Curriculum Map

The American Political System

Hidden Mechanics and Unwritten Rules. Why the Constitution was designed to make democracy difficult, how institutions transformed from their original design, and what political science research reveals about the gap between theory and practice.

13 Units

Early Units (Foundation)

Building Skills

Advanced Concepts

Capstone/Synthesis

The Anti-Majoritarian Constitution

The Constitution was designed against democracy, not for it. Understanding why reveals profound tensions in democratic theory.

2-3 weeks

Congress - The Broken Branch

The filibuster was an accident, not a design. Congressional dysfunction is not 'both sides' equally.

2-3 weeks

The Imperial Presidency

Presidential power expands through assertion, not permission. Each expansion becomes precedent.

2-3 weeks

The Unelected Judiciary

The Court's legitimacy depends on myths about law. Justices vote predictably along ideological lines.

2-3 weeks

Weak Parties, Strong Partisanship

Strong parties moderate by denying nominations to extremists. Weak parties cannot. Hence Trump.

2-3 weeks

The Hidden Welfare State

Tax expenditures deliver benefits to the affluent while remaining invisible. The ideology follows the policy structure.

2-3 weeks

Voting - Rational Ignorance

Low turnout is designed, not accidental. The puzzle is not why so many don't vote, but why anyone votes at all.

2-3 weeks

Money, Power, and Corruption

Money may matter less than you think in elections, but more than you think in policy. Access, not votes, is what money buys.

2-3 weeks

Federalism - Laboratory or Obstacle?

Federalism has been instrumentally deployed by everyone. The 'laboratories' mostly don't produce learning.

2-3 weeks

American Exceptionalism

Most American 'problems' don't exist in peer democracies. That's a choice, not inevitability.

2-3 weeks

Reform and the Possibility of Change

Most major reforms happened during crises. Hoping for reform means hoping for crisis.

2-3 weeks

Case Study: The Epstein Files, the Iran Strikes, and the Diversionary Presidency

When a president controls both the release of documents that implicate him and the initiation of military operations that displace attention from those documents, what institutional checks remain? An analysis through democratic erosion, IPC gap theory, and the imperial presidency.

5-7 days

Case Study: The Ten-Year Signal — Character, Credibility, and the Russia Pattern

Three documented episodes — Helsinki, the first impeachment, the Jack Smith evidence — each updating the Bayesian prior on executive credibility regarding Russia. The Mueller Report, congressional testimony, and court filings are public record. The loyalist ecosystem is mapped by convictions and pardons. The financial entanglement is documented in sworn testimony. And in March 2026, Russian intelligence is confirmed providing targeting data for strikes on American troops. This is a credibility assessment. The evidence speaks.

5-7 days

Learning Progression

This course is designed to be taken sequentially. Earlier units establish foundational concepts that later units build upon. While you can explore units in any order, following the numbered sequence provides the most coherent learning experience.