That is very, very impressive, I bow down to you. I'm only just getting to this video, and I started back in 2014. People like you keep me going, so thank you and DFTBA :)
Haha, good point. I will be getting to that point eventually, once winter comes. For now, I'm at early 2013, looking forward to seeing how long it takes me to catch up !
I posit that congress in fact does not suck....wait , stay with me. My vacuum sucks; Some special friends :-) suck; These are both examples of action. Since congress is incapable of action they cannot suck.
I'm told that the derogatory use of the word "suck" does in fact derive from cocksucking. The idea is that only cocksucking is something that only gay men and loose women do, and therefore it's shameful. If this is true, then using the word in this way is implicitly homophobic and misogynistic. I don't know if it's true, though--it's just something I heard and it sounded plausible.
Sarcasticron apparently, you are right: “Meaning ‘do fellatio’ is first recorded in 1928. Slang sense of ‘be contemptible’ first attested 1971 (the underlying notion is of fellatio)."
What shocks annoys & confounds me....is that in 2016, it'll almost surely be *_Clinton v Bush_*. Are you fucking kidding me? Have we just accepted that we live in a _dynastic oligarch_ now as if that's totally cool? Elizabeth Warren v Rand Paul would be a start...but even they're career politicians. -Why can't I vote for great -*_-ideas-_*-...instead of disappointing -_-hominids-_-? If only....- I mean, _'Yay Freedom!'_ ^__^
"... people won't lose faithi in America's ability to govern itself will be a process, it won't be one event, and it will be much worse than going over any fiscal cliff." Famous Last Words
Thank /you/: it's extremely pleasant to be able to have a reasoned and polite discussion about politics - and in a RUclips comment thread of all places. (Thus demonstrating how awesome nerdfighters are, of course!) Perhaps I'm naïve, but I believe that if people understood the hidden costs of government, they mostly wouldn't "just like" it. People may not be wholly rational actors, but when the costs get large enough, people usually /do/ act in their own interests.
There's an argument that a large part of why Congress is so polarized and unrepresentative is that the efforts to increase transparency in the 70s gave the wealthy more influence via lobbyists and think tanks and primarily negative advertising rather than giving the public generally more influence. It became easier for congresspeople, especially party leaders, to intimidate or bribe each other to vote for things in exchange for votes or holding discussion on other things. Amendments to bills are proposed to force other congresspeople to vote on things controversial in their districts to split their voters, rather than because anyone wants those amendments to pass. We have voting booths when we vote for representatives, but not when our representatives vote.
Oh my goodness Mr.Green! After pulling an all nighter I have finished reading your books Looking for Alaska and A Fault in Our Stars. They were incredible and inspiring and intellectually sound! Watching your videos has proven that you would probably not put your book to shame if we met in real life. Like Hazel I hope to meet the author of my favorite book not to ask questions but to discuss and revel in the literature! Hopefully if the day comes the meeting will be more pleasurable than hers.
I love John Green in a way that is probably unhealthy for a man who is sure about his heterosexuality, but where does beautiful beautiful John find the time to make all these videos (and write books).
The congressional lines were redrew a few years ago where I live, and the guy redrew them was running for reelection the year afterwards. The best part is, he lost. Not because he redrew them to have the odds against him, no it was the exact opposite. He lost because of a complete lack of wanting to be seen, no debates with the opposition just commercials saying how good he is. Sometimes a complete lack of competence will get your ass thrown of congress surprisingly.
Jajaunit1 I confidently contradict your conflation of two different senses of the prefix "con." It is also used as a short form of the Latin "contra," meaning "against."
The most influential country in the world has to rethink it's political system and the voting system alike. And no, I don't mean "socialism", for those who get itchy by the word "rethink". Same here in Europe by the way.
John Green, I love your Crash Course World History videos they are a great supplement to the information that I teach. Also one student asked me where you were from? Because of your closing in your Crash Courses video "like they say in my hometown don't forget to be awesome!" I just found out that your from my hometown. Indianapolis. GO COLTS! GO PACERS! AND EVERYTHING ELSE THAT HAS TO DO WITH THE HOOSIER-STATE. "BEST WISHES TO YOU JOHN GREEN!"
