas of political efficacy and engagement. One thing that people talk about around congressional seats is that there tends to not be a lot of turnover around it. In other videos, we've talked about how the districts might be shaped to benefit incumbents, that the entire process might be benefiting incumbents. So people might say, hey, I have a very low political efficacy here. Most congresspeople tend to stay in office, so maybe that's why they don't really go out to vote. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
One thing that people talk about around congressional seats is that there tends to not be a lot of turnover around it. In other videos, we've talked about how the districts might be shaped to benefit incumbents, that the entire process might be benefiting incumbents. So people might say, hey, I have a very low political efficacy here. Most congresspeople tend to stay in office, so maybe that's why they don't really go out to vote. And there might be an engagement thing going on, that on presidential years, where also congresspeople are up for re-election or up for election, the reason why people go out to vote is presidential elections are these really big, dramatic things. They take over the press. They take over everyone's attention. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
Most congresspeople tend to stay in office, so maybe that's why they don't really go out to vote. And there might be an engagement thing going on, that on presidential years, where also congresspeople are up for re-election or up for election, the reason why people go out to vote is presidential elections are these really big, dramatic things. They take over the press. They take over everyone's attention. Now, another interesting thing to think about is the trend. Why, say, in presidential elections, actually in presidential and midterm elections, do you have such high engagement in the 1960s relative to, say, the 1980s and 1990s, where things got pretty low? One argument could be that the 1960s was a time of very high political engagement. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
They take over everyone's attention. Now, another interesting thing to think about is the trend. Why, say, in presidential elections, actually in presidential and midterm elections, do you have such high engagement in the 1960s relative to, say, the 1980s and 1990s, where things got pretty low? One argument could be that the 1960s was a time of very high political engagement. You had the Vietnam War going on. You had the Civil Rights Movement. Now, if we scroll down on Fair Vote, right over here, we can see voter turnout in the 2016 elections by state. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
One argument could be that the 1960s was a time of very high political engagement. You had the Vietnam War going on. You had the Civil Rights Movement. Now, if we scroll down on Fair Vote, right over here, we can see voter turnout in the 2016 elections by state. And the deeper the purple here, the higher the turnout. And so what patterns do you see here? And I'll give you a hint. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
Now, if we scroll down on Fair Vote, right over here, we can see voter turnout in the 2016 elections by state. And the deeper the purple here, the higher the turnout. And so what patterns do you see here? And I'll give you a hint. Think about which states are battleground states, the ones that could flip either way or the ones that could have flipped either way in the 2016 election. Well, you could see the deeper purple are in states like Florida or in states like Ohio or Wisconsin. And it's indeed in Michigan. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
And I'll give you a hint. Think about which states are battleground states, the ones that could flip either way or the ones that could have flipped either way in the 2016 election. Well, you could see the deeper purple are in states like Florida or in states like Ohio or Wisconsin. And it's indeed in Michigan. These indeed are battleground states. So you could imagine folks in those states believed that they had higher political efficacy. Now, in the 2014 elections, you don't see it as dramatic. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
And it's indeed in Michigan. These indeed are battleground states. So you could imagine folks in those states believed that they had higher political efficacy. Now, in the 2014 elections, you don't see it as dramatic. This is a midterm election year. So people are thinking a lot less about the Electoral College and presidential elections. So it isn't as all or nothing as they are in the Electoral College in the presidential elections. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
Now, in the 2014 elections, you don't see it as dramatic. This is a midterm election year. So people are thinking a lot less about the Electoral College and presidential elections. So it isn't as all or nothing as they are in the Electoral College in the presidential elections. And so you don't see it as pronounced. But if you go back to 2012, which was a presidential election year, you see the same pattern again, that the battleground states are a deeper color. So I will leave you there. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
So it isn't as all or nothing as they are in the Electoral College in the presidential elections. And so you don't see it as pronounced. But if you go back to 2012, which was a presidential election year, you see the same pattern again, that the battleground states are a deeper color. So I will leave you there. You should vote. That's just my public service message. But it's interesting to think about why in general voter turnout might change. | Voter turnout Political participation US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
So these were really kind of op-eds that they were publishing to convince people. But this is a great passage. If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this. You must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place, oblige it to control itself. And it goes on to talk about how we can keep government from becoming too powerful by so contriving the interior structure of the government as that its several constituent parts may by their mutual relations be the means of keeping each other in their proper places. | Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances.mp3 |
If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this. You must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place, oblige it to control itself. And it goes on to talk about how we can keep government from becoming too powerful by so contriving the interior structure of the government as that its several constituent parts may by their mutual relations be the means of keeping each other in their proper places. And so remember, this was in defense of the Constitution. So arguably, this was in place, that somehow this Constitution had contrived an interior structure so that the several constituent parts of government by their mutual relations would keep each other in their proper places. Or you could even say keep each other in check. | Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances.mp3 |
