Government

The powers wielded by the U.S. president have waxed and waned over the years.

By Oisin Curran

The law actually says 'yes', but precedent says 'no.' Here's why.

By Dave Roos

Democracy requires citizen participation. But sometimes emailing and signing petitions can feel like shouting into a black hole. What's your best strategy to be heard?

By Patrick J. Kiger

Voting on a Tuesday in November has been a U.S. tradition since the 1840s, but the timing makes it difficult for many people to exercise their right to vote. What are states doing about it?

By Patrick J. Kiger & Kathryn Whitbourne

Donald Trump may be the most prominent Trump, but he's not the only one. His polarizing candidacy is affecting ordinary people who share the surname.

By Christopher Hassiotis

A new study says you may get different treatment options depending on your doctors' political beliefs? What's a patient to do?

By Dave Roos

Think that a debate is intense? When tempers rise, elected officials can land more than metaphorical blows, as these examples from the past year alone show.

By Chris Opfer

A low-level cabinet member becomes U.S. president when everyone else is killed during a State of the Union address. It's the plot of a new TV show - and based in reality.

By Dave Roos

Think the Trump/Biden presidential campaign is the strangest? It'll seem par for the course when you see what crazy things have happened in previous elections.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Think you have an original idea for a Constitutional amendment? Are you sure it hasn't been brought up one of the other 11,000 times?

By Clint Pumphrey

If the millennial generation is behind some of the most innovative developments in tech and business, why not hand these young citizens the keys to the country, too?

By Chris Opfer

What started as a hashtag has gone global. Is the group's loose, ever-evolving structure a benefit or a drawback - or both?

By Chris Opfer

How did the idea of "don't kill the messenger" turn into a modern international standard?

By Laurie L. Dove

Cell phone video has inspired millions of people to rally against issues of police brutality. It's a powerful tool for exposing injustices. And it's not going anywhere.

By Dave Roos

After all, every president who could have lived there has, but is it mandatory?

By John Donovan

Splits with the European Union have happened before, but that doesn't mean the U.K.'s Brexit will be easy, or even have much in common with past instances.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Why does health care cost so much in the U.S.? And why, for all that money, isn't the population any healthier? These are just some of the big questions in the debate over health care costs.

By Melanie Radzicki McManus

Whether it's poll taxes, literacy tests, ID laws or limited polling hours, the U.S. has a long-running history of coming up with ways to restrict citizens' voting rights.

By Patrick J. Kiger & Kathryn Whitbourne

We often think of the civil rights movement as just part of the 1960s. On Martin Luther King Day, we explore some civil rights issues going on in the U.S. today.

By Alia Hoyt

"Immigration" has become a loaded word in the U.S. and many other places. But what is the truth about immigration in America? Is it a good thing or not? We sort out the facts from the fictions.

By Melanie Radzicki McManus

Ever felt a pang of guilt on, say, Election Day when you skipped the voting booth to go to dinner? The 'bread and circuses' concept of being pacified by food and entertainment - and forgoing civic duty - goes back to Roman times.

By Laurie L. Dove

While the FDA originated amid the Civil War, it took a 20th century novel about the horrors of meatpacking to convince the government to officially regulate what goes into our bodies. How does the FDA keep us safer these days?

By Clint Pumphrey

We may be living in the age of the Internet, but simple shortwave radio transmitters still play a part in the espionage game. The huge benefit: There's no trail.

By Nathan Chandler

Thousands of think tanks dot the globe, and if you think they don't affect you, you're wrong. The scholars at these high-brow thought factories have a much bigger agenda than merely sitting around looking contemplative.

By John Perritano

Thanks to the First Amendment, people in the U.S. can say whatever they want, wherever they want without fear of prosecution. Er ... not quite.

By Dave Roos