Good morning John! COULD YOU PLEASE RUN FOR PRESIDENT as soon as legally possible!?? I woke up this morning and had this wonderful epiphany that you have the wherewithal to run a very successful campaign, and, more importantly, reinstate my faith in the American government! :)
If you notice, Congress has no term limits and reelections in the House of representatives and the Senate are at 98%. I would impose term limits in Congress both the House and Senate. 1 term and you're out!!! In order to get rid of the Alligators, you have to drain the swamp!
+Robert Di Giovanni Maybe term limits on the House. But the point of the Senate is to be less representative-based, more experience-based. I mean, I disagree with the entire premise of the existence of a Senate, but that's how it goes.
+Robert Di Giovanni All we have to do is get congress to agree to destroy their job security!! Or get Martians to annihilate them with laser guns... yeah that seems more feasible.
The T.C. Yep, I agree. Take their job security away. Once they're out, they can't run for any other office including President or Governor or any other election because they've already served 1 term. Like I said, 1 term and they're out and they hope the door don't hit them in the ass on their way out. Yes, get the Martians to annihilate them with laser guns. That seems very feasible. Thanks for sharing your comment. Best regards.
It is a big part of the problem. It is called "things aren't going my way? Well lets change the map so I'm not the wrong person, and now all is good for me."
Lets not forget Fillibustering. Once one of the most difficult and dramatic gestures in politics, now all you have to do is declare that you're fillibustering. Hell I don't think you even have to stand up any more.
fundude365 The filibustering that you can no longer do? Yes it is a wonderful system when one of the only tools that forced compromise is taken from us.
This was fascinating and informative, because congress is confusing. So thank you.Aside from that, I was distracted by the fact that ONE of the black and white books on the top shelf in the middle ish is stacked differently from the others.
theonlyguyontheleft Because the framework has to be well defined. Otherwise, it cripples the creative works he mentions. For instance, you don't want an overbearing government. Look at China or North Korea (which may or may not be the same). They have a very powerful government, but squelch the creative resources. There are material on par with the Vlog Brothers coming out of either of those countries. Furthermore, you need a sustainable government. 30 years ago, the USSR competed in technology with our government, but it couldn't survive. A government that is first today, but collapses tomorrow, is hardly ideal.
Michael Viselli Firstly, China and North Korea are not the same at all. There's no 'may' about it. Secondly, the United States isn't even close to being like either. Also, everything Gizmo said.
Michael Viselli Seriously? You think the nation with the second largest GDP in the world is the same as a country that can't even produce electricity outside it's capital? Escaped North Koreans often have to be trained in the idea of work ownership and currency. It's nothing like China. I lost the argument? More like you have no idea what you're talking about.
you're an idiot it says that the president can not pass laws if not pass through congress and the reason we are in this mess is congress is afraid that the president will, pass laws with no concent like they have done before, I do hope I spelled that word correctly also, the house majority passes alot but then the senate majority just says no to 90% of it so don't say that congress is unproductive if the president would work with congress we could get something done. Of course I don't expect you to understand because people like you will just defend obama no matter what he does.
***** A power that shouldn't he shouldn't even have. The Executive Order is another way of saying Presidential Mandate (literally it is the same thing) and Presidential Mandates have always been criticized by most people. Changing the name didn't make them any less controversial
xblazex1514x Laws, orders, and declarations of war were always supposed to be passed through congress. The first time a president did anything without going through congress first was the day we started getting more powerful presidents who half the country hates.
Informative and very interesting approach to passing political history, and knowledge. Thanks. Now to answer the question of why. I have no Representation, I am a person not a corporation, therefor I have no Representation. I wonder if there are others that not only feel the same way, but also share my values, and other fundamental believes. Then maybe People, Real People, 'We, the People' will finally have representation in Our Nation Again. Maybe I'm not the only one. Its more likely I am.
