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Civics For Grown Ups Profile picture
Civics For Grown Ups
@Civics4GrownUps
Recent events have shown...America could use a civics lesson. Three political science professors are determined to deliver! Check out our podcast @afrwpod.
JS-Success 🌊 @SandraVickery@mastodon.sdf.org Profile picture 1 subscribed
Mar 5, 2018 • 20 tweets • 3 min read
RT! ⚡️What are primaries? ⚡️
(Thread!)
/1 Fun fact: primaries are NOT (necessarily) elections.
Most primaries in the US narrow the field of candidates, but do not elect anyone to office.
Primaries were created by the states in the early 1900s following Progressive reforms to take power from party elites /2
Jan 30, 2018 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
⚡️What should you know about the State of the Union address?⚡️/1 It comes from the Constitution: The President “shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” Article II, Section 3
Jan 28, 2018 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
✅ RT THREAD! ✅

Something we hear a lot: "Smart, independent voters should stay independent and not affiliate with a political party."

FWIW we professional political scientists call that logic the “myth of the independent voter.” Read on... /1 In reality, the vast majority of voters have made up their mind about which party best represents their interests, values, and identity. They vote for that party most of the time. (That’s one of the many reasons it’s hard for third parties to break in—see our previous thread). /2
Jan 19, 2018 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
ABCs of government shutdowns A

Appropriations: The Constitution says "no money shall be drawn from the Treasury, except in Consequence of appropriations made by law." That means Congress must write and pass a bill to spend every dollar that goes out of the federal Treasury.
Jan 5, 2018 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Got a couple of questions about the 2020 census, so here are the basics:/1 The Constitution requires that every ten years, there is a census of all persons in the United States. /2
Dec 21, 2017 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
We all want elected officials to serve the public good, and not use high office to line their own pockets.

⚡️ RT - THREAD on Public Corruption. Despite the incredibly cynical rhetoric out there, most public servants don’t abuse the public trust that way.

Why don’t they? Is it because they’re great people? Hmm…
Nov 15, 2017 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
⭐️Why do we have a two party system?⭐️
Do you know the answer? Read on! (Thread 👇🏾) ⭐️Why a two party system?⭐️ Reason #1:
We elect representatives from single-member districts in winner-take all elections.
THAT MEANS: the party whose candidate gets one more vote wins the seat.
WHICH MEANS: bad to come in 3rd & losing party tries to get *bigger* to win
Nov 8, 2017 • 8 tweets • 1 min read
⚡️Civics Thread:⚡️ What is a political party? Do we want them? Why? A political party is a
⚽️🏀🏈⚾️team of people
trying to control government👨‍⚖️🇺🇸
by winning elected office.
Nov 1, 2017 • 14 tweets • 2 min read
⚡️Civics tidbit for the day:⚡️Highly divisive partisanship was a major concern for George Washington. ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=… Washington worried parties could divide the country if they tried to win by misrepresent[ing] the opinions and aims of other districts/2
Oct 30, 2017 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
VOCABULARY: 👩🏽‍💼Civil Service 👨🏽‍💼
Civil Servants are work in bureaucracy, based on merit, cannot be fired for political reasons. /1 Pros of the civil service: administration and enforcement of the laws is ideally neutral and competent /2
Oct 26, 2017 • 19 tweets • 2 min read
Why is the free press valuable in a democracy?
Does the press give us what we need as citizens?
What can we do to be good news consumers? An informed citizenry is important to democracy. We need to know what our elected officials are up to so we can hold them accountable./2
Oct 12, 2017 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
Thinking about freedom of the press? Here's a court case to know about:
NY Times v Sullivan (1964) /1 Facts of the case: An ad in the NYT alleged Alabama arrest of Dr. Martin Luther King was designed to undermine the Civil Rights Movement/2
Oct 10, 2017 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
Constitutional Amendment of the day: How much do you know about the 14th Amendment? /1 The 14th is one of the 3 Civil War Amendments. 13 banned slavery. 15 guaranteed the right to vote regardless of race. Important of course! 2
Sep 6, 2017 • 13 tweets • 2 min read
⚡️ Pls RT! A question we've gotten: Are there limits on speech for Nazi white supremacists in America? Let's review... /1 (As always, this thread will be stored in our pinned Thread Library, where you can find our past discussions) /2
Jun 28, 2017 • 38 tweets • 11 min read
⭐️Civics 101: Thread Library⭐️

Here is our library of threads on governance & politics. We'll keep it pinned for easy reference. Read on! On Lawmaking (How a Bill Becomes A Law)
Jun 27, 2017 • 18 tweets • 3 min read
⚡️RT Thread ⚡️

Civics For Grownups: What is an Executive Order? /1 Does a president write or “pass” laws? Nope. That’s Congress. (though the Exec Branch may be involved in a consultative capacity.) /2
Jun 24, 2017 • 41 tweets • 6 min read
⚡️RT Thread⚡️:

Civics For Grownups: How a bill becomes a law! (refresher course) 1/ People talk about lawmaking like it's the president's job. It's not. Congress owns lawmaking. 2/
Jun 13, 2017 • 31 tweets • 4 min read
Lies. Malarkey. Hogwash. There are many flavors of deception in politics. In this thread we'll explore two of them:
👉🏼Lies &
👉🏼Bullshit
1/ Discerning truth from falsehood is increasingly imptnt in an age where ppl can easily find news sources that align w/ their worldview 2/
Jun 11, 2017 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
Unitary executive theory claims that everyone in the executive branch works for the president alone politi.co/2reBr9f @politico (1/11) @politico UET is based on Article II of the Constitution: "The executive power shall be vested in the president of the United States..." (2/11)