Plain Civics

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Civics Belongs in the Holiday Season Dec 18, 2025

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The holiday season slows the country down — but civics doesn’t stop.

In this special episode of Plain Civics, Joe Ulery looks at how holidays fit into American civic life. From early debates over Christmas in colonial America to Congress making it a federal holiday, from George Washington’s Christmas-night gamble to how government continues operating during the holidays today.

This episode focuses on history, constitutional context, and civic reality — not politics of the moment. It’s a calm, fact-based look at how shared traditions, public service, and democratic institutions intersect during the holiday season.

Bobbi Fisher has the day off. She’ll return next episode.

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Why is Freedom of Religion in the First Amendment? Dec 04, 2025

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Join hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they discuss the “freedom of religion” portion of the First Amendment. The First Amendment actually provides us with 5 freedoms, including freedom of religion, which includes the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause; and freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and petition which we covered in episodes 21 and 22. There is a reason the Framers included all of these in the very first amendment, so listen in and find out why these freedoms are so important to us as Americans.

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USA, USA, We’re For You Today! The Cheerleading Episode You Didn’t Know You Needed! Nov 20, 2025

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We will return in Episode 24 with the freedom of religion part of the First Amendment. In this episode, join the hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they discuss times in our almost 250-year history when the situation in the U.S. looked as bleak, or even bleaker, than they do today, but Americans were able to fight and claw in their quest for equal rights and a more perfect union to survive and advance our nation.

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Is Freedom of Expression the Most Important Part of the First Amendment? - Part 2 Nov 06, 2025

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Join hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they discuss the “freedom of expression” portion of the First Amendment. The First Amendment actually provides us with 5 freedoms, including freedom of religion, which we will examine in an upcoming episode, and freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and petition. We covered speech in the last episode and, in this one, we will examine press, assembly, and petition. There is a reason the Framers included all of these in the very first amendment, so listen in and find out why these freedoms are so important to us as Americans.

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Is Freedom of Expression the Most Important Part of the First Amendment? - Part 1 Oct 23, 2025

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Join hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they discuss the “freedom of expression” portion of the First Amendment. The First Amendment actually provides us with 5 freedoms, including freedom of religion, which we will examine in episode 24, and freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and petition. There is a reason the Framers included all of these in the very first amendment, so listen in and find out why these freedoms are so important to us as Americans.

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Peaceful Civil Discourse + Educated Citizens = Recipe for a Healthy Democracy or Can We Find the Better Angels of Our Nature??? Oct 09, 2025

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Join hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they unwrap how polarization and civil discourse are related, tell about how we, as a nation, have been here before, and how we overcame those difficult episodes of civil discourse. What is different this time around and how we can still overcome the tough period of polarization and uncivil discourse.

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Political Polarization or Why Can’t We All Just Get Along? Sep 25, 2025

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Joins hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they discuss political polarization in America. They unwrap what is meant by polarization, possible reasons for it, why it seems worse right now, and what we can do to lessen it and why we need to.

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How are the Census, Redistricting, and Gerrymandering Related? Sep 11, 2025

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Join hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery as they take a deep dive into gerrymandering. They explain what it is, how it and the name came about, and how it it relates to the census and state redistributing after each census.

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Civic Responsibilities - What Are They and Why Should We Care? Aug 28, 2025

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Listen as hosts Bobbi Fisher and Joe Ulery discuss what your duties and responsibilities are as citizens of the United States. Duties such as following laws and serving on a jury are required, and responsibilities such as voting and staying informed about the issues are expected. But there are more than these. So, listen and learn why civic engagement, civic education, and fulfilling our duties and responsibilities as citizens are so important. We also have added a new segment at the end, starting with this episode.

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Say What??? Aug 14, 2025

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In this special episode we are going to explore some common misconceptions about various topics related to civics.

We tried to think of things we have heard people say that made us stop and think, “What?” Maybe the “what” meant, “That person doesn’t know what they are talking about,” or maybe it meant, ”Wow, I didn’t know that and I would almost bet other people don’t either.” So, lets take a look at freedom of speech, executive orders, immigrant rights, the Pledge of Allegiance, and whether the U.S. is a Christian nation.

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