Videos

Democracy in America

Video Series: 15 parts, 30 minutes each, Produced 2003

Each program in this series is made of three separate feature stories, approximately 9 minutes each, providing specific examples of the broader theme. For example in program nine, The Courts: Our Rule of Law; the three segments are:

a. The Rodney King Reversal. Although acquitted in state court, the police officers were not completely exonerated. Federal prosecutors subsequently indicted them on federal charges.

b. The Night the Supreme Court Decided Who Would Be President. The Supreme Court, in 2000, intervened for the first time ever in a presidential election.

c. The Crocodile in the Bathtub - Judicial Recalls in California. In 1986, three justices on the California Supreme Court were up for retention, and the potential for conflict between politics and the judicial appointment process was high. During their public campaign to oust three justices, conservatives built their case around the justices' record in reversing several death sentences. This frontal attack against several judges was something new to California, and some people became concerned that the judicial opposition that was building might influence the justices' judicial decisions.

Pgm 1. Citizenship: Making Government Work This program introduces basic concepts of government, politics, and citizenship. It explores the tension between maintaining order and preserving freedoms, the essential role of politics in addressing the will of the people, and the need for citizens to participate in order to make democracy work.

Pgm 2. The Constitution: Fixed or Flexible? This program examines the search for balance between the original Constitution and the need to interpret and adjust it to meet the needs of changing times. It explains the original Jeffersonian-Madisonian debate, the concept of checks and balances, and the stringent procedures for amending the Constitution.

Pgm 3. Federalism: U.S. v. the States This program explores federalism as a Constitutional compromise, especially in terms of present-day conflicts between people who believe that power should reside primarily in the national government and those who want government authority retained within the states.

Pgm 4. Civil Liberties: Safeguarding the Individual This program examines the First, Fourth, and Sixth Constitutional Amendments to show how the Bill of Rights protects individual citizens from excessive or arbitrary government interference, yet, contrary to the belief of many Americans, does not grant unlimited rights.

Pgm 5. Civil Rights: Demanding Equality This program looks at the nature of the guarantees of political and social equality, and the roles that individuals and government have played in expanding these guarantees to less-protected segments of society, such as African Americans, women, and the disabled.

Pgm 6. Legislatures: Laying Down the Law This program explores the idea that legislatures, although contentious bodies, are institutions composed of men and women who make representative democracy work by reflecting and reconciling the wide diversity of views held by Americans.

Pgm 7. The Modern Presidency: Tools of Power This program shows that the American Presidency has been transformed since the 1930s. Today, presidents are overtly active in the legislative process: they use the media to appeal directly to the people and they exercise leadership over an "institutional presidency" with thousands of aides.

Pgm 8. Bureaucracy: A Controversial Necessity This program reveals how the American bureaucracy delivers significant services directly to the people, how it has expanded in response to citizen demands for increased government services, and how bureaucrats sometimes face contradictory expectations that are difficult to satisfy.

Pgm 9. The Courts: Our Rule of Law This program examines the role of courts as institutions dedicated to conflict resolution, with the power both to apply and to interpret the meaning of law in trial and appeal courts. It shows the increased power of the Supreme Court through its use of judicial review and the difficulty of creating a judiciary that is independent of politics.

Pgm 10. The Media: Inside Story This program explores the media as an integral part of American democracy, highlighting the scrutiny they impose on the performance of public officials, the interdependence of politics and the media, and the power the media wields in selecting the news.

Pgm 11. Public Opinion: Voice of the People This program examines the power of public opinion to influence government policy, the increasing tendency of public officials to rely on polls, and the need to use many forms of feedback to get an accurate measure of public opinion.

Pgm 12. Political Parties: Mobilizing Agents This program shows how political parties perform important functions that link the public to the institutions of American government. Parties create coalitions of citizens who share political goals, elect candidates to public office to achieve those goals, and organize the legislative and executive branches of government.

Pgm 13. Elections: The Maintenance of Democracy This program explores the crucial role of strategy in the two-stage electoral campaign system; the opportunities for citizens to choose, organize, and elect candidates who will pursue policies they favor; and the need for campaigns to increase voter turnout by educating citizens about the importance and influence of their vote.

Pgm 14. Interest Groups: Organizing To Influence This program shows how America's large number of corporate, citizen-action, and grass-roots interest groups enhance our representative process by giving citizens a role in shaping policy agendas.

Pgm 15. Global Politics: U.S.A. and the World This program examines the need for the United States to use the tools of foreign policy in ways that recognize the growing interdependence of nations - implementing both traditional and new forms of military, trade, and diplomatic strategies to promote benefits for America and the world as a whole.

More information about this series can be obtained at: http://www.learner.org/channel/courses/democracyinamerica/

Rights: We have both broadcast and educational rights for this series. Broadcast rights are for two years, and educational rights are for the "life of the tape."