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(August 27) Lecture / Discussion Page - The Study of Politics and Human Nature
ReadingsThe Myth of Human Progress - Hedges Human-Made Evolution - Hunziker
(September 10) Lecture / Discussion Page - Understanding and Critically Analyzing Political Theory
ReadingsDitching the Deep State: The Rise of a New Conspiracy Theory in American Politics - DiMaggio The Political Compass
ReadingsPhilosophy: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle - Khan Academy Notion of Elite Guardian Class Dates Back to Founding of US - Chomsky
ReadingsFake News? Or Fake Faith? - Alberts Empire Files: Chris Hedges & Abby Martin - Trump, Fascism & the Christian Right
(October 1) Lecture / Discussion Page - Liberalism
ReadingsLiberalism's Failures in a Time of Increasing Violence, Racism, Inequality and State Terrorism - Poulin The Liberal Apologies for Obama's Ugly Reign - Street The Inadequacies of Liberalism - Martin and Pimentel
(October 8) Lecture / Discussion Page - Conservatism
ReadingsThe Essence of Conservatism - Kirk Rationalism in Politics - Oakeshott Have Conservatives Lost Their Compassion? - Olmstead
(October 15) Lecture / Discussion Page - Marxism
ReadingsWhy Socialism? - Einstein Understanding Marxism and Socialism with Richard Wolff Kshama Sawant on Malala Yousefzai - Democracy Now The Not-So-Small Voice of American Socialism - Hirthler
(October 22) Lecture / Discussion Page - Darwinian Theories and Western Political Thought
ReadingsZeitgeist: Moving Forward (Documentary) The Political Compass
(October 29) Lecture / Discussion Page - Public Opinion, the Mass Media, and B.F. Skinner
ReadingsDemocracy and a Free Press - Croteau and Hoynes It's the Media, Stupid - McChesney / Nichols
(November 5) Lecture / Discussion Page - Interest Groups and Freud
ReadingsAfter the Deluge: Electoral Reform in the Wake of the Election of 2000 - Guinier Finding the Lost Voters - Sifry
(Cancelled - Veterans Day Holiday) Lecture / Discussion Page - Political Parties and Sartre
ReadingsThe Road to Freedom (Documentary) Reclaiming the Commons - Klein
ReadingsTrump's Road to the White House - (PBS Documentary) Closing the Democracy Gap - Nader
(November 26) Lecture / Discussion Page - Legislative and Judicial Systems and Upanishadic Hinduism
ReadingsWhat Democracy? The Case for Abolishing the United States Senate - Rosenfeld Class Inequality and Democracy - Krugman
ReadingsNeo-Patriarchy and the Anti-Homosexual Agenda - Snyder Is Free Speech the Enemy of Democracy? - Sunstein
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Books / Articles / Reports / Documents / Websites (Active Citizen Participation - Theory)Consent Without Consent: Reflections on the Theory and Practice of Democracy - Chomsky Debating Democracy - Miroff Citizen Participation in Decision Making: Is It Worth the Effort? - Irwin Public Deliberation in an Age of Direct Citizen Participation - Roberts Couch Potato Democracy? - Valelly Liberal Individualism and the Crisis of Citizenship - Bellah & Madsen Democracy's Romantic Myths - Mueller
Books / Articles / Reports / Documents / Websites (Active Citizen Participation - Practice)Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community - Putnam Cultural Currency - Halpern Why Americans Still Don't Vote - Piven & Cloward Playing Dumb? Dan Rather's Curiously Clueless Take on Why American's Don't - Street The Citizen As Respondent: Sample Surveys and American Democracy - Verba America's Civic Condition: A Glance at the Evidence - Galston Guest Post: Should Everyone Vote? - Tyler Durden The Active Citizen - Loeb
Books / Articles / Reports / Documents / Websites (Large Middle Class - Traditional Perspectives)Democracy and Capitalism Friedman The Road to Serfdom Hayek The Morality of Capitalism: What Your Professors Won't Tell You Palmer Debating Democracy Miroff Myths of Rich and Poor Cox Saving the Dream Heritage Foundation The Minimum Wage Harms the Most Vulnerable Richman Terms of Contention Garfinkle The Inequality That Matters Cowen Left Out Fukuyama American Dreams, American Resentments Mead Capitalism and Inequality: What the Right and Left Get Wrong Muller Defending the One Percent - Mankiew Job Losses and Trade: A Reality Check CATO Institute