And it goes on to talk about how we can keep government from becoming too powerful by so contriving the interior structure of the government as that its several constituent parts may by their mutual relations be the means of keeping each other in their proper places. And so remember, this was in defense of the Constitution. So arguably, this was in place, that somehow this Constitution had contrived an interior structure so that the several constituent parts of government by their mutual relations would keep each other in their proper places. Or you could even say keep each other in check. So in line with this passage, there's really two big ideas embedded in the Constitution as to how our government is structured. The first is this notion of separation of powers. We have three branches of government. | Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances.mp3 |
Or you could even say keep each other in check. So in line with this passage, there's really two big ideas embedded in the Constitution as to how our government is structured. The first is this notion of separation of powers. We have three branches of government. You have your executive, headed by the president. You have your legislative branch, which is Congress. Legislative. | Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances.mp3 |
We have three branches of government. You have your executive, headed by the president. You have your legislative branch, which is Congress. Legislative. And you have your judicial branch, which is the US Supreme Court. And this notion of separation of powers is that you have these fairly independent branches of government, and the idea was to make them reasonably independent so that one group, one branch could not take over the others. The legislative branch, Congress, they're charged with budget, and they're charged with creating and passing laws. | Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances.mp3 |
Legislative. And you have your judicial branch, which is the US Supreme Court. And this notion of separation of powers is that you have these fairly independent branches of government, and the idea was to make them reasonably independent so that one group, one branch could not take over the others. The legislative branch, Congress, they're charged with budget, and they're charged with creating and passing laws. The executive branch, headed by the president, is supposed to execute, run the government based on the laws that Congress passes. And you have the judicial branch that would decide whether things, say laws that Congress is passing or actions that the executive's taking, they say, hey, is that constitutional? Or they can interpret laws. | Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances.mp3 |
The legislative branch, Congress, they're charged with budget, and they're charged with creating and passing laws. The executive branch, headed by the president, is supposed to execute, run the government based on the laws that Congress passes. And you have the judicial branch that would decide whether things, say laws that Congress is passing or actions that the executive's taking, they say, hey, is that constitutional? Or they can interpret laws. So these different powers are put into these different branches. The powers are separate. Now related to that is another very powerful idea, and this is keeping each other in their proper places. | Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances.mp3 |
Or they can interpret laws. So these different powers are put into these different branches. The powers are separate. Now related to that is another very powerful idea, and this is keeping each other in their proper places. And so this is the idea of checks and balances. Each of these can't do whatever they want. They're all balancing each other. | Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances.mp3 |
Now related to that is another very powerful idea, and this is keeping each other in their proper places. And so this is the idea of checks and balances. Each of these can't do whatever they want. They're all balancing each other. They all have checks on each other. For example, the executive can veto, the legislative branch can veto a law passed by Congress, but then the legislative branch can override that veto. The legislative branch, they control the budget. | Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances.mp3 |
They're all balancing each other. They all have checks on each other. For example, the executive can veto, the legislative branch can veto a law passed by Congress, but then the legislative branch can override that veto. The legislative branch, they control the budget. So it's not like the president or the executive can do whatever they want, or that they can just spend as much money as they want. And the judicial branch in both cases can be a check, and they're saying, hey, you're doing something that is unconstitutional. Or we're going to interpret the laws that the legislature has passed. | Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances.mp3 |
The legislative branch, they control the budget. So it's not like the president or the executive can do whatever they want, or that they can just spend as much money as they want. And the judicial branch in both cases can be a check, and they're saying, hey, you're doing something that is unconstitutional. Or we're going to interpret the laws that the legislature has passed. The executive appoints the judicial, but even there, you have to get congressional buy-in. So once again, you have these independent branches of government, all the power isn't in one, and they are interdependent. They provide checks and balances on each other. | Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances.mp3 |
And I put the word third in quotation marks because there's more than one third party. So you could even think of it as a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh parties. But the reason why people say third parties is because in the United States, you have two dominant parties. You have the Republicans and you have the Democrats. And so any other party is considered to be a third party after those first two big dominant parties. So here are some of the logos of some of the, I would say, major third parties in the United States. And I'm gonna put major in quotes because they don't have much of a say in our government today. | Third parties in the United States US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