That is actually a really good system. Problem is, that was Iceland, 1050 A.D., and this is the entire planet, 1012 A.D. Most people just like government, and I'm part of that group. But this has been a really engaging and educated discussion. Thank you. I certainly learned something.
Nice article, but one quibble: the lines between congressional districts have to be drawn somewhere, so, in theory, the districts can "make sense" and still ALWAYS have situations in which neighbors live in different congressional districts.
My government teacher showed this video in class today. After the video ended, I preceded to tell the entire class about the vlogbrothers at my teacher's request.
Where did John get his numbers from? Because this site: www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/statistics says that there were 284 enacted laws, 722 passed resolutions, 390 others got a vote, and 10,865 other pieces of legistation were signed.
thanks for this video I've been trying to understand why the whole map line for government is so important here in australia we dont see this as much so thank you
Thanks, I also watched CGPgrey's explanation, and I understand, but I'm not sure about the last line of reasoning. I don't think that in this country all people will decide not to vote for a pary because the "can't win". Some people do follow that reasoning, but atm smaller parties like UKIP are growing. People hate all of the big 3, but think they should vote. They vote for a small party rather than abstain.
Redrawing districts based on political party is called "Gerrymandering" and is frowned upon. In fact many state legislators have tried to stop gerrymandering, for instance in Florida only geographic landmarks and major boundaries can mark a change in district. Neat stuff
On an entirely unrelated note, two questions John. 1. If and when there is a The Fault in Our Stars movie will you be one of the authors/creators who choose to appear in the movie or not? 2. There is at LEAST 5 TFiOS fan songs I have come across, all of which are fantastic, would you consider the soundtrack of the movie being made up only of those? Or at least including those?
So what it seems you're arguing is that the process of getting the paperwork is time consuming, not on the citizens end, but on the bureaucratic end (that more citizens making requests backs up the process so that "a hunting trip take(s) YEARS"). I totally agree, the government side of it should be as streamlined as possible ... automation (standardized forms with character recognition software), interlocking databases, and information sharing would go a long way to help that along.
That doesn't directly stop the current bill, because it only bans 'some' pistols. Revolvers, for example, would not be affected. However, for pretty much all of the firearms I mentioned, you would have to get an FFL license (which is currently only required on actual machine guns), which would prevent a whole list of activities that is too long to put here. Since the FFL thing is constitutional, what I said about a whole shit ton of guns getting set on fire is a very, very real thing.
I think the best video every made on government was the CGP Grey on the Shortest-Splitline Algorithm (SSA) to reduce extremism because of gerrymandering. Likewise a sovereign citizen limits on free speech, not just campaigns, of say 10% of median household income, would eliminate this congressional seat auction to the ultra-rich and major corporations. The problem is that this is a Federalist system with a national problem and our constitution does not provide for that. So people scream states rights while the country goes down the tubes because every state won't do it. Constitutional amendments are nigh impossible for these issues since the political parties and large donors to political issues are threatened. The latter does not just include the politicians' campaigns but other campaigns on general issues e.g. environment, insurance premiums, medical cost, etc. because it effects their bottom line but hurt the majority of citizens in this country.
They named themselves ... from the Wikipedia entry on the subject "The term teabagger was initially used to refer to Tea Partiers after conservatives used tea bag as a verb on protest signs and websites. Members of the movement initially adopted the term, and referred to themselves as teabaggers." They vote against laws presented by the other side, making the assumption if the 'enemy' made the law, it must be bad. Cooperation and compromise are impossible with the 'enemy'.
Hi, so I don't understand economics and I have just recently read a bunch of articles about the collapse of the dollar and how it is sure to happen. John if you read this could you maybe explain in a video what that's all about?
I agree with you that we need to have a more equitable taxation system ... everyone benefits, and in all sorts of different areas, when income inequality is low. I don't think that it is possible, or reasonable, to eliminate either money or income inequality, but lowering the latter would make everyone a lot better.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
'Congress, like a lot of rich people, lives in two houses'
Oh SNAP!
