What Does it Mean to Be a Democrat or a Republican?
Today we look at the creation and evolution of the two major parties in the US; the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. How did they...
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Civics 101
What's the difference between the House and the Senate? How do congressional investigations work? What is Federalist X actually about? Civics 101 is the podcast refresher course on the basic...
Episodes
20 of 383 episodesHow a Bill (REALLY) Becomes a Law
Our final "Back to School" episode is a nod to how we started in the first place. Our show was created to be "Schoolhouse Rock for adults,"...
What is Federalism?
A tug of war, a balancing act, two dancers dragging each other across the floor. This is the perpetual ebb and flow of power between the sta...
U.S. Versus: The Two Party System
Americans often take issue with our two-party system. So what other options are out there? Today, with the help of political scientists Guil...
These United Hosts
In which we take an historical look at the interplay between marriage and democracy, and Hannah and Nick reveal a Civics 101 secret years in...
Our 250th Annual Trivia Episode!
Not really. But we send one of our own out in style by asking (and answering) some very tough questions. Including one you might recognize....
Article II of the Constitution
Article II, which lays out the powers, duties, and limits on presidential powers, is one of the most debated and reinterpreted parts of the...
SCOTUS Decision Roundup
The Supreme Court wrapped it's 2025-2026 term and headed off on summer recess, so we're running through the biggest decisions from the bench...
What is communism, socialism, and fascism?
With the midterms coming up, these words are being uttered more and more each day. So what does it really mean when we call someone a social...
Article I of The Constitution
Maybe you’ve read the Constitution a ton of times. Maybe you’ve never read it. Maybe you even have one somewhere in your home! But, even for...
Why do Americans love conspiracy theories?
Conspiracy theories are not new in the United States, but over the years they have taken on a life and power of their own. How did conspirac...
Do we have separation of church and state?
What did Jefferson mean when he wrote about a "wall of separation" between the church and the state? How have we interpreted the pair of cla...
Why is our union so imperfect? (With Jill Lepore)
Pulitzer-prize winning historian and author Jill Lepore has spent her career uncovering the stories we often do not tell, particularly about...
How we started, how it's going
This is part two of our story about the original story of America we don't talk about...and how it ties to where we are today. Learn more ab...
America's other origin story
This episode is being recorded just a couple of days before the 4th of July, and as so many are calling it, America's 250th birthday. And we...
Why is Congress like this?
Today in our continued exploration of why the US is the way it is, we get to Article I. Why did the framers design Congress the way they did...
When a flag is against the rules... or the law
In recent years, flag restriction rules, policies and laws have been cropping up across the country. Whether the government is telling you w...
Lessons from the American Revolution (with Ken Burns)
Ken Burns and Sarah Botstein spent nearly a decade making a twelve-hour documentary on the American Revolution. This is what they learned fr...
How to Make Things Better
Today we complete our trio of episodes in collaboration with iCivics, where we explore why people of myriad groups are having a tough time,...
How did we get so red, white and blue?
Whether you fly it, wear it or want nothing to do with it, the American flag says a lot in and about the United States. Red, white and blue...