America’s Elected Officials, Pt. II

Congress: Why We Love to Hate Them

Lecture by Larry Sabato
16 min

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• Quicktime – 48 MB
  
• Windows Media Video – 40 MB
• Audio mp3 – 11 MB

Summary:
Finding common ground among 535 individuals of different ethnic, geographic, economic, generational, and ideological backgrounds is inevitably a difficult task. While the media tends to define Congress by its worst members, this first branch of government functions – as Constitutionally designed – to play an important role in our political process.

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Larry Sabato is the founder and direction of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, a professor of politics, and a nationally renowned elections scholar.

 

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Economic and Political Inequality, Pt. III

All About the Benjamins: The Political Fallout

Lecture by Ed Greenberg
11 min

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• Quicktime – 30 MB
  
• Windows Media Video – 30 MB
• Audio mp3 – 7 MB

Summary:
Among the cacophony of requests and demands, politicians respond to the loudest voices: campaign contributors, lobbyists, advocacy groups, political action committees – all of which require funding. Those with more money have a stronger voice in government and better access to politicians, and therefore see their interests reflected in public policy.

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Edward S. Greenberg is a professor of political science and the director of the Political and Economic Change Program in the Institute of Behavioral Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

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Is Voting for Young People? Pt. 1

“Medicare? I don’t care.”: Youth Voting in America

Lecture by Martin Wattenberg
18 min

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• Quicktime – 32 MB
  
• Windows Media Video – 71 MB
• Audio mp3 – 25 MB

Summary:
Young people are not only less likely to register to vote, but they also turn out at the polls in much smaller numbers. Since public policy reflects the needs of voters, this has had very real effects on public policy in this country.

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Martin P. Wattenberg is a Professor of Political Science at the University of California at Irvine, where he conducts research on elections and political parties in the United States and other advanced industrialized democracies.

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