If the opposite of pro is con, what's the opposite of progress?
Literally just about to comment that.
lol, I thought the first comment would be KHAAAANGRESS
Zoravur Singh KHAAAANGRESS
How original.
this is genius
i have watched 6 years of vlogbrothers in about 1 month
Check out CrashCourse and SciShow if you run out of Green
i already keep up with those
That is very, very impressive, I bow down to you. I'm only just getting to this video, and I started back in 2014. People like you keep me going, so thank you and DFTBA :)
keep in mind, it was winter and i don't do much outside hehehe.
Haha, good point. I will be getting to that point eventually, once winter comes. For now, I'm at early 2013, looking forward to seeing how long it takes me to catch up !
I posit that congress in fact does not suck....wait , stay with me. My vacuum sucks; Some special friends :-) suck; These are both examples of action. Since congress is incapable of action they cannot suck.
"Some special friends :-) suck;" well said.....very well said
I'm told that the derogatory use of the word "suck" does in fact derive from cocksucking. The idea is that only cocksucking is something that only gay men and loose women do, and therefore it's shameful. If this is true, then using the word in this way is implicitly homophobic and misogynistic. I don't know if it's true, though--it's just something I heard and it sounded plausible.
Sarcasticron apparently, you are right: “Meaning ‘do fellatio’ is first recorded in 1928. Slang sense of ‘be contemptible’ first attested 1971 (the underlying notion is of fellatio)."
What shocks annoys & confounds me....is that in 2016, it'll almost surely be *_Clinton v Bush_*. Are you fucking kidding me? Have we just accepted that we live in a _dynastic oligarch_ now as if that's totally cool? Elizabeth Warren v Rand Paul would be a start...but even they're career politicians. -Why can't I vote for great -*_-ideas-_*-...instead of disappointing -_-hominids-_-? If only....- I mean, _'Yay Freedom!'_ ^__^
avedic I wonder. Now that we've seen about a hundred days of a non-politician run the show, how do you feel now?
John's rants are the best--they come with awesome, clever quotes. And history lessons.
Peregrination +
Peregrination +
"...Like a lot of rich people, lives in two houses." *bursts out laughing*
+
"... people won't lose faithi in America's ability to govern itself will be a process, it won't be one event, and it will be much worse than going over any fiscal cliff."
Famous Last Words
This video seems oddly prescient now that people REALLY seem to have lost all faith in government's ability to govern.
it's only gotten worse :(
@@CyborusYT Oof, I didn't really want the reminder to come back to this video. Maybe someone in 5 years will comment that things have improved?
@@utherism Ah sorry. One can hope!
I love this day in vlogbrothers history thing it's fun
Mollypop +
Oh John of 2013... little did you know who would be your president elect now in 2017... *sigh
Belinda Weber, I was just thinking the same thing.
Belinda Weber
+ I thought that to. *face palms America*
+
I miss the good old days of 2013 when a historically unproductive congress was the most of our worries.
Errbody vote in 2018 please!
Finally! After 21 days I have watched ALL vlogbrothers videos up to my own year!
"It won't be an event, it'll be a process." Oh god, what a process it's been.
Holy fuck, HE ACTUALLY DID WRITE THE FAULT IN OUR STARS!!!
Is that news?
You don't say?
+Wayne “The Stone” Johnston its a surpise to alot people who say the movie first and then discovered his videos
Oh boy, your closing statement is proving correct this year
Like so many of their videos, they only become more true over time.
1:35 gerrymandering, thank you CGP Gray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CGP Gray? You didn't take social studies in middle school?
im in middle school. sooo, yeah... and so far, i haven't learnt about the american government system.
The shortest split line algorithm CGP Grey discussed is pretty cool.
David Ng Wouldn't you prefer an algorithm that divided everything into natural looking sections?
cuddlepartyatmyhouse Of course, but first, we'll have to define "natural looking".
And that's how the Tea Party was born. Screw gerrymandering.
