San Antonio College Library

This program with Bill Moyers talks to Americans in San Antonio, Minneapolis, and Washington, D.C., about why they don't vote, and to citizens who are trying to increase voter registration and turnout. Featured in the program are Father Andrew Greeley, author, priest, and sociologist; and Michael Franti, a rap artist.

This program, hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Hedrick Smith, provides an overview of Clinton-era campaign finance reform: the failed initiatives of the post-Watergate era, soft money scandals, and models for reform. Smith interviews John McCain, Bill Bradley, and Jack Kemp to determine how soft money corrupted the political process. The initial segment describes the campaign finance system in use during the 1990s-itself the result of reforms...

In America, a shadow government wields incredible influence over what gets done inside the Beltway-and who reaps the benefits. In this program, correspondent Hedrick Smith spotlights the powerful influence of the nation's special interest lobbies during the Clinton years. Majority Whip Tom DeLay; Charles Blixt, of R.J. Reynolds; Mike Pertschuk, of the Advocacy Institute; members of Congress; lobbyists; and others scrutinize how UPS paralyzed OSHA's...

This program with Bill Moyers examines what many people consider to be the scandal of American democracy-the influence of money on our political system. The 1992 Presidential election sent a strong signal: by voting for Bill Clinton or Ross Perot, both of whom ran on reform platforms, voters registered their disgust with the way laws are made, influence is bought, and an elite class of politicians control the system. This 1994 program examines the...

The remarkable true story of Donald Trump's family history--one of the most extraordinary immigration success stories ever told--and what it reveals about the United States' 45th president.

The centrist group No Labels is planning to host a bipartisan political convention in 2024 that may nominate a candidate to run for president. Such a candidate, the group believes, would offer a middle-of-the-road alternative to the Democratic candidate, likely President Joe Biden, who took office in 2021, and the Republican candidate, likely former president Donald Trump (R, 2017-21). Recent presidential elections in the United States have been extremely...

How Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell helped transform the Supreme Court and U.S. politics. Amid scrutiny of the high court, and a power struggle in the GOP, McConnell's rise and role pushing the judiciary to the right, and America's polarized democracy.

On the face of it, this seems the worst of times for the political radical. The consensus seems to be that dissent died with the '60s. People today are too contented and too rich, or too poor and put upon to protest anything; we've become a nation of couch potatoes. But stop a minute and consider this: in 1988, at the height of the Reagan-Bush era, more than 500 students were arrested in campus political protests and over 3,000 people were arrested...

Jonathan Haidt studies how and why we evolved to be moral. By understanding more about our moral roots, his hope is that we can learn to be tolerant of those whose morals don't match ours, but who are equally good and moral people on their own terms. In this TEDTalk, Haidt explores five moral precepts that form the basis of our value systems, whether we're left, right, or center. However, he also pinpoints the differing values that liberals and conservatives...

How can a president continue to govern with an impeachment trial looming? President Clinton and President Trump adopted very different strategies.