You have the Republicans and you have the Democrats. And so any other party is considered to be a third party after those first two big dominant parties. So here are some of the logos of some of the, I would say, major third parties in the United States. And I'm gonna put major in quotes because they don't have much of a say in our government today. You have the Libertarian Party that is very focused on people's individual liberties. They generally think about the government doing as little as possible, that whenever the government tries to get bigger, it infringes on people's liberties, either in the economic sphere or in the social sphere. The Green Party is also very pro-civil liberties, but you can also imagine, because it's called the Green Party, it is very concerned with the environment. | Third parties in the United States US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
And I'm gonna put major in quotes because they don't have much of a say in our government today. You have the Libertarian Party that is very focused on people's individual liberties. They generally think about the government doing as little as possible, that whenever the government tries to get bigger, it infringes on people's liberties, either in the economic sphere or in the social sphere. The Green Party is also very pro-civil liberties, but you can also imagine, because it's called the Green Party, it is very concerned with the environment. Now this third third party, and there's many more than just these three, this is the Reform Party. And the Reform Party is really interesting because it was started by Ross Perot in 1995. And this was after, in 1992, Ross Perot ran as an independent candidate for president, and he did surprisingly well. | Third parties in the United States US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
The Green Party is also very pro-civil liberties, but you can also imagine, because it's called the Green Party, it is very concerned with the environment. Now this third third party, and there's many more than just these three, this is the Reform Party. And the Reform Party is really interesting because it was started by Ross Perot in 1995. And this was after, in 1992, Ross Perot ran as an independent candidate for president, and he did surprisingly well. He got nearly 20% of the popular vote. But an interesting question is, even though he got 20% of the popular vote in 1992, and even though in the Reform Party it had some reasonable support even in the 1996 election, how come we don't see congresspeople who represent the Reform Party? And there's two real answers here. | Third parties in the United States US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
And this was after, in 1992, Ross Perot ran as an independent candidate for president, and he did surprisingly well. He got nearly 20% of the popular vote. But an interesting question is, even though he got 20% of the popular vote in 1992, and even though in the Reform Party it had some reasonable support even in the 1996 election, how come we don't see congresspeople who represent the Reform Party? And there's two real answers here. One is the winner-take-all system. Winner-take-all. So if we're dealing with a situation where even if a third party gets 20% of the vote, they're not going to get any representation for it. | Third parties in the United States US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
And there's two real answers here. One is the winner-take-all system. Winner-take-all. So if we're dealing with a situation where even if a third party gets 20% of the vote, they're not going to get any representation for it. And you can contrast that with a proportional representation system like you have in some parliaments. So in some countries, their parliament is elected by proportional representation. So let's say that 20% vote for Party A, let's say 70% vote for Party B, and then the remainder 10% vote for Party C. In a parliamentary proportional representation system, Party C would get roughly 10% of the seats in the parliament. | Third parties in the United States US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
So if we're dealing with a situation where even if a third party gets 20% of the vote, they're not going to get any representation for it. And you can contrast that with a proportional representation system like you have in some parliaments. So in some countries, their parliament is elected by proportional representation. So let's say that 20% vote for Party A, let's say 70% vote for Party B, and then the remainder 10% vote for Party C. In a parliamentary proportional representation system, Party C would get roughly 10% of the seats in the parliament. But that's not the way it works in our government. In our government, in almost any jurisdiction, if you had a voter breakdown like this, well, Party B would win, or maybe sometimes Party A would win. And even if Party C does get some votes, it's never going to cross the threshold to actually get representation. | Third parties in the United States US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
So let's say that 20% vote for Party A, let's say 70% vote for Party B, and then the remainder 10% vote for Party C. In a parliamentary proportional representation system, Party C would get roughly 10% of the seats in the parliament. But that's not the way it works in our government. In our government, in almost any jurisdiction, if you had a voter breakdown like this, well, Party B would win, or maybe sometimes Party A would win. And even if Party C does get some votes, it's never going to cross the threshold to actually get representation. Now, with that said, this doesn't fully explain why we don't see more third party representation in, say, the United States Congress. Because there are countries that have more third party representation, even though they don't have proportional representation. Now, another reason that's often cited for why we don't see third party representation is that the major parties, the Republicans and Democrats, oftentimes incorporate the third party's messages into their own. | Third parties in the United States US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
And even if Party C does get some votes, it's never going to cross the threshold to actually get representation. Now, with that said, this doesn't fully explain why we don't see more third party representation in, say, the United States Congress. Because there are countries that have more third party representation, even though they don't have proportional representation. Now, another reason that's often cited for why we don't see third party representation is that the major parties, the Republicans and Democrats, oftentimes incorporate the third party's messages into their own. To get a sense of this, I'm gonna show you a little bit of an excerpt from a Reform Party ad in 1996. And at that time, they were saying things that neither the Democrats or the Republicans were saying very strongly. And I want you to think about when you hear it, whether some of those messages have later on become parts of either the Republican or the Democratic candidates' messages. | Third parties in the United States US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
