Crash Course Big Questions on US Government Preview
00:00 These are unprecedented times. >> We're in an unprecedented time. [music] >> unprecedented border crisis >> The unprecedented thing is the idea >> not normal >> is not normal. >> This unprec- >> an unprecedented
00:12 >> unprecedented >> unprecedented >> you are making at the expense of the American people. >> truly without parallel in our history >> Why are Supreme Court nominations so contentious? Can the president do whatever they want? Are we more
00:27 polarized now than ever? And how long are we going to keep saying we're living in unprecedented times before we admit it seems like the government isn't exactly working the way we were taught it was supposed to in social studies class. If you've ever found yourself asking these kinds of questions or
00:44 fact-checking your uncle's opinions about them, you're not alone. Take it from me, a guy who's been inside the belly of the beast. Hi, I'm Kusha Navadar. After I got my master's in public policy, I was a political speechwriter. I wrote speeches for a lot of people, uh governor, a former
01:00 senator, a member of President Obama's cabinet. Today, I host live radio shows where I talk to experts and the people about what's happening in our government. But before all that, I was a 16-year-old who got to take an oath and I became [music] a US citizen. They gave me a little flag. I think I still have
01:19 it somewhere. The truth is, a lot has changed since I became a citizen all those years ago. Even in the decade since the last Crash Course US Government and Politics [music] series, we've become more divided. It's harder to know what information we can trust. [music]
01:34 And look, things might seem tough right now. But one thing I love about government is it's a reminder that you're not alone. And we can start by understanding it together. So, Crash Course is back to answer your big questions on US Government. We're not covering the basics of the three
01:51 branches. We're not rehashing how a bill becomes a law. Instead, over 15 episodes, we're going to build on the foundation of the first series. We'll dig deep into stuff that's relevant right now and ask whether this system that was built 250 years ago is still serving us like it should.
02:15 Together, we'll look at the wider forces that influence politics, peek inside the systems that are supposed to work for us, and hold our present moment up to history to help us understand what the heck is happening. By the end of the series, you'll go from feeling overwhelmed about our politics to
02:35 actually understanding why it works the way it does, and what we might do about it going forward. So, let's you and I meet back here next week. And, you know what? We'll start with an easy one. Why are US politics so divisive? I'll see you then. This episode of Crash Course Big Questions on US Government
02:52 [music] was produced in partnership with USAFacts, a nonpartisan civic tech project that [music] makes government data easier to understand. For more resources that go along with these videos, [music] go to usafacts.org/crashcourse. Thanks for watching this episode of
03:08 Crash Course [music] Big Questions on US Government, which was filmed in Indianapolis, Indiana, and was made with the help of all these nice people. If you want to help keep Crash Course [music] free for everyone forever, you can join our community on Patreon.
There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click any sentence in the transcript to leave one.