Why Are US Politics Today So Divisive?: Crash Course US Government #1

Comments · 108

• CR

  @crashcourse · 8 days ago · pinned

  Thanks for your comments! To recap and clarify: we start with the definitions of &quot;liberal&quot; and &quot;conservative&quot; from political theory, which many folks are pointing out don&apos;t always match the current situation. Yes! We agree. The rest of the video moves through how we&apos;ve gotten to this point, but to clarify further:<br>- historically liberals and conservatives were sprinkled throughout both parties<br>- throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries this changed, with liberals becoming more associated with democrats and conservatives with republicans<br>- the parties have continued to evolve and align themselves around specific issues without always sticking to the traditional &quot;liberal&quot; and &quot;conservative&quot; definitions even though we still use that language colloquially.<br>-Which...yes, IS CONFUSING! As politics shift, the academic words we use to describe them can become muddied and the gap between what words officially mean and the life those words take on gets bigger. That&apos;s part of what we&apos;re trying to point to in this episode and it&apos;s a super important thing to discuss — so thank you for being a part of that with us!

  35

• PF

  @Pfooh · 9 days ago

  The &apos;first past the post&apos; principle should be abandoned if the USA ever wants to get out of this. Proportional representation and a multi-party system isn&apos;t perfect, but so much better.

  99

• SO

  @SolarBurn · 8 days ago

  people are easier to control when they&apos;re divided.

  37

• EH

  @ehorner61 · 8 days ago

  Always appreciate crash course content.

  15

• DU

  @DungeonMetal · 9 days ago

  Money in politics, lack of watchdog media, and lack of accountability on every level for decades.

  166

• NA

  @nateweinand4209 · 8 days ago

  This was a great first episode! Glad to have Kousha back!

  9

• FI

  @fireyjon · 9 days ago

  This was good and the information in it was really helpful for me.

  8

• TH

  @TheFreakBear · 9 days ago

  The two party system is the biggest culprit, but some people refuse to acknowledge that.

  70

• PA

  @ParkerBettag · 8 days ago

  Great video!! Thanks for creating this for everyone.

  7

• MI

  @mixiekins · 8 days ago

  See, this is why I wish we had ranked choice voting. You basically get to do a tier list of like-ok-meh-nope, and it encourages you to look into all the candidates and actually weigh which you vibe more with and compare them all. It gets harser to &quot;us vs them&quot; when you&apos;re assessing and sorting from a buffet of options.

  23

• WE

  @Wessel00 · 8 days ago

  As a non-American I kept thinking &quot;it&apos;s because there&apos;s just TWO parties&quot; throughout the entire video, not getting why it wasn&apos;t mentioned. Glad to see it will be addressed in the second episode, though I&apos;d say it should&apos;ve been more at the foreground here

  28

• GE

  @GerryFlynn-Polan · 8 days ago

  My first lesson from Crash Course. Well done! 👏🏽 Look forward to future episodes

  2