Professor Michael Sangervasi welcomes you to his Introduction to American Government and Politics class. Get signed up! Don't wait!

What will I learn in this class? In our Introduction to American Government and Politics class, we discuss the most important problems happening in America today, especially the major problems in government. We study America’s diverse communities and share how we all might work together to provide the best solution for everyone, locally, at the state level and nationally. We analyze who has power in our country to make changes and what strategies may have the most impact on our future so everyone can achieve the “American Dream.”

This symposium of the Library of Congress explores the experience and impact of Africans brought to America during the slave trade 400 years ago.

First of all, Washington DC is the most powerful city in the world, and probably one of the coolest and most beautiful cities as well. Whether you have a chance to visit DC or not, the main reason why you need to take this class is because American society is very complex and very advanced, with nearly 340 million people, thousands of laws that affect you regularly and many different, very powerful government agencies, such as the FBI and the CIA. This class will finally make government and politics much more simple for you to understand! You will learn why we have (and need!) a US Constitution (Who cares about that old document!?). And, how it affects your freedoms everyday (It does?!). We will learn how California’s constitution is different and reflects the great diversity of our state. (California has a constitution? I thought all 50 states were just like California! LOL, No!) Have you ever done your duty and gone out to vote? Well, this class shows you how the people you vote for get elected into power (Everyone wants power! Right?!) and what they do when they get there (Now what?!) In this class we study what really makes a democracy different (and better!) than other types of government out there (like Kings and Queen stuff? Yes, and bad dictators too!) We study how different ideas (what is an ideology?) about how a society should managed becomes an actual law at the state, local or national levels. Then, most importantly, we look at what your rights (You don’t know your rights?) are as citizens and residents of this country, what freedoms you have (and don’t have, what?!) and what responsibilities come with those freedoms.