Now, another reason that's often cited for why we don't see third party representation is that the major parties, the Republicans and Democrats, oftentimes incorporate the third party's messages into their own. To get a sense of this, I'm gonna show you a little bit of an excerpt from a Reform Party ad in 1996. And at that time, they were saying things that neither the Democrats or the Republicans were saying very strongly. And I want you to think about when you hear it, whether some of those messages have later on become parts of either the Republican or the Democratic candidates' messages. Washington is selling our future to the special interests. Don't waste your vote on someone who will sell you out. Ross Perot is the only candidate who will work for our interest instead of the special interest. | Third parties in the United States US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
And I want you to think about when you hear it, whether some of those messages have later on become parts of either the Republican or the Democratic candidates' messages. Washington is selling our future to the special interests. Don't waste your vote on someone who will sell you out. Ross Perot is the only candidate who will work for our interest instead of the special interest. Just vote for Ross because you own this country. So as you saw in that ad from the Reform Party, there's a lot of talk about the influence of special interest and how people need to take their government back. And if you fast forward to the 2016 presidential election, you had two major forces, actually one on the Republican side and one on the Democratic side. | Third parties in the United States US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
Ross Perot is the only candidate who will work for our interest instead of the special interest. Just vote for Ross because you own this country. So as you saw in that ad from the Reform Party, there's a lot of talk about the influence of special interest and how people need to take their government back. And if you fast forward to the 2016 presidential election, you had two major forces, actually one on the Republican side and one on the Democratic side. On the Republican side, you have Donald Trump, who's echoing the need to focus on special interest, that Washington is a swamp and it needs to be drained. It wasn't obvious from that ad, but Ross Perot in 1992 was ringing the alarm bells about NAFTA and free trade and saying why it would be bad for the United States. And in 2016, you heard many of these same things from the Republican candidate, Donald Trump. | Third parties in the United States US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
What we're going to read together in this video is what has become known as Martin Luther King's letter from a Birmingham jail, which he wrote from a jail cell in 1963 after he and several of his associates were arrested in Birmingham, Alabama as they nonviolently protested segregation there. And I'm going to read an excerpt of it. I encourage you to read it in its entirety. It is one of the most powerful documents, frankly, I have ever read. And Martin Luther King often gets a lot of credit as an amazing speaker. People say, hey, he could read the phone book and it would move people. But this also speaks to what an incredible writer he was. | Letter from a Birmingham Jail US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
It is one of the most powerful documents, frankly, I have ever read. And Martin Luther King often gets a lot of credit as an amazing speaker. People say, hey, he could read the phone book and it would move people. But this also speaks to what an incredible writer he was. Not only is it moving, but it really gives the philosophical underpinnings of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. And many people attribute the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed by Congress as being heavily influenced by Martin Luther King's letter. Now, what motivated Martin Luther King to write this letter was a statement made in a newspaper by eight Alabama clergymen, which encouraged the protesters to wait, saying that yes, we are sympathetic to the injustices, but they should be resolved in the courts and not through the type of protest, the type of tension that Martin Luther King and his fellow protesters were creating. | Letter from a Birmingham Jail US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
But this also speaks to what an incredible writer he was. Not only is it moving, but it really gives the philosophical underpinnings of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. And many people attribute the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed by Congress as being heavily influenced by Martin Luther King's letter. Now, what motivated Martin Luther King to write this letter was a statement made in a newspaper by eight Alabama clergymen, which encouraged the protesters to wait, saying that yes, we are sympathetic to the injustices, but they should be resolved in the courts and not through the type of protest, the type of tension that Martin Luther King and his fellow protesters were creating. And so here's just an excerpt of what Martin Luther King wrote. You may well ask, why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, and so forth? | Letter from a Birmingham Jail US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
Now, what motivated Martin Luther King to write this letter was a statement made in a newspaper by eight Alabama clergymen, which encouraged the protesters to wait, saying that yes, we are sympathetic to the injustices, but they should be resolved in the courts and not through the type of protest, the type of tension that Martin Luther King and his fellow protesters were creating. And so here's just an excerpt of what Martin Luther King wrote. You may well ask, why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path? You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. | Letter from a Birmingham Jail US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
Why sit-ins, marches, and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path? You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resistor may sound rather shocking, but I must confess that I am not afraid of the word tension. | Letter from a Birmingham Jail US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resistor may sound rather shocking, but I must confess that I am not afraid of the word tension. I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. | Letter from a Birmingham Jail US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
