2626 Chapter 1 | Understanding American PoliticsWhat’s
Your
Take?
Is the media the
“watchdog” that
protects democracy, or
is it an out-of-control,
self-serving, biased group
of partisans?And if Americans can’t
even agree on which news
is “fake,” how can we know
what to trust?be able to tell the difference between truly fake news such as “Pizzagate” or the Pope
endorsing Donald Trump and the negative (and sometimes inaccurate) stories about
our political leaders that result from the conflictual world of politics.
Although you will no doubt disagree with—or even be angry about—some aspects
of American politics and some media coverage, our goal in this book is to provide you
with the tools to understand why government operates as it does. We are not arguing
that the federal government is perfect or that imperfect responses to policy problems
are inevitable. Rather, we believe that any attempt to explain these outcomes, or
to devise ways to prevent similar problems, requires an understanding of why they
happened in the first place. After reading this book, you will have a better sense of how
American politics really works, and why it matters.Full_02_APT_64431_ch01_002-029.indd 26 16/11/18 1:36 PM