Books/Online Courses about structure of US politics?

Factual Questions
1

Anyone got any? I realized not too long ago that I know almost nothing about the actual structure of the US government, how bills are proposed, what and who “congress” are, what the president has to go up against, whether groups can become biased by having too many people from the left or right? I’d basically like to learn how it all works and what is, ideally, supposed to happen so I can see when a president is abusing their power.

Ideally I’d love a lecture series on this (would that come under political science?) and would like a book to accompany it. If I’m learning about something new I like to get 2 points of view because you tend to see the common points that everyone talks about and you can then look into them and see how many of them are actually true/how flimsy they are.

So, any recommendations?

Thanks!

(By the way I know the answer to this could be “have you heard of Google?” but I think when it comes to learning… having the best of the best pointed out by someone who has already gone through searching or has had something recommended to them is better than wasting time going through trial and error.)

2

Not exactly what you’re looking for, perhaps, but as supplemental reading, I recommend P. J. O’Rourke’s Parliament of Whores: A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire U.S. Government.

Maybe a bit out of date (it was published in 1991), but anything produced pre-Trump isn’t going to fully explain what’s going on now.

3

Crash Course - US Government and Politics

4

You might start by reading the US constitution where the formal structure is laid out in language that anyone can understand. This doesn’t tell you everything (for example, the filibuster is not there except implicitly in that each house can make up its own rules), but it is a start.

5

The Teaching Company has many lecture series about U.S. Politics. I would also highly advise reading The Federalist Papers by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay. The papers were meant to convince people to ratify the Constitution, so they thoroughly discuss the government’s structure, the philosophy behind why it’s constructed the way it is, and rebuttals of common arguments against ratification. I think it’s absolutely essential reading (even if some of them are a little boring/dry).