American History

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September 20, 2012 | 10:23 PM | By

What Is the Electoral College (and is it time to get rid of it)?

Everything you ever wanted to know about the electoral college but were afraid to ask (with videos and maps)

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Here’s a little factoid that never fails to mightily confuse most voters. As Americans, we actually DO NOT directly elect our presidents and vice presidents. I repeat, the U.S. president is not chosen through a one-person, one-vote system!

Simply put: this is not direct democracy!

When we head to the polls on election day to choose a presidential candidate, we’re not actually really voting for that person. Instead, we’re throwing our support behind a group of “electors” who belong to a strange institution called the electoral college. And it’s that group that actually casts the direct votes to decide who the next president and vice president will be.

Don’t believe me? Check out Article II of the U.S. Constitution. Says it right there. Honest.

Weird, right?

Here’s how it works:

First off, what is the Electoral College (and do they have a good football team)?

It’s more of an institution than a place. No dorms.  No frat boys. No teams. No crazy parties. Basically, none of the fun stuff.

Here’s what it is: During the presidential election every four years, the various political parties in each state (for instance: California’s Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Greens, etc.) choose a group of “electors,” generally party activists who have pledged their electoral votes to the presidential candidate of that party should he/she win the popular vote in that state. Pretty much anyone who’s registered to vote is eligible to be an elector, with the exception of members of Congress and federal government employees). Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: American History, Government, Interactive Presentations, Video, electoral college, Multimedia presentations, video, voting
September 13, 2012 | 4:43 PM | By

Six Great Sites for Teaching the Business of Elections

Includes lots of multimedia resource links

What’s the electoral college, who are delegates, and why in the heck do we vote on Tuesday?

National elections, especially presidential ones, offer great teaching moments. But explaining the basic mechanics of America’s ever confusing electoral system can be daunting, especially for students who lack a basic understanding of the process.

Fortunately, there are a ton of great free digital resources out there to help your students demystify the process, using pretty engaging and creative formats. Of course, finding them entails the equally daunting task of spending hours online in search of the best unbiased content out there.

So, with that in mind, rather than adding to the cyber-pile, I’ve compiled a list of six excellent sites that do a good job in driving home basic election concepts, and, hopefully, encouraging your students to think critically about the process (rather than just learning about it as a given). This is by no means a comprehensive list (a good longer list can be found at the National Writing Project’s site), so if you have additional suggestions, please share in the comment box below. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: American History, Government, Interactive Presentations, Law & Power, Video, elections, resources, teaching, video, websites
September 11, 2012 | 3:29 PM | By

9/11 Turns Eleven: Three Major Lasting Impacts

Includes: embedded videos

Eleven years ago today, America wasn’t engaged in any foreign wars. We deported half as many immigrants as we do today. And getting through airport security was a total breeze.

A lot can change in a just over a decade. America’s involvement in the War on Terror – in reaction to  9/11 – resulted in new attitudes and concerns about defense and vigilance. The change ushered in a series of government policies like the USA Patriot Act that prioritized national security, often at the expense of civil liberties.

Here are three of the many dramatic transformations brought on by the events of 9/11: Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: American History, English Language Arts, Government, Video, 9/11, immigration, personal, story, video, war
July 27, 2012 | 5:55 PM | By

Who Votes in California? (Hint: it’s not the majority)

Includes interactive map of voting rates and party affiliation throughout California
Click each county on the map below for stats on California’s eligible and registered voters, as well as a breakdown of political party affiliation (but keep in mind there’s a big difference between registered and “likely” voters). The darker the shade, the higher the percentage of registered voters.

(Source: California Secretary of State, May 2012 data)

President Lyndon B. Johnson, who signed the Voting Rights Act into law in 1965, called voting “the basic right, without which all others are meaningless.”

But in California – where nearly 24 million adults are eligible to vote – the number of people who actually take advantage of this right is surprisingly small.