In this series of videos about the Constitution, we've been discussing all the elements of balance and compromise that appear in the Constitution. The balance between large states and small states, and between the different branches of government. But in this video, I wanna talk about one particular compromise made at the Constitutional Convention over how the President of the United States is elected, and that is the Electoral College. I think these compromises reveal some real conflict among the framers over how they think the American Revolution did. Did they think that the Revolution went too far? Had created too much equality and too much liberty for people who weren't ready to deal with it? Or did it not go far enough? | Constitutional compromises The Electoral College US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
I think these compromises reveal some real conflict among the framers over how they think the American Revolution did. Did they think that the Revolution went too far? Had created too much equality and too much liberty for people who weren't ready to deal with it? Or did it not go far enough? So let's talk about this idea that perhaps the Revolution went too far. That the average American Joe, or Jedediah, I guess could be the revolutionary version of Joe, had too much a sense of his own importance, was going to tear down the social structures that had seemed natural during the American Revolution. The wealthy elites, the middling farmers, the rough and rowdy workers. | Constitutional compromises The Electoral College US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
Or did it not go far enough? So let's talk about this idea that perhaps the Revolution went too far. That the average American Joe, or Jedediah, I guess could be the revolutionary version of Joe, had too much a sense of his own importance, was going to tear down the social structures that had seemed natural during the American Revolution. The wealthy elites, the middling farmers, the rough and rowdy workers. You'll remember that one of the incidents that led to the decision to revise the Articles of Confederation was Shays' Rebellion, in which a group of unruly farmers, Revolutionary War veterans, had marched against the governor of Massachusetts. So the people were used to rebelling, and they first had rebelled against Great Britain, but now that war was over, and they started rebelling against state governments. So there's a real sense throughout the Constitution that the founders were attempting to balance democracy, a representative government, with what they saw as too much democracy, or mobocracy in their words. | Constitutional compromises The Electoral College US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
The wealthy elites, the middling farmers, the rough and rowdy workers. You'll remember that one of the incidents that led to the decision to revise the Articles of Confederation was Shays' Rebellion, in which a group of unruly farmers, Revolutionary War veterans, had marched against the governor of Massachusetts. So the people were used to rebelling, and they first had rebelled against Great Britain, but now that war was over, and they started rebelling against state governments. So there's a real sense throughout the Constitution that the founders were attempting to balance democracy, a representative government, with what they saw as too much democracy, or mobocracy in their words. That unruly mobs who perhaps lacked the virtue of elite, educated citizens, would foolishly tear down government that they weren't prepared to be part of. Now you see that in things like the Senate. The members of the Senate were appointed, not elected, up until the 20th century. | Constitutional compromises The Electoral College US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
So there's a real sense throughout the Constitution that the founders were attempting to balance democracy, a representative government, with what they saw as too much democracy, or mobocracy in their words. That unruly mobs who perhaps lacked the virtue of elite, educated citizens, would foolishly tear down government that they weren't prepared to be part of. Now you see that in things like the Senate. The members of the Senate were appointed, not elected, up until the 20th century. The idea that there had to be one part of the legislative branch that was selected by the better sort of men, the sort of people who really knew what good leadership looked like, not by a mob that might be swayed by any fancy-talking politician. The founders didn't want all white men to be able to vote. They wanted voting to be reserved to the elite, the propertied, the educated, those who were prepared to be virtuous citizens. | Constitutional compromises The Electoral College US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
The members of the Senate were appointed, not elected, up until the 20th century. The idea that there had to be one part of the legislative branch that was selected by the better sort of men, the sort of people who really knew what good leadership looked like, not by a mob that might be swayed by any fancy-talking politician. The founders didn't want all white men to be able to vote. They wanted voting to be reserved to the elite, the propertied, the educated, those who were prepared to be virtuous citizens. It wouldn't be until the 1820s that all white men could vote in elections, regardless of how much property they owned. Of course, it wouldn't be until the late 19th and 20th centuries that women and minorities would get the right to vote. So they had a very dim idea of the average citizen's ability to engage productively in democracy. | Constitutional compromises The Electoral College US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
They wanted voting to be reserved to the elite, the propertied, the educated, those who were prepared to be virtuous citizens. It wouldn't be until the 1820s that all white men could vote in elections, regardless of how much property they owned. Of course, it wouldn't be until the late 19th and 20th centuries that women and minorities would get the right to vote. So they had a very dim idea of the average citizen's ability to engage productively in democracy. And another way that they show this in the Constitution is in the process of electing the president. Article Two establishes the executive branch, and it also discusses how presidential elections shall work. And it's a kind of complex process, the electoral college, but the simple version is that instead of having citizens vote directly for the president, the citizens would vote in each state, and then that state would have electors equal to the number of senators and representatives. | Constitutional compromises The Electoral College US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
