Homer Simpson Goes to Washington American Politics through Popular Culture.

Includes bibliographies and index.

Cover; Half-title; Title; Copyright; Contents; Foreword; Introduction. American Idle: Politics and Popular Culture; Part 1. Setting the Stage: American Political Thought, Beliefs, and Culture; 1. Aye on Springfield: Reasons to Vote ""Yes"" on Popular Culture; Notes; 2. R for Revolution: Hobbes and Locke on Social Contracts and Scarlet Carsons; The ""Ulcered Sphincter of Ass-erica"" and the State of Nature; Three Waters and Avoiding the State of Nature; High Chancellor Sutler as Hobbesian Sovereign; ""Strength through Unity, Unity through Faith""; Valerie's Story; Sutler as Lockean Tyrant.

Voracious Villain ... Virtuous Vanguard ... Vox Populi?Locke, Jefferson, and the Wachowski Brothers; Notes; 3. Political Culture and Public Opinion: The American Dream on Springfield's Evergreen Terrace; Culture and Politics; The Power to Shape, and Be Shaped by, Public Opinion; The American Dream at 742 Evergreen Terrace; The Simpsons: Pop Culture Evidence of Variations on the American Dream; Notes; Part 2. Cast and Crew: Actors and Institutions in American Government and Politics; 4. Congress, Corruption, and Political Culture: Mr. Bulworth Goes to Washington.

Legislating in the U.S. CongressCongress and American Political Culture; Congress and Corruption; Conclusion; Notes; 5. The President as Hero: Don't Blame Me, I Voted for Bartlet; The Final Call-The Right Call; Going It Alone; Jokes, Jokesters, and Excessively Detailed Random Stories; And the Administration, Too; Culture Influencing The West Wing, The West Wing Influencing Culture; The ""President-as-Hero"" Image: Why It Matters; Notes; 6. Seeking Justice in Americas Two-Tiered Legal System:""I Plead the Fif""; The American Courts and Systems of Law.

Race and Class in the Criminal Court SystemAnd Justice for Some ... ; Legal Services for the Poor; Jury of Your Peers; Misguided Sentencing; Has the Jury Reached a Verdict? Concluding on the Courts; Notes; 7. Madisonian Pluralism and Interest Group Politics: Inhaling Democracy, Choking on Elitism; Filtering Out the Harmful Effects of Factions; Are ""Tobacco Tactics"" Bad for Democracy's Health?; America Is Living in Spin; Cutting through the Smoke; One Last Puff on Pluralism; Notes; 8. Entertainment Media and Political Knowledge: Do People Get Any Truth out of Truthiness?

Media Consumption and Media EffectsTypes of Media; Soft News volume Hard News; The Soft News Audience and Political Attention; Soft News and Political Information; What Is Soft News?; Hard Data on Entertainment Media; And Now, Your Moment of Zen; Notes; 9. Broadcast News and the Movies: Wagging Somebody's Dog; Notes; Part 3. Lights, Camera, Politics: Contemporary Issues in American Government; 10. Torture, Terrorism, and 24: What Would Jack Bauer Do?; Jack Bauer and the Ticking Bomb Case; From Ticking Bomb to Torture; Ticking Bombs, 24, and Reality; Conclusion; Notes.

11. Civil Liberties volume Law and Order: Exploring Responses to Terrorismin The Siege.

The modern landscape of American entertainment is filled with commentary on the state of the union. Viewers turn to The Daily Show instead of Fox or CNN, satirical films such as Wag the Dog, cartoons like The Simpsons, or controversial action dramas similar to 24 in order to learn more about current events in the United States. Popular culture is educating America more than the nightly news, aiding viewers in their quest to understand the American political system. In Homer Simpson Goes to Washington: American Politics through Popular Culture, Joseph J. Foy and other contributing scholars.

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