American Government

POL 101: This course is about government.  We will spend the term concentrating on how people interact with government, how societies are structured, and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.  Primarily, our exploration will focus on the U.S. experience; but from time to time, examples will be drawn from other nations.   The links below offer students the opportunity to explore issues of governance.  What can be found in them are not necessarily the opinions of your instructor and are certainly not endorsed, in any way, by Mercer University.

  A link to the Spring 2008 syllabus.

Freedom		Plastic People of the Universe
		Common Sense by Thomas Paine
Georgia Government		Digby and Grant Reading (pdf)
(optional)		Digby and Grant Reading (html)...graphics in this version may be distorted
		SMSA Map of Georgia (from the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia)
Federalism		The State of Georgia
Other Governments:		CIA Factbook
		Canada
		China
		Czech Republic
		New Zealand
		Peru
		Zambia
Interest Groups		The AFL-CIO
Interest Groups represent a wide array of opinions in the society.  This is a somewhat representative sample of opinions but in no way represent the opinions of the instructor.		The American Civil Rights Institute
		The Business Roundtable
		The Christian Coalition
		The NAACP
		The People for the American Way
Political Parties		Democrats
These are the only parties that regularly field candidates in the state of Georgia.  The instructor's website has links to additional party websites.		Libertarians
		Republicans
Legislative Branch		House of Representatives
		Senate
		Thomas is a tool  that allows you to find bills, committee actions, and voting reports on  matters pending in the Congress.
Executive Branch		Department of Transportation
		The Federal Aviation Authority
		President George W. Bush
		Vice President Richard B. Cheney
Judicial Branch		The Supreme Court