So they had a very dim idea of the average citizen's ability to engage productively in democracy. And another way that they show this in the Constitution is in the process of electing the president. Article Two establishes the executive branch, and it also discusses how presidential elections shall work. And it's a kind of complex process, the electoral college, but the simple version is that instead of having citizens vote directly for the president, the citizens would vote in each state, and then that state would have electors equal to the number of senators and representatives. And those electors would then cast votes for the president, and whoever got the most electoral votes should be president. And we still have this system today. This is a map of the current number of electoral votes that each state has. | Constitutional compromises The Electoral College US government and civics Khan Academy.mp3 |
So John, how has the role of the presidency changed over the last several hundreds of years? It's changed dramatically. First of all, when the founders created the presidency, they left it kind of loose. They weren't exactly very specific about what a president would do. And they realized that the first president, George Washington, and this is why he was so important, was a man of virtue and that he, in his behavior, would set the precedence for the next president after him. That means the job is basically handed off by tradition from president to president. And the reason why they didn't know what a president should do is that there wasn't a notion of a, there wasn't a precedent for being a president. | Changes to the role of the presidency AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
They weren't exactly very specific about what a president would do. And they realized that the first president, George Washington, and this is why he was so important, was a man of virtue and that he, in his behavior, would set the precedence for the next president after him. That means the job is basically handed off by tradition from president to president. And the reason why they didn't know what a president should do is that there wasn't a notion of a, there wasn't a precedent for being a president. That's right. They knew what they didn't want. They didn't want two things. | Changes to the role of the presidency AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
And the reason why they didn't know what a president should do is that there wasn't a notion of a, there wasn't a precedent for being a president. That's right. They knew what they didn't want. They didn't want two things. They didn't want a king. They'd just gotten rid of one of those. They didn't want a king and they also didn't want somebody who was whipped around by mob rule. | Changes to the role of the presidency AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
They didn't want two things. They didn't want a king. They'd just gotten rid of one of those. They didn't want a king and they also didn't want somebody who was whipped around by mob rule. They didn't, so those were the two things they were trying to get between. But a president has a lot of room to move in between the two of them and they thought, well, put it in the hands of a virtuous American, George Washington, a good, first, virtuous American, and that person, through their virtue and character, would stay in the right place, would not become a king and would not give over to the mob. But it also meant that it relied on the character of the person in the presidency. | Changes to the role of the presidency AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
They didn't want a king and they also didn't want somebody who was whipped around by mob rule. They didn't, so those were the two things they were trying to get between. But a president has a lot of room to move in between the two of them and they thought, well, put it in the hands of a virtuous American, George Washington, a good, first, virtuous American, and that person, through their virtue and character, would stay in the right place, would not become a king and would not give over to the mob. But it also meant that it relied on the character of the person in the presidency. And so each president in subsequent years has taken shape in the presidency, both by what was determined by their predecessors, but also by what they could do in the job. And what's happened is a job that started out very weak in the American system has now become one where some people think of all of the entire of American government as the president. And that's not what the founders wanted. | Changes to the role of the presidency AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
But it also meant that it relied on the character of the person in the presidency. And so each president in subsequent years has taken shape in the presidency, both by what was determined by their predecessors, but also by what they could do in the job. And what's happened is a job that started out very weak in the American system has now become one where some people think of all of the entire of American government as the president. And that's not what the founders wanted. But how does that evolve? Because obviously the Constitution talks about the powers of the president. So how does it change so much over time? | Changes to the role of the presidency AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
And that's not what the founders wanted. But how does that evolve? Because obviously the Constitution talks about the powers of the president. So how does it change so much over time? What happened was when they originally created the presidency, there was a debate. And the debate was we need somebody who can move quickly. We can't always be calling them into Congress because, of course, when America was started, it used to take several months or sometimes it would take weeks to get on a horse and get to Washington. | Changes to the role of the presidency AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
So how does it change so much over time? What happened was when they originally created the presidency, there was a debate. And the debate was we need somebody who can move quickly. We can't always be calling them into Congress because, of course, when America was started, it used to take several months or sometimes it would take weeks to get on a horse and get to Washington. So we need an executive who can move quickly. Well, what happened was in various wars, America needed to move quickly, and they needed one person to act on behalf of the entire union. Well, there's only one person who can do that. | Changes to the role of the presidency AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
We can't always be calling them into Congress because, of course, when America was started, it used to take several months or sometimes it would take weeks to get on a horse and get to Washington. So we need an executive who can move quickly. Well, what happened was in various wars, America needed to move quickly, and they needed one person to act on behalf of the entire union. Well, there's only one person who can do that. But as people wanted quick action, they handed over more power to the president. Congress, which used to fight with the president a lot during the Second World War and then on into our present day, has given up a lot of its power to the president, one of the key ones being the power to make war. Presidents can now go and make war. | Changes to the role of the presidency AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
