CIVICS 101HOSTED BYNHPR
How do landmark Supreme Court decisions affect our lives? What does the 2nd Amendment really say? Why does the Senate have so much power? Civics 101 is the podcast about how our democracy works…or is supposed to work, anyway.
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In the upcoming case about former president Donald Trump, people are looking at Marbury versus Madison as president. I am. It is it is cited quite a bit. So the Supreme Court case 2 days in the future can anyone tell me what this case is that I'm referring to? This is the question of presidential immunity whether or not Trump is immune from criminal charges for actions he took leading up to January 6th and the riot on the Capitol and whether he can be prosecuted by the Justice Department. Yep. So I read the brief that former President Donald Trump's lawyers actually did send to the Supreme Court in anticipation of this trial. And lo and behold, former president Trump's lawyers are quoting Marbury versus Madison like it is going out of style. So my question is what is this? Like, what's going on? What does it mean to say that the Supreme Court is not to inquire how the executive performs duties in which they have a discretion? So I talked to someone smarter than me. Shall we hear from him? Yes, please. So the political question doctrine is essentially made by the Supreme Court. It's it's law made by the Supreme Court that says there are some cases, some legal issues that are better left to the other branches of the federal government, such as the executive branch and the legislative branch. And there are various reasons for why that is. So for example, the political question doctrine has been invoked when it comes to, say, certain military actions when the president has the very clear mandate as commander in chief. The court decides, hey. It's probably best that we don't interfere when, for example, the executive branch has a clearly granted constitutional authority. So that is professor Wayne Unger, assistant professor at Quinnipiac University School of Law. And a major shout out to Wayne for saving my hide because I was hunched over attempting to make sure I knew what I was talking about today, and he was
Civics 101
What do the RNC and DNC do?
Tue Apr 16 2024
Republican party, particularly in the 19 sixties because the Republicans at that time had been the minor party for a good 30 years, they were really tired of being in the minority. The latest figure show president Johnson, nearly 41,340,000,000, Senator Goldwater at nearly 26 and 1 quarter 1,000,000. And the chair of the RNC, Ray Bliss, frustrated with the failed attempt to elect Berry Goldwater thought the RNC should do a little bit more. And what Bliss had noticed is that interest groups were raising a lot of money using this new fangled thing called computerized direct mail. Brandon Fol agreed the NRA's power to scare congressman lies in its ability to mobilize its members in any congressional district at the touch of a computer button. And he thought, hey. Could we, the Republican party, do the same thing? You get mailing lists from various groups that think have some affinity with you and your candidates up for the Republicans, gun owners, business people groups like that. And you send, computerized messages to them that time using postal mail that stirred them up. Something with an opening paragraph that would say something like, you know, while you are reading this paragraph, 5000 children will be killed in the womb. And the only way you can do something about it is by sending a $100 to this particular organization. So the RNC starts to raise a ton of money this way, and they start to win more elections. And did the DNC look at this and basically say, I'll have what she's having? They didn't. At least at first, to be honest, they were going through their own issues at this time. The majority of Democrats were insisting that the party should stand for civil rights and LBJ's voting rights act.
Civics 101
How to file your taxes
Tue Apr 09 2024
But you can. You do, though, have to report all of your taxable income even if it doesn't show up on your w two. You do. And the IRS is supposed to help you do that correctly. So the Internal Revenue Service really is tasked with 3 different things. This is Beverly Moran. She's a professor of law and sociology at Vanderbilt University where she focuses get the money from you. And about a third of its budget goes to that. Another is be a friend, a helper, and a support to all the taxpayers who just wanna comply. So be there to answer questions, provide lots of educational materials, and about a third of its budget goes to that. And then the other third is enforcement. Okay. I wanna talk about enforcement for a little bit. Are Americans generally good about paying their taxes? Because I feel like the looming threat of an audit has been part of our pop culture as long as I've been alive, and we hear all the time about people getting in trouble for not paying their taxes. You know, Americans are are really remarkably good about paying their taxes. We have very high compliance rates relative to other countries. But that doesn't mean we would if no one was looking over our shoulder. This is Joe Thorndyke again. It's a it's a delicate balance between enforcement and voluntary compliance supported by the agency with help, you know, and information. The agency has to do both. It has to make sure that we understand the rules and that we had, you know, are are trying to comply with them as best we can. They also have to do, you know, the the other side of that is the stick where they say, and if you don't do it, we're gonna come for you. And here's Eric Todor. As far as the compliance issues, our tax gap, according to IRS estimates, are roughly 15.
Civics 101
Why do we pay income taxes, again?
Tue Apr 09 2024
Applies to a relative handful of Americans and that's true, you know, up till the World War 1 and then it gets broader and bigger and then but it's still it's pretty minor text. It's a rich man's burden, basically. Right? Originally and even now to some extent, it's a fantasy. Again, this is Beverly Moran. And the fantasy that it was selling between 1913 19 forties was that this was a way of having some sort of income redistribution. But the income tax wasn't just added to the already existing taxes. The government also lowered tariffs, which are taxes on imported and exported goods. Tariffs had been a main source of revenue after the civil war and the rise of industrialization. But with that industrialization came business owners and investors who accumulated vast sums of wealth. People who used that wealth to exploit workers, monopolize industries, raise prices, and manipulate the markets for their own gain. So in an effort to lower tariffs and redistribute wealth without making big cuts to the government's budget, Congress shifted more of the tax burden directly onto the wealthiest Americans. The tax that were only, like, 3% of the population even had to file. Only about 1% of the population had to pay. But even so, the stock market crashed in 1929. Which led to the great depression. It did indeed. Prosperity is just around the corner, say the hopeful headlines. But around the corners wind the lengthening bread lines, and a whole new class of citizens appears in American society. The new poor. Businesses failed, industries crashed. And when president Franklin Roosevelt was elected in 1933, he wasn't shy about using income tax to pay for economic recovery. My friends, I still believe
Keep those promises or that it even matters what those promises are Right. But they make them. And so I did that research for you today. So what we're gonna do is I'm gonna run through the major campaign promises for 2024 for Biden and Trump. And I just wanna make a note here, the Biden section is gonna take a little longer because a lot of his 2024 promises are just continuations of the 2020 promises. Right? It's like the stuff he campaigned on and where he's at in terms of actually fulfilling that or whether he failed totally. Can I ask a quick question? Please, Nick. It's not a given that these are gonna be the 2 nominees right now. I had a friend of mine asked me that this morning. Like, is it possible that at the conventions, a completely new candidates will be proffered up? That is possible. But not but not probable. Right. Not probable. Or someone could drop out. Someone could drop out. When it could drop out Yes. Somebody could anything. I have another question. Please, Rebecca. It occurs to me that recently in presidential elections, we actually aren't getting promises anymore so much in ads. Right? We're getting vibes. Mhmm. We're getting like, this is how America should feel. Yeah. We're not getting, this is what I am going to do. And that's because I think political culture has turned into a culture of winning more so than doing lately, at least that's how it seems. Freedom. Personal freedom is fundamental to who we are as Americans. There's nothing more important, nothing more sacred. That's been the work of my first term, to fight for our democracy. This shouldn't be a red or blue issue. We can all see Joe Biden's weakness. If Biden wins, can he even survive till 2029? The real question is, can we make America great again, Inc. Is So you're gonna be giving us some stuff that, like, we're not even gonna get on TV ads. Exactly. And I wanna sort of check-in on your vibes feel before I make it a little more solid. But the thing