Thank /you/: it's extremely pleasant to be able to have a reasoned and polite discussion about politics - and in a RUclips comment thread of all places. (Thus demonstrating how awesome nerdfighters are, of course!)
Perhaps I'm naïve, but I believe that if people understood the hidden costs of government, they mostly wouldn't "just like" it. People may not be wholly rational actors, but when the costs get large enough, people usually /do/ act in their own interests.
It is impressive listening through some of these videos and seeing how on the nose their fears about the direction of the government were going..
8:51 PM, 1/1/2017. 3rd Vlogbrothers video watched.( This time no longer called 'Brotherhood 2.0'.) 👍
There's an argument that a large part of why Congress is so polarized and unrepresentative is that the efforts to increase transparency in the 70s gave the wealthy more influence via lobbyists and think tanks and primarily negative advertising rather than giving the public generally more influence. It became easier for congresspeople, especially party leaders, to intimidate or bribe each other to vote for things in exchange for votes or holding discussion on other things. Amendments to bills are proposed to force other congresspeople to vote on things controversial in their districts to split their voters, rather than because anyone wants those amendments to pass. We have voting booths when we vote for representatives, but not when our representatives vote.
This is disturbingly prophetic.
"CONGRESS!" has become an exclamation of irritation and dismay for me.
Oh my goodness Mr.Green! After pulling an all nighter I have finished reading your books Looking for Alaska and A Fault in Our Stars. They were incredible and inspiring and intellectually sound! Watching your videos has proven that you would probably not put your book to shame if we met in real life. Like Hazel I hope to meet the author of my favorite book not to ask questions but to discuss and revel in the literature! Hopefully if the day comes the meeting will be more pleasurable than hers.
I love John Green in a way that is probably unhealthy for a man who is sure about his heterosexuality, but where does beautiful beautiful John find the time to make all these videos (and write books).
Hello from 2019! Every problem you addressed in this video has gotten *EXPONENTIALLY* *WORSE!!!*
Happy 6th Anniversary Green brothers!
The congressional lines were redrew a few years ago where I live, and the guy redrew them was running for reelection the year afterwards. The best part is, he lost. Not because he redrew them to have the odds against him, no it was the exact opposite. He lost because of a complete lack of wanting to be seen, no debates with the opposition just commercials saying how good he is. Sometimes a complete lack of competence will get your ass thrown of congress surprisingly.
"That sounded creepy, but it's not." I think this sums up most of my conversations
Getting through six years of Vlogbrothers in one year. (I mainly watched on the weekends.)
Started watching at the beginning back in April, probably going to catch up this month! (I watch all the time... ooops)
@@emilyfreas5768 Nothing wrong with that!
If the prefix "con" means opposite of what comes after... what does it mean if you put it in "progress"?
It would mean with progress in spanglish
I could not love this joke more. You even put in a subtext reference to the cause of the problem (con = conservatives). Sheer brilliance.
"con" means "with" or "being together". Joke killer strikes again!
Jajaunit1 I confidently contradict your conflation of two different senses of the prefix "con." It is also used as a short form of the Latin "contra," meaning "against."
Enforce term limits. Politicians focus too much on getting reelected that they don't bother to get anything done.
Whoo! Cruising through all the old videos, starting the 2013 playlist as of 4:09 pm PSA on 02/22/2017! See you on the flip side!
The most influential country in the world has to rethink it's political system and the voting system alike. And no, I don't mean "socialism", for those who get itchy by the word "rethink". Same here in Europe by the way.
The importance of this & relevancy in 2016/2017!
John Green, I love your Crash Course World History videos they are a great supplement to the information that I teach. Also one student asked me where you were from? Because of your closing in your Crash Courses video "like they say in my hometown don't forget to be awesome!" I just found out that your from my hometown. Indianapolis. GO COLTS! GO PACERS! AND EVERYTHING ELSE THAT HAS TO DO WITH THE HOOSIER-STATE. "BEST WISHES TO YOU JOHN GREEN!"
