Plain Civics

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Join hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they discuss various topics related to civics, such as voting, checking the validity of shared information, civil debate, and voter fraud. In the second half some new non-partisan resources are presented and explained. These are meant to add to our listeners’ arsenal of civics and history knowledge.

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Join hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they discuss moments in America’s 250-year history when the country didn’t live up to the ideals it was built on—like equality and segregation, limited government v expansive government, freedom of speech v restrictions on speech, and the American Dream v economic inequality. This is not saying America is good or bad, but that it is complicated. It’s about understanding these contradictions and managing, or fixing, them to fit the ideals that we have celebrated for over 250 years.

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Join hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they discuss moments in America’s 250-year history when the country didn’t live up to the ideals it was built on—like equality, democracy, justice, freedom of religion and expression, etc. they explain that this is not saying America is good or bad, but that it is complicated. It’s about understanding these contradictions and managing, or fixing, them to fit the ideals that we have celebrated for over 250 years.

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Join hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they talk about the events of 9/11/2001 and patriotism. After recapping the events of the morning of September 11th, when four airplanes were hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center twin towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, the hosts discuss how this horrific day inspired patriotism in most of us. It was like a revival. They also discuss why terrible events like this inspire a rise in patriotic feelings and why those feelings fade again, typing this phenomena into civics.

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Join hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they look at the pros and cons of both term limits and age limits for members of Congress and the President. We hear more and more citizens calling for one or both of these limits for our federal elected officials, in fact there is over 80% bipartisan support for both. Listen and find out what the arguments for an against these limits are.

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Join hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they look at why “real” history is so important. This lesson in what type of historical narrative we are presented with in our museums, monuments, and history books goes hand-in-hand with civics because much of civics involves making decisions based on the experience of the past and the lessons that have been learned. The hosts also discuss who should decide what the content of these historical narratives includes and why.

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Join hosts Joe Ulery and Bobbi Fisher as they tackle 5 more common misconceptions about our government. These misconceptions include Presidential power, whether every vote makes a difference, who government officials work for, isn’t my elected representative weak or “selling out” if they change their mind or vote against an issue, and isn’t all news media today “fake news” and can it be trusted. So join the hosts as they attempt to educate you about these misconceptions.

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Join hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they discuss the important of civic virtue. At the beginning of the last several episodes we have been telling you about thirteen civic virtues that Benjamin Franklin felt were the most important qualities that help individuals to be better people and contribute to a stronger society. In this episode we will dig deeper and discuss the civic virtues that people need to demonstrate to maintain our democratic republic. These are civic virtues of action as opposed to personality traits. Things such as being informed, voting, serving on a jury, volunteering in the community, and several others. We, again, stress the importance of civics education in teaching young citizens about these civic virtues.

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Join hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they look at why we celebrate the July 4th Independence Day. How did it come about and why? What does the Declaration of Independence mean? They break down the different parts of the document and what led to its writing. It is both a break-up letter to the British and our country’s birth certificate. What would have happened if the colonists had lost the Revolutionary War? Finally, what do we need to do to keep its meaning alive?

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Join hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they dig into the concept of “rule of law.” What does it mean and how did it develop? Why did the Framers choose to create a government and judicial system based on “rule of law?” Why is it so important to have and to maintain? Listen to this episode to gain a better understanding of this important element of our system of government.

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Join hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they continue their discussion of federalism. In Part 1 they discussed the origins of the idea of federalism and defined it, and in Part 2 they looked at most of the first era, known as Dual Federalism (1787-1933), from 1789 to about 1870. In this final episode examining federalism they finish the era of Dual Federalism and continue with the eras of Cooperative Federalism (1933-1969) and New Federalism (1969-present), citing many of the acts of Congress, landmark Supreme Court cases, and historic precedents that have helped define federalism in the U.S.

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Join hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they continue their discussion of federalism. In Part 1 they discussed the origins of the idea of federalism and defined it. In this episode they look at the three eras of federalism in the U.S. thus far. In this episode they venture through most of the first era, known as Dual Federalism, which ran from 1789 to about 1933, and is often referred to as “layer cake” federalism. This episode stops just after the Civil War, but includes many of the early landmark Supreme Court cases and historic precedents that helped define federalism in the U.S.

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Join hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they define federalism and discuss how it came about in the United States Constitution. The idea of a confederation and examples of confederations show how individual groups or states found the need to mutually agree on protection and other needs. This idea leads the Framers to create a government that divides power between the national (federal) government and the states. This was an experiment that has endured for almost 237 years.

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Join hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they dig into the three branches of government and why the Framers established three branches. About half of Americans can name the three branches, but if you ask them to name the main duties of each branch of what is meant by separation of powers and checks and balances, they can’t explain these. So listen to this episode to gain a better understanding of these basics of our government.

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Join hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they discuss civics education, or lack thereof, as well as voting percentages, detecting misinformation, improving civil discourse, and what happens to our nation if we fail to fix these things.

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Join hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they discuss the steps citizens need to take to vote in the upcoming primary and general elections this year. They look at why exercising your right to vote is so important, when primary elections are held in each state, deadlines to register to vote, requirements for voting (Indiana specific, but info is given to find your own state’s requirements), how to cast your vote, voter ID, the SAVE Act being debated by Congress right now, and researching the candidates and issues before voting.

Several significant state voting links have been added to the Plain Civics Facebook page to help you find your state’s requirements.

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Join hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they continue with the fourth of Ben Franklin’s civic virtues and then continue the discussion of 20 signs of tyranny, using Professor Timothy Snyder’s 2017 book, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century, as a guide. This episode covers lessons eight through twenty. These lessons from Professor Snyder’s book are even more relevant today than they were in 2017, when it was first published. We must work to prevent our democratic republic from becoming completely authoritarian.

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Join hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they continue with the third of Ben Franklin’s civic virtues and then move into a discussion of liberal democracy v. authoritarianism. They will explain the difference between the two and prompt listeners to be on the lookout for signs of each. Once the differences of these two forms of government are laid out, they move into a discussion of 20 signs of tyranny, using Professor Timothy Snyder’s 2017 book, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century, as a guide. Lessons one through seven are covered in this episode and the remainder of the lessons in the next episode.

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Join hosts Joe Ulery and Bobbi Fisher as they track the beginnings, development, an evolution of political parties in U.S. history. It hasn’t always been the Democratic and Republican Parties. Political parties in the U.S. actually started back in the 1790’s with the Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party and have changed numerous times since then. In fact, today’s Democratic and Republican Parties are not the same as they were in the beginning. In this episode we also introduce two new short segments into our podcast, Ben Franklin’s Virtues and Don’t Know Much About History.

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Join hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they introduce a new opening feature called “Ben Franklin’s Virtues,” where they cover the 13 civic virtues that one of our famous Founders thought to be most important. One virtue will open each of the next 13 episodes.

Following this, and in light of recent events, the hosts review some important ideas and actions that We the People need to remain mindful of in order to sustain our almost 250 year-old democratic republic, as its maintenance requires constant effort on the part of the citizens. In this episode we review the concepts of what is meant by being a democratic republic, as well as due process and habeas corpus, immigrant rights, First Amendment rights, political polarization and civil discourse, active citizenship, and civic education. This review is meant to stimulate continued maintenance of our republic by We the People.

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