Well, there's only one person who can do that. But as people wanted quick action, they handed over more power to the president. Congress, which used to fight with the president a lot during the Second World War and then on into our present day, has given up a lot of its power to the president, one of the key ones being the power to make war. Presidents can now go and make war. Well, that's not the original way it was arranged. And they've done it because there is a hunger in the country for quick action. But the problem and challenge of that is if you invest somebody in with power to do things quickly in an emergency, they hold on to that power and they don't let it go. | Changes to the role of the presidency AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
Presidents can now go and make war. Well, that's not the original way it was arranged. And they've done it because there is a hunger in the country for quick action. But the problem and challenge of that is if you invest somebody in with power to do things quickly in an emergency, they hold on to that power and they don't let it go. And that means that they start doing things when it's not an emergency that is then not vetted by the American system. And that system has both the judiciary and the legislative, which are meant to hold back a president who's trying to act too quickly and do too much. Just to go on this notion of making war as an example, there's clear powers that Congress has to approve a war, has the power of the purse. | Changes to the role of the presidency AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
But the problem and challenge of that is if you invest somebody in with power to do things quickly in an emergency, they hold on to that power and they don't let it go. And that means that they start doing things when it's not an emergency that is then not vetted by the American system. And that system has both the judiciary and the legislative, which are meant to hold back a president who's trying to act too quickly and do too much. Just to go on this notion of making war as an example, there's clear powers that Congress has to approve a war, has the power of the purse. So how did this happen? Do they just do that as a ritual now? Well, basically there are times and Congress tries and makes attempts to try to pull power back from the president. | Changes to the role of the presidency AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
Just to go on this notion of making war as an example, there's clear powers that Congress has to approve a war, has the power of the purse. So how did this happen? Do they just do that as a ritual now? Well, basically there are times and Congress tries and makes attempts to try to pull power back from the president. The only times they've been successful after the Second World War is really after Watergate. The view was that the president had gotten too powerful, that President Nixon, who left office, had abused the office. And so Congress tried to pull some power back. | Changes to the role of the presidency AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
Well, basically there are times and Congress tries and makes attempts to try to pull power back from the president. The only times they've been successful after the Second World War is really after Watergate. The view was that the president had gotten too powerful, that President Nixon, who left office, had abused the office. And so Congress tried to pull some power back. But again, political parties, which are now very close to the president, it used to be that political parties were not so powerful. If I'm a Republican in Congress and I want my Republican president to do well, I'm going to give him the power he wants because we're connected. In the old days, if the president in the office was my party, well, that's nice. | Changes to the role of the presidency AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
And so Congress tried to pull some power back. But again, political parties, which are now very close to the president, it used to be that political parties were not so powerful. If I'm a Republican in Congress and I want my Republican president to do well, I'm going to give him the power he wants because we're connected. In the old days, if the president in the office was my party, well, that's nice. But I've got my own views and I'm in Congress and I'm going to do what I want. And so essentially a lot of these powers that have gone to the president have been handed over to him, not with a ceremony, but just by lack of a fight by members of Congress in withdrawing from their traditional role, as the founders wanted it, as the key actor in American government. That's no longer the case. | Changes to the role of the presidency AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
In the old days, if the president in the office was my party, well, that's nice. But I've got my own views and I'm in Congress and I'm going to do what I want. And so essentially a lot of these powers that have gone to the president have been handed over to him, not with a ceremony, but just by lack of a fight by members of Congress in withdrawing from their traditional role, as the founders wanted it, as the key actor in American government. That's no longer the case. In America today, the president is the key actor. And then every time that happens, the next president or the next several presidents say, wait, you allowed that to happen to that person. I should have that power. | Changes to the role of the presidency AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
That's no longer the case. In America today, the president is the key actor. And then every time that happens, the next president or the next several presidents say, wait, you allowed that to happen to that person. I should have that power. That's exactly right. It's almost like the powers conveyed to the new president like the furniture in the Oval Office. And so they think, well, this chair is pretty comfortable. | Changes to the role of the presidency AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
I should have that power. That's exactly right. It's almost like the powers conveyed to the new president like the furniture in the Oval Office. And so they think, well, this chair is pretty comfortable. I'm not going to get rid of that and sit in the old, you know, uncomfortable wooden chair. I want all the plush trappings. And here's another reason. | Changes to the role of the presidency AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