Update: I have lost faith in the USA's ability to govern itself.
Good morning John! COULD YOU PLEASE RUN FOR PRESIDENT as soon as legally possible!?? I woke up this morning and had this wonderful epiphany that you have the wherewithal to run a very successful campaign, and, more importantly, reinstate my faith in the American government! :)
I'm writing him in next time around whether he runs or not. :)
Well, this has aged simply perfectly
More people approve of Nickelback than Congress
John predicted it eight years ago
John, I love that your shirt and wall are the EXACT same colour!!!
This seems even more relevant now
Separating districts had a name... gerrymandering
Oh 2013. How wonderfully naive (and remarkably prescient) your problems were. Sincerely, spring 2020.
If you notice, Congress has no term limits and reelections in the House of representatives and the Senate are at 98%. I would impose term limits in Congress both the House and Senate. 1 term and you're out!!! In order to get rid of the Alligators, you have to drain the swamp!
+Robert Di Giovanni then you have a lot of people who are in-experienced in office also...
Absolutely, all they care about is just wanting a high paying job with endless benefits, experienced or not.
+Robert Di Giovanni
Maybe term limits on the House. But the point of the Senate is to be less representative-based, more experience-based.
I mean, I disagree with the entire premise of the existence of a Senate, but that's how it goes.
+Robert Di Giovanni All we have to do is get congress to agree to destroy their job security!!
Or get Martians to annihilate them with laser guns... yeah that seems more feasible.
The T.C. Yep, I agree. Take their job security away. Once they're out, they can't run for any other office including President or Governor or any other election because they've already served 1 term. Like I said, 1 term and they're out and they hope the door don't hit them in the ass on their way out.
Yes, get the Martians to annihilate them with laser guns. That seems very feasible.
Thanks for sharing your comment. Best regards.
So gerrymandering is the problem.
It is a big part of the problem. It is called "things aren't going my way? Well lets change the map so I'm not the wrong person, and now all is good for me."
Lets not forget Fillibustering. Once one of the most difficult and dramatic gestures in politics, now all you have to do is declare that you're fillibustering. Hell I don't think you even have to stand up any more.
fundude365 The filibustering that you can no longer do? Yes it is a wonderful system when one of the only tools that forced compromise is taken from us.
and corruption
And let's not forget that the Supremes legalized bribery in Citizens United.
This was fascinating and informative, because congress is confusing. So thank you.Aside from that, I was distracted by the fact that ONE of the black and white books on the top shelf in the middle ish is stacked differently from the others.
John, I'm not gonna blame Congress for it's failure. I'M GONNA BLAME YOU FOR NOT RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT.
Sounds like you suffer from some bad Gerrymandering
Q: Do you like what Congress produces? (people say no) Equivalent question: Should congress be more productive? (people say yes)
"Sounded creepy, but it’s not." Lol
So John, now that you are rich, will you be moving to the other side of the street? ;-)
I discovered Nerdfighteria almost six years ago! Thanks Charlie!
So all of your work is not because you're smart and work hard, but because we have a government.....
Man, talk about a false choice. Of course being smart and working hard are part of it. Why don't people accept that there's a framework to success?
theonlyguyontheleft Because the framework has to be well defined. Otherwise, it cripples the creative works he mentions.
For instance, you don't want an overbearing government. Look at China or North Korea (which may or may not be the same). They have a very powerful government, but squelch the creative resources. There are material on par with the Vlog Brothers coming out of either of those countries.
Furthermore, you need a sustainable government. 30 years ago, the USSR competed in technology with our government, but it couldn't survive. A government that is first today, but collapses tomorrow, is hardly ideal.
Michael Viselli
Firstly, China and North Korea are not the same at all. There's no 'may' about it. Secondly, the United States isn't even close to being like either.
Also, everything Gizmo said.
theonlyguyontheleft "Firstly, China and North Korea are not the same at all." You lost the argument here.
