Civic Education Recommendations

December 5, 2017 4:02 PM

I realized recently that there is a ton that I do not know about the workings of our government & country. This was most recently on display during the 2017 tax bill fiasco, attempting to figure out what the hell was going on, or what the next steps would be after the Senate approved something at 2am. While I wish I had paid more attention in high school, those days are long gone. Does anyone have a recommendation for a textbook or even online course that would provide an in-depth understanding of how things work?

I'm currently looking at The Basics of American Politics, but am open to absolutely anything in any medium or format. Totally fine with something on the dry and/or rigorous side.

posted by cybertaur1 to Law & Government (8 answers total)

Crash Course Government on YouTube is a great place to start.
posted by gnutron at 4:16 PM on December 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: A couple of resources from the politics thread:

Room 641-A:

Are there practice citizenship tests available? Almost every naturalized citizen I know knows more about civics than almost every natural-born citizen I know.

fluttering hellfire:

The Dirksen center does things like this. How a bill becomes a law (for adults) for example.

The also maintain the Congress for Kids site in all its comic sans animated gif glory.

posted by cybertaur1 at 4:34 PM on December 5, 2017

This video series from a Bowdoin professor is very good, and free.
posted by rainbowbrite at 4:41 PM on December 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

Our local League of Women Voters offers a Civics 101 class; maybe yours does too?
posted by Sweetie Darling at 4:59 PM on December 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

NPR has a Civics 101 podcast.

There's also More Perfect which focuses on the Supreme Court. Might be a tad specific to start off with, but useful to work in at some point.

How Stuff Works sometimes covers political topics. The linked page is specific to local politics.

Criminal is about the criminal justice system.

I will be following this thread with great interest.
posted by bunderful at 7:11 PM on December 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

There’s a podcast called What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law which is worth listening to.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 1:04 AM on December 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Something to note is that what is happening with the tax bill is not going to be found in any book about what normally happens in the senate or congress as a whole. This is pretty much the opposite is “regular order.”
posted by rockindata at 4:48 AM on December 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

The SCOTUSblog's guide on basic terminology used in the Supreme Court and its procedures are helpful. Also check out their plain-english blog section.
posted by fizzix at 8:40 AM on December 6, 2017 [1 favorite]