Government and
Economics Course Outline – Fall 2008
Basic personal finance
(monthly budget)
Common types of taxation
Reasoning and method behind
taxation
Progressive v. Regressive
Taxation
State and local taxes
Basic allocation of the
federal budget
Basics of McCain and Obama
Intro to the election
process, the primary system
Issues that are the focus of
government
The political spectrum
Who are the Democrats?
Who are the Republicans?
Third parties in American
history
Types of
advertising/propaganda
Interest groups
Political organization
techniques
Campaign financing and
lobbying
Mock election
Mean versus median in income
inequality
Unemployment
The stock market
The business cycle
Interest rates
National debt
Effect of taxation and
spending on growth
Federal fiscal policy
Foreign trade and deficit
Religious freedom
Free speech, press, and
assembly
Due process and legal rights
Implied and contested right
to privacy
Basics of legal trials and
due process
“The Thin Blue Line” – Errol
Morris
“Bowling for Columbine” –
Michael Moore
History of the creation of
the Constitution
The Great Compromise
Slaves and the roots of the
Civil War
Federalism
Branches of government groups and group teaching
How a bill becomes a law
Amendment Process
Mock Congress
Comparative international
governmental systems (foreign systems)
The Imperial Presidency
US foreign policies
Foreign Aid
The Rwandan genocide
"High Noon" and
the Cold War
The “New World Order” and
the fall of the Berlin Wall
Iraq, Israel/Palestine, and
the war on "terrorism"
State constitution
Powers of the state under
federalism
State government
personalities and issues
City government structure,
personalities, and issues
Basic workings and structure
of the American criminal justice system