Michael Viselli
Seriously? You think the nation with the second largest GDP in the world is the same as a country that can't even produce electricity outside it's capital? Escaped North Koreans often have to be trained in the idea of work ownership and currency. It's nothing like China. I lost the argument? More like you have no idea what you're talking about.
I, for one, am glad that President Obama will go around congress this time. Finally, we'll get something done.
you're an idiot it says that the president can not pass laws if not pass through congress and the reason we are in this mess is congress is afraid that the president will, pass laws with no concent like they have done before, I do hope I spelled that word correctly also, the house majority passes alot but then the senate majority just says no to 90% of it so don't say that congress is unproductive if the president would work with congress we could get something done. Of course I don't expect you to understand because people like you will just defend obama no matter what he does.
He isn't passing laws, he's exercising his executive power by issuing a series of 12 executive orders.
***** A power that shouldn't he shouldn't even have. The Executive Order is another way of saying Presidential Mandate (literally it is the same thing) and Presidential Mandates have always been criticized by most people. Changing the name didn't make them any less controversial
xblazex1514x
Laws, orders, and declarations of war were always supposed to be passed through congress. The first time a president did anything without going through congress first was the day we started getting more powerful presidents who half the country hates.
Well I certainly wasn't paid
Boy does this hit different in the future
Informative and very interesting approach to passing political history, and knowledge. Thanks. Now to answer the question of why. I have no Representation, I am a person not a corporation, therefor I have no Representation. I wonder if there are others that not only feel the same way, but also share my values, and other fundamental believes. Then maybe People, Real People, 'We, the People' will finally have representation in Our Nation Again.
Maybe I'm not the only one.
Its more likely I am.
I feel like the John and Hank in the top right corner painting are staring into my soul.
This video isn't depressing five years later.
God I miss the playlist...oh well. LAST YEAR OF MY WATCH ALL THE THINGS QUEST BEGINS!!!
I didn't know you wrote the fault in our stars! just went on amazon and ordered it!
That is actually a really good system. Problem is, that was Iceland, 1050 A.D., and this is the entire planet, 1012 A.D. Most people just like government, and I'm part of that group. But this has been a really engaging and educated discussion. Thank you. I certainly learned something.
Nice article, but one quibble: the lines between congressional districts have to be drawn somewhere, so, in theory, the districts can "make sense" and still ALWAYS have situations in which neighbors live in different congressional districts.
John - Charlieissocoollike did the nerdfighter sign at the end of his newest video! Awesome!!!
0:29 John there are no words to describe how much I agree with your reaction.
What do you think of the two party system?
Your videos are totally cool! And whatever stimulant you're on, I want some!
And thank you for making videos for 6 years.
My government teacher showed this video in class today. After the video ended, I preceded to tell the entire class about the vlogbrothers at my teacher's request.
Thank you for boiling down the first two months of my AP Government class into 2minutes..
Doesn't make me feel like I've wasted time at all...
I like ur kind of teaching! It's like you speak to the people with A.D.H.D. fluently...
I LOVE YOU; thank you for explaining a lot of this. I am an attorney and I learn so much from you in every video.
I love the fact that every time I happen to pause one of John's videos, his face is in a hilarious position.
I would love to see and updated version of this. And/or and explanation on politics in general... anyone know any good videos?
go to the channel Crash Course. Find their politics playlist. Or go to CGP Grey. Watch everything of his.
Where did John get his numbers from? Because this site: www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/statistics says that there were 284 enacted laws, 722 passed resolutions, 390 others got a vote, and 10,865 other pieces of legistation were signed.
For one, resolutions aren’t laws, just words. Also, this was from seven years ago
I really like John Green! thanks for having him. He teaches me so much in such a short time like going to collage in 3 minutes :-)
CGP Gray has a great explanation about gerrymandering, what causes it and what to do about it. It's all in his "politics in the animal kingdom" series
This was a helpful use of an example of gerrymandering. Thanks
that was actually very informational and interesting...