Books / Articles / Reports / Documents / Websites (Large Middle Class - Critical Perspectives)Demise of the US Middle Class Now Official Smith America Beyond Capitalism Alperovitz Democracy at Risk Gates The Wealth Inequality Reader Fireside Growth and the Middle Class Madland The American Dream Has Become A Burden For Most Younge The Spiral of Inequality Krugman Are We Still A Middle Class Nation? Lind The Broken Contract: Inequality and American Decline Packer The Myth of the Middle Class: Have Most Americans Always Been Poor? Nasser Obama Destroys the Middle Class Whitney Understanding America's Class System Bageant No Functioning U.S. Democracy Street Dollarocracy: How Big Money Undermines Our Democracy Nichols and McChesney We've Got A Billionaire Bailout Society Leopold America's Lost Egalitarian Tradition Wilentz Facing Up to the American Dream Hochschild Striking It Richer Saez The Power of the Rich Tabb The Great Inequality Yates Does Inequality Matter? Jencks Aspects of Class in the United States Foster Some Economics of Class Perelman Six Points on Class Zweig Let's Get This Class War Started Hedges Pursuing the American Dream: Economic Mobility Across Generations - Pew Charitable Trust
Books / Articles / Reports / Documents / Websites (Widespread Education - Traditional Perspectives)No Child Left Behind - U.S. Department of Education The Evaluation of Charter School Impacts: The Final Report - U.S. Department of Education The Agony of American Education - Snell They're Not Stupid, They're Lazy - Starr
Books / Articles / Reports / Documents / Websites (Widespread Education - Critical Perspectives)Civic Illiteracy and Education - Marciano Teaching Students How to Dissent Is Part of Democracy - Stitzlein The Curse of Totalitarianism and the Challenge of an Insurrectional Pedagogy - Giroux Youth in Authoritarian Times: Challenging Neoliberalism's Politics of Disposability - Giroux Myth America: Democracy vs. Capitalism - Boyer Against School: Why Public Education Cripples Our Kids and Why - Gatto Change Can't Come Without Protest - Kozol The Problem With "Failing" Schools - Wilson Tip of the Iceburg: Charter School Vulnerabilities to Waste, Fraud, and Abuse - Center for Popular Democracy Multiple Choice: Charter School Performance in 16 States - CREDO Pearson, ETS, Houghton Mifflin, and McGraw-Hill Lobby Big and Profit Bigger from School Tests - PR Watch Charter Schools in Eight States: Effects on Achievement, Attainment, Integration, and Competition - The RAND Corporation Obama and Duncan's Education Policy: Like Bush's Only Worse - Weil The Fight to Save Public Education - Cooke Waiting for Superman: Heroes and Myths - Olorunda Left Behind? American Youth and the Global Fight for Democracy - Giroux The Pedagogy of Oppression - McLaren & Farahmandpur No Child Unrecruited - Goodman White House-Backed Charter Schools Lag Behind Public Schools - Democracy Now!
UNCOUNTED: The True Story of the California Primary - Wake Up California!
The Crisis of Democracy - The Trilateral Commission (1973)
The Powell Memo (also known as the Powell Manifesto) - Reclaim Democracy!
A Century of War - RT Documentary
Corruption is Legal in America - Represent.Us
The Lie We Live [Smart Kid - A Nice Wake-Up Call] - Spencer Cathcart
Understanding Marxism and Socialism with Richard Wolff
War Is A Racket - Major General Smedley Butler
Four Horsemen - Documentary (Great Stuff! Check This Out!)
Empire Files: Peter Joseph & Abby Martin on Abolishing Capitalism
Tipping Point: The End of Oil - Documentary
Wondering About the Origins of ISIS? (You'd Better Buckle Your Seatbelts for This One)
Capitalism Never Solves Its Crises; It Moves Them Around Geographically - RSAnimate
Two American Families - Frontline Documentary
Global Wealth Inequality: What You Never Knew You Never Knew - therules.org
Wealth Inequality in America - therules.org
Billionaire Bonanza: The Forbes 400 and the Rest of Us - Institute for Policy Studies
Park Ave: Wealth, Poverty, and the American Dream - Documentary
Shadows of Liberty - Documentary (Mass Media)
Plutocracy in America - Brenner
The Progressive Movement is a PR Front for Rich Democrats - Stauber
Consent Without Consent: Reflections on the Theory and Practice of Democracy - Chomsky
Obamacare: A Deception - Roberts
The Purchase of Our Republic - Falkson
The Crisis of Civilization - Documentary
Let Your Life Be A Friction That Stops The Machine - Class War Films
Political Fraud - Class War Films
Financial Crime - Class War Films
Military Cancer - Class War Films
Imperial Decay - Class War Films
Overdose: The Next Financial Crisis - Documentary
What Democracy? The Case for Abolishing the United States Senate - Rosenfeld
Making Every Vote Count: The Case for Proportional Representation - Amy
Ignoble Liars: Leo Strauss, George Bush, and the Philosophy of Mass Deception - Shorris
Barack Hoover Obama: The Best and the Brightest Blow It Again - Baker
The Great American Bubble Machine - Taibbi
Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail? - Taibbi
Empire Under Obama: Counterinsurgency, Death Squads, and the Population as the Target - Marshall
Smash the Control Machine - Otep Rocks!
Rise Rebel Resist - Otep Rocks!
The World is Coming to an End - Prince Ea
The Final Word from My Two Favorite Comedians of All Time on "The Big Question"