POLS 230: State and Local Government: General Information

This week on Moyers & Company, “State of Conflict: North Carolina” offers a documentary report from a state that votes both blue and red and sometimes purple. Now, however, Republicans hold th governor’s mansion and both houses of the legislature and they are steering North Carolina far to the right: slashing taxes on corporations and the wealthy, providing vouchers to private schools, cutting unemployment benefits, refusing to expand Medicaid and rolling back electoral reforms, including voting rights. Broadcast date: January 3, 2014

A government of the people, by the people, and for the people isn’t possible without the laborious process of nominating and electing candidates, in a manner fair and free to all citizens. How did this process beginnd how has it evolved over the course of American history? Does it even remotely resemble—for better or for worse—the manner in which the Founding Fathers gained high office? Using the 2000 election of George W. Bush and the uncertainties it exposed in the American electoral process as a departure point, this program examines how political parties were started, and why; methods and campaigns that were launched to elect different Presidents to office; and the history of voting and the constitutional amendments that made voting possible for all Americans. A viewable/printable instructor’s guide is available online. A Films for the Humanities & Sciences Production. A part of the series U.S. Government: How It Works.

Does the practice of gerrymandering— dividing election districts into units to favor a particular group— subvert democracy by making certain congressional districts “safe” for one party orhe other and more susceptible to extremist views? Some argue that gerrymandering has made American politics more polarized, pulling voters away from the mainstream and farther to the left or right. Others argue, however, that its impact is limited, and that various factors— talk radio, Internet "echo chambers," and weak campaign finance laws— are far more significant. Is gerrymandering destroying the political center