I LOVE YOUR BOOK
thanks for this video I've been trying to understand why the whole map line for government is so important here in australia we dont see this as much so thank you
Thanks, I also watched CGPgrey's explanation, and I understand, but I'm not sure about the last line of reasoning. I don't think that in this country all people will decide not to vote for a pary because the "can't win". Some people do follow that reasoning, but atm smaller parties like UKIP are growing. People hate all of the big 3, but think they should vote. They vote for a small party rather than abstain.
Redrawing districts based on political party is called "Gerrymandering" and is frowned upon. In fact many state legislators have tried to stop gerrymandering, for instance in Florida only geographic landmarks and major boundaries can mark a change in district.
Neat stuff
On an entirely unrelated note, two questions John. 1. If and when there is a The Fault in Our Stars movie will you be one of the authors/creators who choose to appear in the movie or not? 2. There is at LEAST 5 TFiOS fan songs I have come across, all of which are fantastic, would you consider the soundtrack of the movie being made up only of those? Or at least including those?
So what it seems you're arguing is that the process of getting the paperwork is time consuming, not on the citizens end, but on the bureaucratic end (that more citizens making requests backs up the process so that "a hunting trip take(s) YEARS"). I totally agree, the government side of it should be as streamlined as possible ... automation (standardized forms with character recognition software), interlocking databases, and information sharing would go a long way to help that along.
LOL! I thought the same thing then I just Google searched it. Short answer, it is his brother. In Wiki this whole channel makes a lot more sense.
That doesn't directly stop the current bill, because it only bans 'some' pistols. Revolvers, for example, would not be affected.
However, for pretty much all of the firearms I mentioned, you would have to get an FFL license (which is currently only required on actual machine guns), which would prevent a whole list of activities that is too long to put here.
Since the FFL thing is constitutional, what I said about a whole shit ton of guns getting set on fire is a very, very real thing.
*agree with. My apologies, I sometimes accidentally leave out words when I type too fast.
!!!!CONGRESS!!!!!
haha, as a history major, i was aware of some of this, but hearing it from you is about 1000000000000000% more fun
Happy 2017!
I think the best video every made on government was the CGP Grey on the Shortest-Splitline Algorithm (SSA) to reduce extremism because of gerrymandering.
Likewise a sovereign citizen limits on free speech, not just campaigns, of say 10% of median household income, would eliminate this congressional seat auction to the ultra-rich and major corporations.
The problem is that this is a Federalist system with a national problem and our constitution does not provide for that. So people scream states rights while the country goes down the tubes because every state won't do it.
Constitutional amendments are nigh impossible for these issues since the political parties and large donors to political issues are threatened.
The latter does not just include the politicians' campaigns but other campaigns on general issues e.g. environment, insurance premiums, medical cost, etc. because it effects their bottom line but hurt the majority of citizens in this country.
Have you read "No Treason: The Constitution Of No Authority" by Lysander Spooner?
They named themselves ... from the Wikipedia entry on the subject "The term teabagger was initially used to refer to Tea Partiers after conservatives used tea bag as a verb on protest signs and websites. Members of the movement initially adopted the term, and referred to themselves as teabaggers."
They vote against laws presented by the other side, making the assumption if the 'enemy' made the law, it must be bad. Cooperation and compromise are impossible with the 'enemy'.
Quite! I often tune in to the British Parliament to see what's happening and it's always an interesting watch.
Hi, so I don't understand economics and I have just recently read a bunch of articles about the collapse of the dollar and how it is sure to happen. John if you read this could you maybe explain in a video what that's all about?
Dear John I have to write a short story for school and I have no idea what to write about or even how to start. Please help
Good job at simplifying this. Shows why Congress people stay forever and never fear getting voted out.
Thank you for the video. EIGHT DAYS IN AN INNER CITY SCHOOL could shed some light on politics.
*slowly stands*
*claps slowly*
You, sir/madame, deserve an award.
I agree with you that we need to have a more equitable taxation system ... everyone benefits, and in all sorts of different areas, when income inequality is low. I don't think that it is possible, or reasonable, to eliminate either money or income inequality, but lowering the latter would make everyone a lot better.