hi I'm Craig I'm not John green but I do
have patches on my elbows so I seem
smart and this is crash course
government and politics a new show
hooray
why are fireworks legal or illegal we
might find out will we find out anyway I
have a question for you have you ever
wondered where your tax dollars go or
why people complain about it so much
or who pays for the highway that runs
past your house or why you use the
textbooks you use in science class or
why you need a license to drive or to
hunt or to fish or to become a barber
I've always wanted to cut my own hair
back when I had it have you ever
wondered why you have to be 21 years old
to drink alcohol but only 18 to vote or
gamble sometimes voting is a gamble I'm
actually always you get confused when
you hear people on the news talk about
Wall Street regulations or Obamacare or
the national debt you wonder why there
are so few cellphone carriers and cable
companies how about why it's okay for
student groups to lead prayers in
schools but not for the principle to do
so have you ever wondered if there are
any limits on when where and how the
police can search your home or your car
or your locker or you or your friend or
your grandma or your grandma's friend
and you know why you can stand outside
of a government office with a sign and a
bullhorn complaining about military
action that you think is unfair and the
police can't stop you but you can be
fired from your job for doing the exact
same thing have you ever been sued or
fined ever wonder what the difference is
between being sued or being fined have
you ever wondered why our government
does the things it does and doesn't do
other things have you ever wondered what
it would be like if we had no government
at all that would be anarchy can we play
the Sex Pistols yeah that's probably
illegal why is it illegal and probably
most important have you ever thought
about how you can change the things that
seem unjust or unfair or that you just
don't like okay so that was more than
one question and obviously there isn't a
single answer to all of those questions
except that in a way there is the study
of government and politics and that's
what we're going to talk about today and
this whole series crash course
government and politics aptly titled
[Music]
so let's start by doing what human
beings do when confronted with
complicated questions they can't answer
will answer a simpler one in this case
what our government in politics and why
do I need to learn about them government
is a set of rules and institutions
people set up so that they can function
together as a unified society sometimes
we call this a state or a nation or a
country or Guam and I'll use these terms
somewhat interchangeably except for Guam
that might be a little confusing so we
study government in order to become
better citizens studying government
enables us to participate in an informed
way anyone can participate but doing so
intelligently that takes a little effort
and that's why we need to learn about
how our government where politics is a
little different politics is a term we
use to describe how power is distributed
in a government and in the u.s. it
basically describes the decisions about
who holds office and how individuals and
groups make those decisions following
politics is a lot like following sports
and that there's a winner and a loser
and people spend a lot of time
predicting who will win and analyzing
why the winner won and the loser lost
yeah come of an election might affect
your life more than the outcome of a
sports game though unless you're
gambling which might be illegal
government is really important everyone
born in America is automatically a
citizen and many people choose to become
citizens every year so that they can
have a say in the government the USA is
a republic which means that we elect
representatives to govern us and a
democracy which means that citizens are
allowed to participate this ability to
participate is something we take for
granted but we shouldn't history tells
us that citizen participation is the
exception rather than the rule but we're
not gonna look at history who has time
that's what history courses are for with
that other guy so one way people can
participate in government is through
voting and many people will tell you
that that's pretty much the only way we
can participate in government or
politics but they're wrong and I love
pointing out what people are wrong let's
go to the thought-bubble sure when you
mark a ballot you are participating in
the political process but there are so
many other things you can do to be an
active citizen you can contact your
representatives and tell them what you
think about a political issue people
used to do this by writing letters or
sending telegrams but now they tend to
call or send email although there's
nothing like a good old-fashioned angry
letter people can work for campaigns to
raise money or give money they can
display yard signs or bumper stickers
they can canvass likely voters try to
convince them to vote or even drive them
to the poll
Election Day you participate in politics
when you answer a public opinion poll or
when you write a letter to the editor or
comment on an online article you
participate in politics when you blog or
tumble or make a youtube video or tweet
I guess even YouTube comments count
first ever been to a March or a rally or
held a sign or worn a t-shirt with a
slogan on it or discussed an upcoming
election at the dinner table and tried
to convince your parents who to vote for
you've participated in the political
process and if you've actually run for
office you participated even if you
didn't win and if you did win
congratulations now get back to work you
should already know this but probably
the most important thing you can do to
participate in government and politics
is both the easiest and the most
challenging become more educated anyone
can be a citizen but to be a good
citizen requires an understanding of how
the government works and how we can
participate it requires knowledge and
effort and we have to do it because
otherwise we end up being led rather
than being leaders we learn about
politics because knowledge is our best
defense against unscrupulous people we
use our ignorant to get us to do the
things that they want rather than what
we think should be done thanks thought
bubble that was my first thought bubble
narration pray you guys are fun this is
fun so that's where we come in over the
course of this series we will be looking
in depth at American government and
politics we'll be talking about stuff
like the structure and function of the
branches of government the division of
power between the national government
and the state governments what political
parties are what they do and how they
are different from interest groups we'll
examine the role the media plays in
government in politics how the legal
system and the courts work and how they
protect civil rights and civil liberties
we'll look at political ideologies what
it means to say or a liberal or a
conservative or a libertarian or a
socialist or an anarchist okay we
probably won't talk about Anarchy
because that's sort of the rejection of
government again Sex Pistols can't it's
copyright issue I'll take care of it
anarchy whoa I've been known to do that
from time to time we'll try to
understand the forces that are shaping
American government in politics today
and we'll work towards becoming more
involved in developing our knowledge so
that we make our government more
responsive and our politics more
inclusive by the end of the series and
actually before the end you will
understand how our government works and
how you can make it work better for you
and your community not only will you be
able to answer most of the questions I
started this episode with but you will
become if you pay attention and think
for yourself a more engaged and active
citizen and you might have a beard if
you don't shave next week we'll talk
about Congress how it works and what it
does when it does anything thanks for
watching I'll see you next week and
that's my first crash-course episode we
had a popper Stan wait others thrown woo
woo bang woo bang bang
woo crash course government and politics
is produced in association with PBS
Digital Studios support for crash course
US government comes from vocal vocal
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and media to advance social equity learn
more about their mission and initiatives
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crash course was made by all these nice
people thanks for watching and we call
it Craig course Stan no
crash course Craig
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