Consider these California voting stats (approximated):

                  • 24 million: People who are eligible to vote
                  • 17 million: People registered to vote (about 72% of those who are eligible)
                  • 6 million: “Likely voters” (those who regularly vote)
                  • 5.3 million: The number of votes cast in the June 2012 primary election

A  Public Policy Institute of California survey also found that California’s “likely voters” are not  representative of the state’s racial and economic diversity. About 65 percent of them are white (even though whites make up only 44 percent of the state’s adult population) and only 17 percent Latino (who make up about one-third of the state’s population). Likely voters are also generally older, more educated, more affluent, and far more likely to own a home than the average Californian. And more than 80 percent were born in the U.S.

For more on how to register to vote and who is eligible, go here.

FILED UNDER: American History, Charts and Infographics, Government, Maps, california, charts, maps, voting
July 23, 2012 | 1:00 PM | By

The Deal with the Delta (California’s big watering hole)

Includes: map and video


View Larger Map

About two-thirds of Californians drink, bathe, brush their teeth, and flush their toilets with water that comes from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. That’s roughly 25 million people who get at least some portion of their hydration from one big triangular watering hole.

But ask most folks what the Delta is, and you’re guaranteed to get a lot of blank stares. One recent poll found that about 4 out 5 people in California had pretty much no idea about it.

 

It’s pretty easy to take for granted that water magically pours out of the tap when you turn your faucet on. But chances are, that H20 has gone through a pretty serious journey to reach you – and it’s probably worth knowing where it comes from, and how safe the supply is. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: American History, English Language Arts, Government, Green Space, Law & Power, Maps, Video, levees, map, Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, video, water
July 20, 2012 | 6:12 PM | By

California’s Delta Blues: A Parched History

Includes: interactive timeline/slideshow

Mark Twain is credited with the famous remark: “Whiskey’s for drinking, water’s for fighting about.”

And there is pretty much no better example than the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which over the last 150 years has undergone epic transformation and been the epicenter of equally epic political battles.

Scroll through the timeline to get a sense of the modern evolution (or de-evolution,  depending on how you look at it) of California’s largest water source.

(It may be easier to view in fullscreen mode: to do so, click on button at the bottom right-hand corner of the timeline)

FILED UNDER: American History, Government, Green Space, Interactive Presentations, Multimedia presentations, politics, Sacramento Delta, water
July 6, 2012 | 6:29 PM | By

10 Resources To Help Make Sense of the Health Care Decision

Includes: resource links

In the week since the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling upholding key parts of President Obama’s health care law (“Obamacare”) – namely, the individual mandate that everyone buy insurance -  Americans have been inundated by an endless deluge of analysis and commentary. Making sense of it all is challenging, so here are 10 good resources that help connect the dots. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: American History, Data Visualization, Government, Interactive Presentations, Law & Power, Public Services, Video, Health care law, Multimedia presentations, Obamacare, Supreme Court, video
June 13, 2012 | 5:11 PM | By

Redistricting, California Style: Letting the “People” Draw the Maps

Includes: article; video; radio clip

2011 State Congressional Districts_California Citizens Redistricting Commission

Gerrymandering: it ain’t nothing new in California politics.

For much of the state’s history, the legislature has firmly controlled the once-a-decade redistricting process. New district lines are typically redrawn in a way that directly favors whichever party is in control.

Demographic techniques like splitting apart cities, carving up ethnic enclaves, and leaping across vast geographic swaths to bundle like-minded voters are common gerrymandering tools long used by pols to solidify power. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: American History, Data Visualization, Government, Law & Power, Maps, Video, california, citizens redistricting commission, data visualization, maps, video
June 13, 2012 | 3:07 PM | By

The Strange Geometry of Gerrymandering (redistricting’s dark side)

Includes: article; animation

A political cartoon from 1812 criticizing Massachusetts state senate electoral districts drawn by the legislature to favor candidates in Governor Elbridge Gerry's party. (Wikimedia Commons)

When lawmakers control the redistricting process – as they do in most states -  self-interest inevitably plays a big role in how electoral maps are redrawn. It puts the power in the hands of incumbent legislators eager to squash political competition. A Republican lawmaker would likely want to redraw his own district to include as many Republican voters as possible; and vice-verse for a Dem. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: American History, Government, Law & Power, Video, gerrymandering, redistricting, video