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Time English (United States) Language 2 Action

00:00

[KAMALA HARRIS] “These are unprecedented times”

00:01

[TOM O’HALLERAN] “We’re in an unprecedented time”

00:03

[KRISTI NOEM] “…unprecedented border crisis”

00:05

[JD VANCE] “...the unprecedented thing is the idea…”

00:07

[MERRICK GARLAND] “...not normal”

00:08

[JOE BIDEN] “...is not normal”

00:10

[multiple voices] "This unprecedented…"

00:11

[multiple voices] "Unprecedented…"

00:14

"…you are making, at the expense of the American people…"

00:16

"…truly, without parallel in our history" [music fades out]

00:20

[KOUSHA NAVIDAR] Why are Supreme Court

00:21

nominations so contentious?

00:24

Can the president do whatever they want?

00:26

Are we more polarized now than ever?

00:29

And how long are we going to keep saying

00:31

we’re living in “unprecedented times” before we admit:

00:34

it seems like the government isn’t exactly working

00:37

the way we were taught it was supposed to

00:38

in social studies class?

00:40

If you’ve ever found yourself asking these kinds of questions

00:43

or fact-checking your uncle’s opinions about them

00:46

you’re not alone.

00:47

Take it from me: a guy who’s been inside

00:49

the belly of the beast.

00:51

Hi, I’m Kousha Navidar.

00:52

After I got my Masters in Public Policy, I was a political speechwriter.

00:56

I wrote speeches for a lot of people:

00:58

a governor,

00:59

a former senator,

01:01

a member of President Obama’s Cabinet.

01:03

Today, I host live radio shows where I talk to experts,

01:06

and the people, about what’s happening in our government.

01:10

But before all that, I was a 16-year-old

01:13

who got to take an oath, and I became a U.S. citizen.

01:16

They gave me a little flag.

01:18

I think I still have it somewhere.

01:20

The truth is, a lot has changed

01:22

since I became a citizen all those years ago.

01:24

Even in the decade since the last

01:26

Crash Course U.S. Government and Politics series,

01:29

we’ve become more divided.

01:31

It’s harder to know what information we can trust.

01:34

And, look, things might seem tough right now.

01:36

But one thing I love about government is

01:39

it’s a reminder that you’re not alone.

01:42

And we can start by understanding it together.

01:45

So, Crash Course is back, to answer your Big Questions on U.S. Government.

01:49

We’re not covering the basics of the three branches.

01:52

We’re not rehashing how a bill becomes a law.

01:55

Instead, over 15 episodes,

01:57

we’re going to build on the foundation of the first series.

01:59

We’ll dig deep into stuff that’s relevant right now,

02:02

and ask whether this system that was built 250 years ago

02:06

is still serving us like it should.

02:08

[computer buzzes and smokes] Ahh!

02:11

[buzzing stops] [Kousha blows smoke]

02:13

Ow! [long beep]

02:16

Together, we’ll look at the wider forces that influence politics,

02:20

peek inside the systems that are supposed to work for us,

02:23

and hold our present moment up to history to help us understand

02:27

what the heck is happening.

02:29

By the end of the series,

02:31

you’ll go from feeling overwhelmed about our politics

02:34

to actually understanding why it works the way it does,

02:38

and what we might do about it going forward.

02:41

So, let’s you and I meet back here next week.

02:43

And you know what?

02:44

We’ll start with an easy one:

02:45

why are U.S. politics so divisive?

02:48

I’ll see you then.

02:50

This episode of Crash Course Big Questions on U.S. Government

02:53

was produced in partnership with USAFacts, a non-partisan civic tech project

02:58

that makes government data easier to understand.

03:01

For more resources that go along with these videos,

03:03

go to usafacts.org/crashcourse.

03:07

Thanks for watching this episode of Crash Course Big Questions on U.S. Government,

03:11

which was filmed in Indianapolis, Indiana,

03:13

and was made with the help of all these nice people.

03:16

If you want to help keep Crash Course free for everyone, forever,

03:20

you can join our community on Patreon.

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