What the Heck Is Going On?!

With the recent leak of the draft opinion on Roe vs. Wade, it has become important to discuss how Supreme Court Justices arrive to these opinions and decisions that ultimately result in how laws are interpreted for us to follow. This creates policy implications that, as you have probably come to realize, can change significant issues that our society deals with. In this episode I discuss how Supreme Court Justices arrive to their opinions and decisions and the things that are most influential in determining how they interpret the law.

Whether someone likes the President and thinks they are doing a good job depends on who you talk to. This is because there are many factors that impact our evaluation of the President and how they are doing their job. This episode looks at many of these factors and how it influence our Presidential Approval.

Taxes, Inflations, Interest Rates, Gas Prices; what role does the President play in all this? I take a look at the scholarship to see what economists and political scientists have to say about the impact of the President on the economy.

In this episode we take more of a textbook approach to explain what the president's job is. I discuss their executive powers, legislative powers, and judicial powers. I also discuss controversial things presidents do like executive orders and pardons.

Everyday people are not the only ones who think about whether the president is good or bad at their job. Scholars have developed ways of thinking about this and even propose that we can possibly predict whether someone will be a successful president. This episode takes a look at a some of these perspectives as a fun way of thinking about the success or failure of presidents.

This episode dives into what the scholars are saying about the impact that the Electoral College has on voting power, campaigns resources, and campaign strategies.

As a result of the recent events between Russian and Ukraine, Kory talks about the dominating theories of foreign policy and how they impact the way countries think about their place in the world. 

Kory goes over the literature on representation to explain whether politicians actually care about what their voters have to say. The answer might surprise you.

This episode discusses campaign finance and what it means for our democracy. Does donating money to politicians and campaigns influence their decisions? Is the government owned by the rich and large corporations?