And so they think, well, this chair is pretty comfortable. I'm not going to get rid of that and sit in the old, you know, uncomfortable wooden chair. I want all the plush trappings. And here's another reason. American politics has created a situation, and television has made this so much worse, where people run for office promising the sun, the moon and the stars. So they say, I can, Donald Trump, when he was running, said, I alone can fix it. That is not the way the country was originally founded, that one person could fix or unfix things. | Changes to the role of the presidency AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
And here's another reason. American politics has created a situation, and television has made this so much worse, where people run for office promising the sun, the moon and the stars. So they say, I can, Donald Trump, when he was running, said, I alone can fix it. That is not the way the country was originally founded, that one person could fix or unfix things. It was supposed to be a country with representatives of the entire country. But politics has created a system where, whether it's a Republican or Democrat, they run by saying, I can do anything. Well, that means when you get in the office, you want those quick powers that allow you to keep those campaign promises. | Changes to the role of the presidency AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
So John, when our nation was founded, there was media, it was essentially newspapers. How has the evolution of media affected the evolution of political discourse? At the beginning of our country, the editors of the rival newspapers, there was no middle of the road newspaper. You were either for one side or the other. You were either a Federalist or you were with the Jeffersonian Democrats, Democratic Republicans as they called themselves. And the editors were at each other's throats so violently, they would sometimes get in fights in the street and knock each other down. So it was, and you had lawmakers who were supposed to be men of virtue, it was all men in those days, would be leaking documents. | The media and partisanship Political partecipation AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
You were either for one side or the other. You were either a Federalist or you were with the Jeffersonian Democrats, Democratic Republicans as they called themselves. And the editors were at each other's throats so violently, they would sometimes get in fights in the street and knock each other down. So it was, and you had lawmakers who were supposed to be men of virtue, it was all men in those days, would be leaking documents. Alexander Hamilton, the Treasury Secretary, and Thomas Jefferson, the Secretary of State, would leak documents to their favorite papers in order to attack the other. And eventually George Washington had to come in and say, knock it off, fellas, because this isn't good for the country. So the bitterness carried out in the press was with us from the founding. | The media and partisanship Political partecipation AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
So it was, and you had lawmakers who were supposed to be men of virtue, it was all men in those days, would be leaking documents. Alexander Hamilton, the Treasury Secretary, and Thomas Jefferson, the Secretary of State, would leak documents to their favorite papers in order to attack the other. And eventually George Washington had to come in and say, knock it off, fellas, because this isn't good for the country. So the bitterness carried out in the press was with us from the founding. What changed over time is that it became in the interest of the newspapers particularly to appeal to a larger audience. That means you didn't want just the left or the right, you wanted both. And so that created a tradition along with a few other things where there was an attempt to give just the facts, a kind of middle of the road perspective. | The media and partisanship Political partecipation AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
So the bitterness carried out in the press was with us from the founding. What changed over time is that it became in the interest of the newspapers particularly to appeal to a larger audience. That means you didn't want just the left or the right, you wanted both. And so that created a tradition along with a few other things where there was an attempt to give just the facts, a kind of middle of the road perspective. We are changing from that now where the economics of covering the news and the digital, the change where you now can have anybody speaking and gaining access to the public has created a situation where you have a more partisan press now. And we're in the middle of trying to figure out where that's going next. So this is interesting because a lot of people when they talk about, oh, well now it's getting polarized and partisan, you know, the good old days when you got the truth, the wisdom from Walter Cronkite or whoever. | The media and partisanship Political partecipation AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
And so that created a tradition along with a few other things where there was an attempt to give just the facts, a kind of middle of the road perspective. We are changing from that now where the economics of covering the news and the digital, the change where you now can have anybody speaking and gaining access to the public has created a situation where you have a more partisan press now. And we're in the middle of trying to figure out where that's going next. So this is interesting because a lot of people when they talk about, oh, well now it's getting polarized and partisan, you know, the good old days when you got the truth, the wisdom from Walter Cronkite or whoever. But what you're talking about is maybe what's going on now is a little bit of a reversion back to where we started. That's right. In terms of the partisanship of the press, it is a reversion towards the early days of America. | The media and partisanship Political partecipation AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |
So this is interesting because a lot of people when they talk about, oh, well now it's getting polarized and partisan, you know, the good old days when you got the truth, the wisdom from Walter Cronkite or whoever. But what you're talking about is maybe what's going on now is a little bit of a reversion back to where we started. That's right. In terms of the partisanship of the press, it is a reversion towards the early days of America. And in terms of the partisanship of the individual members of Congress or of the White House, what is a little bit different is that the call to virtue, which would snap people out of their partisanship, is still up for grabs. Whether the original, the founders when they fought like cats and dogs during the early years of the administrations, I mean, Thomas Jefferson was best friends with John Adams and essentially then hired a newspaper writer to undermine Adams when he was president. I mean, this was a very dirty pool. | The media and partisanship Political partecipation AP US Government and Politics Khan Academy.mp3 |